after more than a half of century, important remains the cast. the story reminds others from the Cold War, the intrigue is the same like others films about secrets, espionage and innocent victims. but Sophia Loren and Gregory Peck are good ingredients for memories about a seductive woman, a professor and a long pieces of complicated puzzle. and this is the motif, the basic motif, for not ignore a story who gives the chance to the actors to do a beautiful work. and to remember the atmosphere of a Hollywood more interested by real seductive subjects.

Arabesque is a very '60s movie that tries to be both a suspense film and a spy spoof, but doesn't entirely succeed at either.Director Stanley Donen knew Arabesque's story didn't make a lick of sense (seriously, this is not so much a story full of holes as it is a hole with some story sprinkled in it), so he went for razzle dazzle. The memorable opening scene is heavily influenced by German Expressionism, the scene in the zoo has a Wellesian quality, and the influence of Hitchcock pops up periodically.In the beginning this works pretty well. But all the most notable scenes, like zoo chase or the silly shower sequence, happen in the first half. After that, the movie is a series of unlikely plot twists, general confusion, and Sophia Loren wardrobe changes. And at the end, any attempt to make sense of the story will only cause you to realize it makes even less sense than you thought.Even at it's best, this is a pretty cheesy movie. But if it had managed to stay at that cheesy best all the way through, it would have been a far more enjoyable one.

***SPOILERS*** Gregory Peck as visiting American Oxford language professor David Pollock has his hand full chasing that fast filly and mystery woman Yasmin Azir, Sophia Loren,all over London and it's surroundings. That as Pollock is being chased by Arab billionaire oil man Bashraavi's, Alan Badel, goons who need Prof. Pollock to decipher an urgent massage,in ancient Hittite hieroglyphs, that can determine the course of the future of all of mankind. Things are doubly difficult for Peck in the film in that he's recovering from falling off a horse and can barley walk much run in all his action scenes that must have made things a living hell for him in the film.It's oil rich unnamed Middle Eastern nation's Prime Minister Yossef Kasim's, Kieron Moor, plan to exclusively use US & UK oil tankers to carry his oil reserves that has Bashraavi want to have him knocked off in that it's cutting into his mega billions of dollars in oil profits! Pollock after being kidnapped, while jogging, by PM Kasin's men and told how important the ancient massage is later is hired by Bashraavi to decode it. That without Bashraavi knowing that he's really working for his enemy Prime Minister Yosseff Kasim. It's when the hot blooded Arabian princess Yasmin , who's mansion Bashraavi is staying at while in London, shows up unexpectedly that Pollock forgets what his job is and focuses all of his attention on her! That with him not quite knowing on who's side Yasmin is on his or her house-mate the oily and murderous Arab oil magnet Bashraavi!With Pollock knowing that his life depends on him not decoding the secret message and that once he does decode it it's curtains, in Bashraavi finding out what it says, for him all he can do is run, together with Yasmin, for his life until the calvary or Scotland Yard comes to his rescue. It's during that time on the run Pollock is framed by one of Bashraavi's goons Slone, John Meravile,in a murder at the Ascot Race Track making him a fugitive from the law as well as from Bashraavi! Still hooked on the beautiful Yasmin Pollock isn't quite sure, with all the lies she'll told him, just whom she's working for and is even willing, if she's working for Bashraavi, to end up dying in her arms even if she's the one who does him in.****SPOILERS**** it's to Pollock's great relief that Yasmin in fact turns out to be a secret agent or spy for Prime Minister Kasim! But by then it's almost too late for him with the Prime Minster getting blasted by one of his bodyguards after Pollock & Yasmin save him from an assassins bullet when he landed at the London airport! But the big surprise comes later when we realize that there's a lot more that's going on in the movie that meets the eye. Which leads to the explosive climax on the bridge to nowhere that turned out to be Bashraavi and his band of goons final resting place!

This isn't a great movie, but it's pretty fun to watch. It's basically a crazed version of "North by Northwest", down to the crop-duster sequence. The plot quit making sense to me halfway through (if not sooner), but I didn't care much by that point, as it was obviously not a movie that required a delicate understanding of the storyline in order to extract pleasure from what's good about it, which is 1) Sophia Loren is various tight and/or ripped dresses 2) Wile E. Coyote set-piece action sequences and 3) the fantastic opening title sequence. Everything else you can live with our without. Charade (which I saw on a double bill with this) is a much better movie, in part because of better writing, but also because by '66, Arabesque is starting to show some of the cheesier artifacts of late 60's style (forced psychedelia, etc.). But Arabesque is fun for what it is: a campy, pulpy, slightly over-the-top spy action jamboree.