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 Though Mature is (as usual) pretty bad and the politics (sexual and otherwise) hopelessly outdated, this is an interesting early example of work by the team that would later bring us Dr.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.
