This movie pops up quite regularly on late night TV-and every time I get sucked into watching it. A cut above usual B grade movies with some very good stock footage of Arabic life the plot is the usual spy Vs spy yarn -but I have to say its very enjoyable. The cast is likable with a number of familiar faces all going earnestly about their business. The real star for me are the Art directors and set decorators. They did not have much to work with on the back-lot but have created that quintessentially Hollywood interpretation of what Damascus would or rather should look like. This is great entertaining action-er that's enjoyable its Casablanca inspired introduction to the final shoot out where the good guys triumph. Well worth a look at any time of the night.

RKO produced this and a fair portion of it appears to be shot on their studio lots which makes sense considering this is 1944. George Sanders who played Simon Templar in the movies dons a formal white jacket here and stops a Nazi plot to unite Arab tribes against the allies.Lenore Albert, well known to people as a fem-me fa-tale in Abbott & Costello meets Frankenstein, is the main lady involve with the conspirators. Alan Napier also known as Alfred the butler on the 1960's series Batman has a role in this one as well.The director, interestingly enough, is a Russian National who only did a few US films as most of his other work was in Europe. While the film moves along quite quickly, there is not much to distinguish this one from many of RKO's B Pictures in the 1940's. It appears to have been cloned from WB's Casablanca but with a more minor cast. It is an interesting war film archive but not a really distinguished production unless your a George Saunders fan for who it is a must see.

Two Western journalists are on their way home through Syria when they see a familiar face talk with the daughter of an Arab leader. When one follows the man later that night, he is found dead. His colleague Michael Gordon investigates and finds clues pointing to a plot to pervert the leadership of the tribes and lead them with the Nazi's against the allied forces.I watched this film simply because the title caught my eye in the schedules. Given the fact that the screening occurred while other channels were covering the war on Iraq as part of their news cycle, I initially assumed it was a documentary of some sort. A look to see it was a film made decades ago suggested that the schedulers had maybe been guilty of bad taste. However watching it there was little to support this thought.The film is set in the Middle East which, in this film, spreads from Iraq across into Africa ending in Morocco. The politics of the area are difficult now and were still complex when this film was made, so the plot decides to mostly ignore internal issues and focus on the bigger picture of the Nazi threat. By doing so it becomes a bit of propaganda that almost works quite well, but mostly means the plot becomes quite straightforward. The film focuses on the potential for the Nazi's to use the tribes to sweep through the Middle East and Africa and Gordon's investigation to stop it. Mostly the film is very talky and even the action scenes are quite pedestrian (despite the music played loudly thought them), this would be OK if it had a bit more twists and turns but really it goes where you expect it to. This is not to say it is bad – but it is pretty unremarkable.Sanders plays it as usual – upright, tough and gentlemanly, he also is quite stiff and unanimated. This works well for the majority but I would have liked a little more heart in it. The support cast are all OK but are strangely (or perhaps not so strangely) made up of mostly white characters playing Arabs – only the crowd shots appear to use non-white faces. This isn't a major detraction but it is a distraction at times – esp when supposed Arab princesses are played by white women who would be more at home shopping in Manhattan.Overall this is a sturdy little film that is short but still feels a little too long. The straightforward plot and talky nature make it feel a little dull at times but there is just enough going on to hold the interest.

Basically, this is a Casablanca rip-off by RKO about passion and hidden Nazi sympathies in World War II Damascus. Ex-Simon Templer ("The Saint!") star George Sanders is on impeccable form as a New York reporter (with a British accent) on the trail of Nazi sympathisers in the desert. When his fellow reporter is murdered, Sanders (in a white dinner-jacket that predates Sean Connery's wearing of it in Goldfinger by some 20 years) sets off coolly to track down the killers, uncovering a plot in which the Nazis aim to unite the Arab tribes against the Allied forces. The story is pure hokum, but never mind. Some of the action and the audacity of the plot are breath-taking and anyone who enjoys The Saint or The Falcon films, or Casablanca, will probably enjoy it. It's only a pity Sanders didn't make more films as the hero -- this was his last. After this, he would only play the sneering villain and, eventually, become a real-life parody of his own screen persona. A pity, as he really could have been more hero than cad when the fit took him. If you like this movie, check out the novel by George Sanders (actually ghosted by Falcon screenwriter Craig Rice) called "Crime on My Hands" in which Sanders has to solve a muder on a film set. It's light, amusing and reminiscent of the Saint/Falcon films that made Sanders a star in the first place.