"Arabesque," Stanley Donen's (1966) followup of the hit combination of thriller and romantic comedy "Charade" was intended for Cary Grant (who stopped making movies in 1964) and seems to me to draw heavily on "North by Northwest." It is another (far inferior to NxNW) chase picture with a non-spy (Gregory Peck), a lovely lady (Sophia Loren) whose loyalties are uncertain, and uncertainty about how many sides there are to be on as well as whose side the seemingly helpful lady is on. It has an exquisite Orientalist villain Alan Badel, and superb cinematography by Christopher Challis, but the characters and plot make no sense.

Gregory Peck's comic timing was not as sharp as Grant's. Loren's comic timing was quite adequate, but her part and the plot (the uncopied Hittite inscription in particular) are impossible.

Loren looked great and there are some excellent set pieces, including a wrecking ball, a chase through zoo and aquarium, and the final dash on horseback and foot while being menaced by helicopter. And there are lots of arty reflection shots, but I lost interest in trying to understand what was going on before the stylish racetrack scene (midway). If I thought about the plot, I could reel off plot holes, but why should I take the plot seriously when the film-makers did not?

And although Loren mastered English well (and quickly, while shooting "Boy on a Dolphin" with Alan Ladd), she seems to me wooden in all the perormances in English I can remember (even as a Roman in "The Fall of the Roman Empire." and in other Latina parts), whereas in her native Italian, she was warm and passionate as well as beautiful. Her (well-deserved) best actress Oscar came for a performance in Italian ("Two Women") and she showed versatility in Italian-language movies directed by Vittorio De Sica (Marriage, Italian Style; Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, Boccaccio '70, as well as "Two Women") and Ettore Scola (A Special Day).

Gregory Peck had long been a star appearing in romantic comedies such as "Roman Holiday" and "Designing Women" as well as thrillers and action movies such as "The Guns of Navarrone," as well as some adult westerns (The Gunfighter, The Bravados). After his triumph in "To Kill a Mockingbird," he had few great roles (though I appreciate his contributions to Captain Newman, M.D., The Boys from Brazil, and The Scarlet and the Black, only the middle one of which was a big hit), so arguably could provide an instance of the "Oscar curse." He looked pretty lost in "Arabesque" (and "Mirage" from around the same time).



Recommended:
No