Arabesque | 
| Director: Stanley Donen
Actors: Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren, Alan Badel, Kieron Moore, Carl Duering
Studio: Universal Studios
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $9.95
You Save: $5.03 (34%)
New (1) Used (10) Collectible (2) from $9.95
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 6843
Format: Color, Hifi Sound, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 118 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 6300185168
UPC: 096898036238
EAN: 9786300185166
ASIN: 6300185168
Theatrical Release Date: May 5, 1966
Release Date: March 1, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
Part Hitchcock, Part James Bond, All Escapist Fun! January 7, 2004
Dorian Tenore-Bartilucci (Whitehall, PA USA)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Another fab Universal romantic thriller in the grand CHARADE tradition, including some of the same personnel! If director Stanley Donen's classic 1963 comedy-thriller CHARADE is Hitchcock Lite, then ARABESQUE is Hitchcock Lite after taking a few classes in James Bond 101 (including an opening title sequence by Maurice Binder, who also did the honors for CHARADE as well as for most of the Bond movies). As the hieroglyphics expert embroiled in Middle Eastern intrigue while decoding the cipher everyone's after, Gregory Peck's usual woodenness is oddly effective as he tries to deliver Cary Grant-like witticisms (from co-scripter `Pierre Marton,' a.k.a. the late, great CHARADE alumnus Peter Stone). Peck may not be Mr. Glib, but he seems so delighted to get an opportunity to deliver bon mots after all his serious roles that he's downright endearing, like a child trying out new words for the first time. Co-star Sophia Loren, at her most alluring as an Arab femme fatale, can make any guy look suave and sexy! Christopher Challis's dazzling, inventive cinematography won the BAFTA (the British equivalent of the Oscars), and Christian Dior got a BAFTA nomination for Loren's elegant costumes. Suspenseful and sparkling as this twist-filled adventure is, ARABESQUE's biggest mystery is why it's still only available in VHS format. If this gem ever gets deluxe treatment as a DVD (including letterboxing, please!), I sure hope they get Donen to do the kind of entertaining, informative commentary he did with Stone for Criterion's CHARADE DVD -- perhaps they could even get Loren to put in her two cents!
 Great Entertainment! August 13, 2001
Richard Brooks (Bryan, Texas; United States of America)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Director Stanley Donen tried valiantly to capture the magic of "Charade" with this first-rate pairing of Peck & Loren, and very nearly suceeded. Peck's in fine form and Sophia has never, for my money, looked so beautiful (she even does a semi-nude shower scene). Things move along swiftly and the film is chocked full of wonderful moments. There's a memorable Mancini score, too. However, the fine wide-screen cinematography is lost on this pan & scan version (the film was shot with zero regard for television viewing). Let's hope the folks at Universal realize the value of this gem and release it on DVD.
Amusing February 13, 2006
Flavio Cipparrone (Sao Paulo, Brasil)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This film is very amusing. In fact it is one of my preferred ones.
Frankly, I do not understand why it is not in DVD format!!
The phtography is funny, with several non conventional angles (for example a bathroom seen from above).
Stanley Donen has done an excellent work.
Beautifully shot, suspenseful, Peck and Sophia work so well August 6, 1999
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
It is a long time since I have seen this movie but I remember much of it from over 20 years ago. That in itself says a lot about how good some things are. Arabesque is wonderful. Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren work wonderfully well together - their chemistry of a couple caught up in intrigue beyond their initial imaginings is fascinating.It is beautifully shot in rainy London streets, and out in the glorious summer countrywide. The vividness of the colours remains memorable - her red Mercedes, some of her clothes, the rich colours of the countryside. I am reminded of the tension and anxiety of the driving scenes in Taxi Driver. Scorsese's photographer did an excellent job of creating a sense of madness and isolation for Robert de Niro. In Arabesque, Sophia Loren is neither mad nor isolated, but she searches anxiously in her car through busy London streets in the rain trying to catch up with Gregory Peck. The danger of the scenes in the fields with his pursuers in the air gives Peck and the photographers the chance to film some wonderfully suspenseful footage not dissimilar to chase scenes in North By Northwest. The title itself is intrigueing and so is the movie. I long to see it again and others like it made in the 50's and 60's.
One of Gregory Peck's best.. January 17, 2005
Zack H.
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
and yet, this SUPERB film isn't on DVD! ARGH!!!!
David Pollock (Gregory Peck) is an expert in ancient Arabic hieroglyphics. A Middle Eastern Prime Minister convinces Pollock to infiltrate the organization of a man named Beshraavi (Alan Badel), who is involved in a plot against the Prime Minister. The nature of the plot is believed to be found in a hieroglyphic code. Beshraavi's mistress, Yasmin Azir (Sophia Loren) is a mystery intertwined in the plot. Pollock needs her help, but when she repeatedly seems to double cross him in one escapade after another, he can't decide on whose side she is working. Ultimately working together, Pollock and Yasmin decipher the plot and set out to stop an assassination of the Prime Minister.
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