Trailer—Zarak

The character of Zarak was not derivative : at once at odds with his own compatriots (and own brothers) and with the British colonizers , a born-rebel , he deserved perhaps more than specialist-of-the -genre Victor Mature's wooden acting (who was great in Sternberg's "the Shanghai gesture" though) ; unfortunately the script is messy,a muddled affair , the story out of a comic .Terence Young ,who was reponsible for some of the best Bond and for the brilliant thriller "wait until dark" , can direct an action-packed movie and the wide screen ,still rare at the time, is used with good results :a good sense of space indeed .Miss Ekberg is a feast for the eye, but her part is strictly decorative;on the other hand , two character actors such as Finlay Currie as the mullah (holy man) and Michael Winding as the major give the movie a little of the substance it terribly lacks. The Zarak /major relationship could have been a very interesting subject,had it been much more developed . Good sequences: -the major ,clinging to the ropes of the bridge over a breathtakingly high gorge . -the same 's "psychological' torture of the sabers -the plunder of his desirable mansion ,quite violent for the time. A perfect Saturday-night-at-the-movies feature.

Zarak Khan is the son of a chief who is caught embracing one of his father's wives, Salma. Zarak's father sentences both to torture and death but they are saved by an imam. The exiled Zarak becomes a bandit chief and an enemy of the British Empire. It's a lively enough orientalist romp, despite the muddled script, sometimes plodding pace, especially in the first half, and it has some good action sequences such as the bridge scene. Far from a great film, however it's entertaining, especially with Anita Ekberg and her outfits or lack of it, and a good performance by Michael Wilding as the British officer looking to capture Zarak Khan (the great Victor Mature). There's a 007 connection here - Terence Young is the director, screenplay by Richard Maibaum, co-produced by Albert broccoli and actress Eunice Grayson feature.

Victor Mature plays the title character in this set in Afghanistan but shot in Burma adventure. Zarak is an Afghani tribesman given a choice: either be flogged to death or expelled from his village for the crime of kissing the wrong woman (Anita Ekberg). He takes up a life of crime and the British Army decides his reign of banditry must come to an end, dispatching Major Ingram (Michael Wilding) to sort things out. Ingram ends up getting into a spot of trouble — a spot only Zarak can rescue him from. Though Mature is (as usual) pretty bad and the politics (sexual and otherwise) hopelessly outdated, this is an interesting early example of work by the team that would later bring us Dr. No. — director Terence Young, screenwriter Richard Maibaum, and producer Albert Broccoli. A superb supporting cast, including Eric Pohlmann, Bonar Colleano, Finlay Currie, Patrick McGoohan, and Andre Morell helps matters, too.

This dashing adventure film of problems around the north-west frontier to Afghanistan completely overshadows "Captain King of the Khyber Rifles" with Tyrone Power two years earlier, which was a bore compared to this flamboyant action adventure of mostly extensive battles with rifles and swords and overwhelmingly impressive dance numbers and scenes, one of the dancing ladies even being Anita Ekberg, who actually performs some belly dancing here; but that is far from the only excellent ballet sequences, one of them even with swords, feigning an execution in preparation for it. Victor Mature is the leading figure, outlawed by the king his father for having had a love affair with his father's wife, Anita Ekberg, who also is appropriately banished and almost executed. Victor Mature was supposed to be executed as well, but an old holy man (Finlay Currie) saved him and will save more lives, before he himself is accidentally killed. Michael Wilding is the leading British soldier, who with his troops is hunting Victor Mature as a gang leader in the mountains, and they meet a few times, actually rescuing each other's lives occasionally. The most interesting detail of the film is the mutual gentlemanly behaviour of these two enemies, both seeking the death of the other, but both reaching some mutual understanding and respect, especially when all is lost. Like all Terence Young's films, the intrigue is rather complicated, made more difficult to follow by efficient action direction, like also in his later Bond films, but at the same time very intelligent. It's an enjoyable film for the great adventure, the action, the flamboyant colours and scenery and the very extensive battle scenes, altogether actually making it deserving of a full score appreciation.

