Review of Zarak

The character of Zarak was not derivative : at once at odds with his own compatriots (and own brothers) and with the British colonizers , a born-rebel , he deserved perhaps more than specialist-of-the -genre Victor Mature's wooden acting (who was great in Sternberg's "the Shanghai gesture" though) ; unfortunately the script is messy,a muddled affair , the story out of a comic .Terence Young ,who was reponsible for some of the best Bond and for the brilliant thriller "wait until dark" , can direct an action-packed movie and the wide screen ,still rare at the time, is used with good results :a good sense of space indeed .Miss Ekberg is a feast for the eye, but her part is strictly decorative;on the other hand , two character actors such as Finlay Currie as the mullah (holy man) and Michael Winding as the major give the movie a little of the substance it terribly lacks. The Zarak /major relationship could have been a very interesting subject,had it been much more developed .

Good sequences: -the major ,clinging to the ropes of the bridge over a breathtakingly high gorge .

-the same 's "psychological' torture of the sabers

-the plunder of his desirable mansion ,quite violent for the time.

A perfect Saturday-night-at-the-movies feature.