Arabesque (1966)

Taglines: Ultra mod, ultra mad, ultra mystery.

Arabesque movie storyline. Professor 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, 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 is a beautiful mystery who becomes intertwined in the plot. Pollock needs her help, but she repeatedly double crosses him in one escapade after another, he can’t decide on who she is working for. Ultimately working together, Pollock and Yasmin decipher the message and set out to stop an assassination of the Prime Minister.

Arabesque is a 1966 American comedy thriller film directed by Stanley Donen and starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren, written by Julian Mitchell, Stanley Price, and Peter Stone based on The Cypher, a 1961 novel by Alex Gordon. The film, along with Donen’s immediately prior film Charade (1963), is usually described as being “Hitchcockesque”, as it features as a protagonist an innocent and ordinary man thrust into dangerous and extraordinary situations. It was the last film of that genre which Donen would make. Arabesque was filmed in Technicolor and Panavision and was distributed by Universal Pictures.

Directed by: Stanley Donen
Starring: Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren, Alan Badel, Kieron Moore, George Coulouris, Carl Duering, John Merivale, Duncan Lamont, Harold Kasket, Ernest Clark, Lewis Alexander
Screenplay by: Julian Mitchell, Stanley Price, Peter Stone
Cinematography by: Christopher Challis
Film Editing by: Frederick Wilson
Art Direction by: Reece Pemberton
Makeup Department: W.T. Partleton
Music by: Henry Mancini
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: May 5, 1966 (NYC), July 28, 1966 (UK)