This must seem like a very superficial second hand plagiarism of "Casablanca" to many, but there is actually much more to it than that, if you bother to look deeper into the story, another fascinating study in a case of amnesia with a lot of question marks, many of which you have to figure out for yourself.Errol Flynn comes back to Istanbul after five years and remembers the turbulence of his last visit, in which he was involved in some diamond smuggling. He had a great and promising love affair, when everything was brutally interrupted by unforeseen circumstances, and he couldn't come back for five years. On his return he meets again his great love, but she is another person, and he has some trouble in understanding the situation, especially since she is now happily married, or at least so it seems. There is very much in this intrigue of seeming appearances while much more isn't easily told.The superficial impression and unavoidable associations to "Casablanca" are especially exacerbated by Stephanie's almost irritating likeness with Ingrid Bergman, but there is no Humphrey Bogart here. Instead you have an unusually sober Errol Flynn with almost a stone face, covering up stormy feelings with some difficulty, which must trouble him all the way. But the finale is a wonder of almost metaphysical turnings of a totally unexpected nature, and that's where you have to complete the picture by your own thinking; because Errol Flynn's sober face is never more stony than when he has given up all.

Istanbul and the associated reviews are really interesting. Yes it is a bit cliché'd and yes some of the characters are one dimensional. Errol Flynn's acting is unique and there are clearly attempts to refer to film noir (even though this a colour film) and there is an attempt by the film studio to lay this film over the moral dilemma of Casablanca and throw in Nat King Cole and "when I fall in love" as a replacement for Dooley Wilson and Time Goes by. But let us not forget films cost a significant amount of money to make and studios are stupid and they feel that they have to piggy back the film's selling point with another film's Unique selling point...see Altman's The Player....if you need proof. But actually the pull of this film's USP, namely the love interest's amnesia and Errol Flynn's affection for her are quite striking. The diamond smuggling sub plot works to a degree albeit the villains, as one reviewer says, are rather thinly drawn. What I found interesting as well was 1950's view of women. There was no depth to the relationship between the lead characters just a suggestion of something deep and intense going on. However floating on a love boat in the Bosphorus was all that explained this "love". Also the potential life after the successful acquisition of the diamonds was hinted without any explanation...and the lead female's new life was ugly to the 21st century mind...a suggestion that she would look after Mr Fielding, (presumably cooking, looking nice and proving oral sex) and in return he would feed and clothe her and take her to places like Istanbul, was contrasted with Marge and her husband, where the husband dished out a black eye because Marge might have been tempted by a Frenchman who would have gone with her to see Hamlet in Turkish was almost risible. But I stuck with this film to the end and enjoyed the mild threat and laughed at the cloak and dagger stuff........no it's not great but it is worth watching.

When the pilot James Brennan (Errol Flynn) returns to Istanbul, the local Inspector Nural (John Bentley) questions him in the airport about the objective of his voyage and also about some missing diamonds. James checks in the hotel and asks for his former room 424; however he goes to the bar to drink vodka, where he recalls his love affair with Stephanie Bauer (Cornell Borchers) five years ago. James and Stephanie are in love for each other; when James travels to Cairo with his plane transporting some cargo for a client, he visits his friend Aziz Rakim (Vladimir Sokoloff) to buy a wedding gift for Stephanie since he intends to propose her. Aziz sells an expensive bracelet for US$ 50.00 only, and when James returns to Istanbul, he finds two hundred thousand dollars in diamonds hidden inside the bracelet. But the gang of Mr. Darius (Martin Benson) chases the smuggled diamonds with James, who denies the existence of the stones. The criminals attack Stephanie in her apartment and when her building is on fire, she disappears and her body is never identified. On the present days, while in the hotel trying to retrieve the diamonds hidden in the ventilator of his former room, James sees Stephanie and she claims to be Karen Fielding and well-married with Douglas Fielding (Torin Thatcher). James tries to help Stephanie to recall who she is while Darius's gangsters chase him seeking the diamonds."Istanbul" is a moralist and dated love story, but also entertaining. The music score is fantastic, probably the best in this movie, with the awesome Nat King Cole singing "When I fall in Love". The story has many similarities that slightly recall the masterpiece "Casablanca", like for example, the lead character missing a lost love that reappears some time later with another man; a wonderful song (in Casablanca, the stunning "As Time Goes By" by Dooley Wilson); the tickets are replaced by smuggled diamonds; there is an inspector chasing the lead character. Therefore, the story is visibly inspired but without the charming of "Casablanca" and with a conclusion too corny for my taste. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Istambul" ("Istanbul")

Istanbul is another one of those expatriate films that Errol Flynn was making in the last decade of his life trying to support his family and stay out of trouble with the IRS. It's a remake of the Fred MacMurray- Ava Gardner film Singapore from a decade ago.Unlike that studio product, Istanbul has the advantage of that great location cinematography right at the sight of the Golden Horn. But Errol Flynn, who was aging exponentially before the camera in every film, was way too old to be playing these action/adventure types any longer. His scenes with Cornell Borchers really do lack conviction.As for Cornell, she plays Errol's former sweetheart who through the trauma of being saved from a fire now has amnesia. She both doesn't remember Errol and is now married to Torin Thatcher. But Errol's got some nasty people led by Martin Benson and Werner Klemperer who are after some diamonds which have come into his possession. Got to deal with them too.Best reason to see Istanbul is to hear Nat King Cole sing and play the piano. Most people today don't realize that Cole was an accomplished jazz pianist, they only think of him as a singer. Actually he was a pianist first, the singing was an afterthought.Istanbul is a routine action/adventure film for those who are fans of that type of movie.