Zarak Khan

Zarak Khan is the son of a chief who is caught embracing one of his father's wives, Salma. Zarak's father sentences both to torture and death but they are saved by an imam. The exiled Zarak becomes a bandit chief and an enemy of the British Empire.

It's a watchable orientalist romp, despite the muddled script, sometimes plodding pace, especially in the first half, and it has some good action sequences such as the bridge scene. Far from a great film, however it's diverting enough, especially with Anita Ekberg and her outfits or lack of it, and a good performance by Michael Wilding as the British officer looking to capture Zarak Khan (the great Victor Mature). There's a 007 connection here - Terence Young is the director, screenplay by Richard Maibaum, co-produced by Albert broccoli and actress Eunice Grayson feature.

It's interesting sitting down to write a review on a film you have only seen once - some forty five years ago! Just ten years old, perhaps on account of the striking name (ZARAK - how onomatopoeic? - better look that one up!) I have remembered the film clearly...perhaps Anita Ekberg was an early awakening for me?

Victor Mature done up like bin Laden on a bad day, played the title role with gusto, the middle eastern outlaw, on the run from terribly British Michael Wilding as Major Ingram. He derring-do's with the best of them! This type of desert adventure was all the rage in the 50's, another biggie of its day as I recall, Tyrone Power in KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES!...but I digress!

Probably most men in the audience (and I was inarguably male, even at that stage) will doubtless remember Ms Ekberg as Zarak's forbidden love Salma, rather inconveniently one of his father's wives. Unless I am mistaken, I seem to recall Zarak pacing around his exotic garden while Ms Ekberg, barely legally silked-up, was sashaying around him teasingly, singing "Climb up the Garden Wall," God, I'd like to see that again!

So yeah, take it from a ten year old, this was a film that went off!

In the 1950s and 60s, the buxom Swedish actress Anita Ekberg was a hot commodity. She made quite a few films and was very popular. Why then did someone decide that "Zarak" was a good film for her...playing one of the wives of an Afghan king?! Smudged with brown paint, you can STILL tell it's Ekberg and her blonde hair certainly stands out in a movie set in Afghanistan! Who thought this would be a good idea? Certainly no one with a functioning brain!

While not nearly as bad, the film also features a lot of non-Afghans playing roles for which they aren't suited, such as Victor Mature in the lead. He looked more at place as an Afghan but still was wrong for the part...as were all the many blonde dancing girls who were painted darker in order to make them look...well, like blondes whose skin has been painted! And, if you look, you can sometimes see the line between their actual skin color and the paint...making it funny (and a bit sad).

"Zarak" is a fictional story about an Afghan outlaw during the time when Britain controlled...or tried to control the country. It begins with Zarak (Mature) caught kissing his step-mommy (Ekberg) and daddy sure is angry! He first orders his son killed, but then is convinced just to make him an outlaw and expel him. Soon, Zarak is a very successful bandit with followers...and he's driving the British overlords crazy trying to stop him.

So, am I saying that this is a terrible film? No. But it certainly could have been a lot better. A few other problems are that for a murderous bandit, Zarak never really kills anyone! And, there are several dance sequences that simply make little sense. It an an interesting film...but a flawed one that could have easily been better.

"Zarak" gets off to a roaring start - with us entering the Arabian village where Anita Ekberg's character lives with her old husband, being acquainted with her lusty relationship with his son (Victor Mature) and the father catching them in the act and sentencing them both to death - all within the first ten minutes of the film!!!! After that, it sort of delves into non-stop rebel war fighting scenes, which aren't that engrossing or all that well filmed - only momentarily catching up with Ekberg and her turgid relationship with Mature here and there. There are some very "American" touches of humour which clearly separate this US sword and sandal flick from the much more common Italian ones. But Anita Ekberg's scantily-clad dances, and sizzling seduction scenes are reason enough to seek out this title and sit through the yawn- inducing battle scenes which make up most of the movie.

saw this movie at ganesha talkies in mysore,india(1957). was a big fan of victor mature those days.i think it was a big hit in india.in my opinion this movie was much better than the spielberg creations like(the raiders series).