Product Details

• Actors: Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren, Alan Badel, Kieron Moore, Carl Duering
• Directors: Stanley Donen
• Writers: Gordon Cotler, Julian Mitchell, Peter Stone, Stanley Price
• Producers: Stanley Donen, Denis Holt
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: March 1, 1992
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300185168
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,591 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Part Hitchcock, Part James Bond, All Escapist Fun!, January 6, 2004

By 

Dorian Tenore-Bartilucci (Whitehall, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Arabesque [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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!

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Entertainment!, August 12, 2001

By 

Richard Brooks (Bryan, Texas; United States of America) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Arabesque [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Gregory Peck's best.., January 16, 2005

By 

Zack H. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arabesque [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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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