Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Executscan Expected more

Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Joseph Brando "Zarak" gets off to a roaring start - with us entering the Arabian village where Anita Ekberg's character lives with her old husband, being acquainted with her lusty relationship with his son (Victor Mature) and the father catching them in the act and sentencing them both to death - all within the first ten minutes of the film!!!! After that, it sort of delves into non-stop rebel war fighting scenes, which aren't that engrossing or all that well filmed - only momentarily catching up with Ekberg and her turgid relationship with Mature here and there. There are some very "American" touches of humour which clearly separate this US sword and sandal flick from the much more common Italian ones. But Anita Ekberg's scantily-clad dances, and sizzling seduction scenes are reason enough to seek out this title and sit through the yawn- inducing battle scenes which make up most of the movie.

GUENOT PHILIPPE This movie reminds me my childhood, on Sunday afternoons, when I waited for it. Each Sunday, after my home school work. Colourful feature with plenty of charm and action, Victor Mature at his best, even a less famous film if you compare to his previous features. A movie produced by UK movie industry, in the line of BRIGAND OF KANDAHAR, BANDIT OF ZHOBE, NORTHWEST FRONTIER, and some other movies from Korda brothers's material. The pure British colonialism piece of work. A sort of trade mark, as was, in a total different way, the Kitchen Sink kind. The Ken Loach before his time. Back to this film directed by Terry Young and produced by Albert - James Bond - Broccoli, it is not flawless, but who cares, its only purpose was to entertain. That' all. I picked it from TCM in a superb LBX copy. I guess it will be released in DVD, as was other Columbia adventures yarns, such as BRIGAND OF KANDAHAR, and maybe some other items.

MARIO GAUCI This desert-set adventure flick exemplifies the subtle difference between Hokum and Camp: recently, I had watched its star, Victor Mature, in THE VEILS OF BAGDAD (1953) – spirited, tongue-in-cheek and generally exuding an air of unpretentious low-budget professionalism, it falls firmly into the former category; ZARAK, on the other hand, tries to be serious (with its religious/political undertones and calling into question familial/patriotic loyalties at times of stress) but is so relentlessly high-strung as to emerge a fount of virtually uninterrupted (but clearly unintended) hilarity! These are too numerous to cite and most have, in any case already subsided in my memory, but I can't fail to mention Mature's irrepressible resourcefulness – though very obviously doubled at times – when aroused (including high-kicking his opponents and vigorously hacking away at a rope-bridge on which his arch-nemesis Michael Wilding is hanging for dear life), stoicism in the face of torture and impending death and, particularly, his wallowing in self-pity (and hysterically funny subsequent haunting) after unwittingly bludgeoning to death the current Mullah of the mosque – who had actually interceded for Mature during a public flogging and does the same, much to the latter's evident chagrin, for the British Major at the aforementioned bridge sequence! That is not to say ZARAK is a bad film in the strict sense of the word: for one thing, there's plenty of action throughout (some of it actually borrowed from the classic Alexander Korda production of THE FOUR FEATHERS [1939]!) – but, to be sure, the narrative is inordinately muddled for this type of film (not only in delineating the plot or the hero's motivations, but also by having such a prominent character as that of Bernard Miles vanish altogether halfway through)! This was the second of six British-made actioners featuring Hollywood hunk Mature, filmed virtually back-to-back and after which his career would slowly grind to a stand-still; for the record, the others – none of which I've watched – were SAFARI (1956), INTERPOL (1957; also with co-star Anita Ekberg), THE LONG HAUL (1957), NO TIME TO DIE (1958) and the somewhat similar THE BANDIT OF ZHOBE (1959; actually directed by the co-story writer of this one, John Gilling). Sexy in scantily-clad attire, Ekberg even gets to perform a sultry exotic dance but is otherwise underused here; Wilding is as ineffectual playing the stiff-upper-lipped cavalry officer after Mature as the latter is wooden in Afghan tinge and garb(!), Miles appears as the star's one-eyed comic relief sidekick (at one point drooling over the heroine's writhing and to which he's vainly attempting to draw his brooding partner's attention), while Finlay Currie is – what else? – the earnest but ill-fated Holy Man. Apart from these, the supporting cast includes: Bonar Colleano (as one of Zarak's treacherous younger siblings), Frederick Valk (in his last role as his tyrannical father), Eunice Gayson (best-known for first eliciting the celebrated trademark response of "Bond, James Bond" – in DR. NO [1962], of course – is here Wilding's ingenuous bride) and Patrick McGoohan (youthful but already imposing in what is presumably his first sizeable part in a film as Wilding's aide). The behind-the-scenes credits are similarly notable – several of whom would soon prove instrumental in cementing the 007 image into the public consciousness.

gerard herzhaft although I was just a teenager when I saw Zarak, I remember very fondly this excellent film, notably the unbelievable Anita Ekberg's dance, certainly one of the most thrilling piece of eroticism of all British films. Director Terence Young was certainly a master of blending sex appeal with action as testified by his latter films (Safari, Dr No...) Ms Ekberg who certainly is the main attraction of the film is not the only one: Victor Mature as Zarak, an afghan rebel (!) is excellent as usual and the British officers are stiff to the point that they look only at Mature and not at Anita Ekberg. Can you believe it? What is amazing me is how such a cult film which has strong fans all over the world lay unissued and can't be seen anymore. When someone somewhere will at last publish this little gem on DVD?