Der goldene Salamander

Trevor Howard plays David Redfern, an archaeologist sent to Tunis to recover artifacts belonging to his English employer. However, he runs across a gun running operation headed up by Serafis (Walter Rilla). The suspense builds and a murder only adds to the danger for Redfern.

Herbert Lom is absolutely wonderful as the evil, dangerous henchman, Rankl, and Anouk Aimee is beautiful as Anna. A good movie is always characterised by the strength of its supporting cast and even those people with minor parts (such as Wilfrid Hyde-White) add depth and colour to the film.

The only negative for me was the fact that Trevor Howard and Anouk Aimee make an extremely unlikely romantic couple. In the scenes with Aimee, Howard, who was a very good actor, seems to play the part like a man with too much starch in his collar.

Leaving that minor detail aside, this is a good, suspenseful movie and well worth watching.

Rating: 7/10

Trevor Howard, past his prime, is a plucky archaeologist matching wits against gunrunners in North Africa and falling in love with Anouk Aimee.

This post-war British thriller suffers from an almost terminal stiffness of the upper lip, but it offers an intelligent, no-nonsense script and several notable performances, particularly among the villains (Howard's principal adversary is a young and menacing Herbert Lom.

The story was adapted from a Victor Canning novel and filmed, to excellent advantage, on location in Tunisia.

While the poor casting in "Golden Salamander" might surprise you, it it STILL worth seeing. It begins with a British man, David (Trevor Howard), driving along some very, very wet roads at night in Tunisia. Eventually, he pulls off the road--and stumbles on some guns that have fallen out of a crate. Soon, some folks return to retrieve the guns--and David runs, as he's pretty sure these are smugglers. However, he does NOT report this to the authorities.

His job in the town is to pack some antiquities for transport to a British museum. During the time he's in the town, he falls for Anna (Anouk Aimée). He also soon realizes that Anna's brother is one of the smugglers. What's he to do? And, just how deep does this conspiracy go?

This is a nice action-romance. As I mentioned above, the casting was odd, as Howard was almost two decades older than his love interest. I also was dumbfounded when there was the HUGE fight near the end...and Anna just stood there watching (even though if the wrong man wins, she will die!). Despite these problems, the film is exciting and has a very good plot...and it's well acted as well.

In a movie that suffers from to many unanswered questions, too many loose ends, and far too much coincidence, there is one constant which merits mention: the acting of Anouk Aimee. From the moment she enters the as a bar maid she becomes a force in the film, since she is simply a more dominant presence on the screen. The other roles are pretty much clichés. In fact so much so that one expects Howard to really be a secret British agent. And the piano player in the bar drinks as much as he plays. The villains seem much too superficial. The problem stems from a seeming attempt to reproduce World War Two Bogart films, an attempt which is historically out of step with he Cold War of 1950. Does anyone really care about gun running in Tunisia?

To me, Anouk Aimee gives a more convincing performance than does Bergman in CASABLANCA or Bacall in TO HAVE OR HAVE NOT. Bergman seems out of place in Rick's, and Bacall's quips appear contrived. Aimee seems natural throughout, and her lines are appropriate. Her performance is reason enough to see this film.

When I first heard of Ronald Neame's name, it was for POSEIDON' S ADVENTURE, back in 1972, the same for his pal John Guillermin, in 1975, it was this time concerning TOWERING INFERNO, both disaster seventies films, commercial, and not "author" features. I really discovered the authentic, genuine filmographies of those British movie makers much much later, and it was far more interesting, with not necessarily gross intentions, at least not as much as for the seventies Hollywood stuff. This one GOLDEN SALAMANDER, is pretty good, exciting, with a terrific Herb Lom in a character that suits him like a glove. The plot is unfortunately predictable but the directing, and photography purely stunning.