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.

ZARAK is a lively all-colour period romp from future Bond director Terence Young; it tells the tale of Victor Mature's heroic Afghan, a man who befriends a British officer and the relationship and drama that follows. There are definite shades of GUNGA DIN and A TALE OF TWO CITIES here, but the film is all its own and the visuals look great. There's also a splendid cast of British character actors and Anita Ekberg looking as voluptuous as ever.

"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.

Victor Mature puts on a turban and grows a beard to star as the title character in Zarak. It's the story of the eldest son of a clan chief who betrays his father with the father's youngest bride played by the Swedish Anita Ekberg. Just another case of an obviously Cauacasian woman playing an exotic Oriental and just by looks not carrying it off too well. Still she does what she can, Maureen O'Hara knew best of all how Anita felt cast in something like Zarak. After being banished from the tribe, Mature becomes a bandit chief and the scourge of the territory in what is now Pakistan. Michael Wilding is sent to bring in Mature dead or alive, but other tribes are starting to get restless. It maybe set in what was the real India then, but Zarak plays like an eastern western. Finlay Currie plays a mullah who pops in and out of the film at critical points in our protagonist's life. He's quite the saintly figure, more like a Christian saint than a Moslem one. All in all a routine action film that fans of Victor Mature will appreciate.

Copyright 1956 by Warwick Film Productions. Released worldwide through Columbia Pictures. New York opening at the Globe: 26 December 1956. U.S. release: January 1957. U.K. release: 11 February 1957. Australian release: 12 April 1957. Sydney opening at the Capitol (ran one week). Original running time: 99 minutes. Censored to 94 minutes (USA), 95 minutes (UK), 97 minutes (Aust). COMMENT: Anita Ekberg was a popular pin-up beauty of the 1950s. Popular in just about all countries except Australia. Here, aside from me, she had virtually no following at all. I remember watching her cavort through Zarak at Sydney's Capitol back in April 1957. The Capitol was a huge place — in fact it was Sydney's largest cinema — but at the session I attended no more than 23 of its 2,773 seats were occupied. Yet up the road at the Prince Edward, Audrey Hepburn was pulling in capacity crowds with War and Peace. And this despite the fact that Miss Ekberg's dance to the strains of "Climb Up the Wall" had censors worldwide reaching for their scissors and splicing cement. In fact the number was completely deleted in New Zealand and drastically pruned in the United States. These facts were thoroughly publicized, but Australian picture-goers regarded Miss Ekberg with contempt. Despite more publicity than Marilyn Monroe, she didn't rate a single success in Australia (unless of course you count "War and Peace"). Aside from La Dolce Vita and Four for Texas, Oz receipts from her starring movies didn't even cover their advertising expenses. Well, as I say, I quite enjoyed this Boy's Own Paper tale of the British Raj skirmishing with outlaws on the Peshawar Frontier, when I first saw it on the Capitol's giant CinemaScope screen. And Miss Ekberg's dance turn proved an absolute delight. But, sad to say, Zarak has not improved with age. Miss Ekberg's number now looks so innocuous, we wonder how on earth censors from Aabenraa to Zyrardow were so myopic as to create such explosive flak. And as for the rest of the players: Victor Mature with his agonizing facial contortions that passed for "acting" in the mid- 50s, and stolid British actors like Finlay Currie and Bernard Miles so obviously uncomfortable in greasepaint... Admittedly, the players were hampered by ridiculous dialogue and a dreary plot. Of course the general ineptness of Mr Young's direction was no help either. And all that obvious inter-cutting of genuine action and location footage with incredibly banal studio interiors. Not very exciting to begin with, and that murky grainy, early CinemaScope photography makes everything look even worse. Hard to credit that no less than three units contributed to this lackluster mess. Young and Wilcox presumably headed the main unit, while Canutt supplied the half-hearted action footage. Heaven knows what Gilling and his unit did – and frankly I can't see any eager- tailed researchers pressing him to find out. Perhaps the DVD distributors are right. Perhaps "Zarak" is best forgotten.