Rating : - "Action in Arabia (1944) ... George Sanders ... RKO Radio Pictures"
RKO Radio Pictures presents "ACTION IN ARABIA (1944) --- (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe Hollywood crime dramas that set their protagonists in a world perceived as inherently corrupt and unsympathetic...Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography, while many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression...the term film noir (French for "black film"), first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most of the American filmmakers and actors while they were creating the classic film noirs..the canon of film noir was defined in retrospect by film historians and critics; many of those involved in the making of film noir later professed to be unaware at the time of having created a distinctive type of film ... featuring top performances from the '40s and '50s with outstanding drama and screenplays, along with a wonderful cast and supporting actors to bring it all together ... another winner from the vaults of almost forgotten Hollywood gems ...

Under Léonide Moguy (Director), Maurice Geraghty (Producer), Philip MacDonald (Screenwriter), Herbert J. Biberman (Screenwriter), Roy Webb (Original Score), J. Roy Hunt (Cinematographer), Robert Swink (Editor) ------ the cast includes George Sanders (Michael Gordon), Virginia Bruce (Yvonne Danesco), Lénore Aubert (Mounirah al-Rashid), Gene Lockhart (Josef Danesco), Robert Armstrong (Matthew Reed), H.B. Warner (Abdul El Rashid), Alan Napier (Eric Latimer), André Charlot (Andre Leroux), Marcel Dalio (Chakka - Arab Henchman at Airport), Robert Anderson (William Chalmers), Jamiel Hasson (Eben Kareem), Michael Ansara (Hamid) ----- our story line the trouble-shooting reporter Michael Gordon tangles with assorted characters in Damascus, where Nazis and the Allies are jockeying for Arab support on the eve of WW2 --- Nice desert footage interwoven into a tight little adventure --- this release falls into the film noir genre with all the suspenseful direction thrown in.

BIOS:
1. George Sanders
Date of birth: 3 July 1906 - St. Petersburg, Russia
Date of death: 25 April 1972 - Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. (suicide)

Special footnote, George Sanders made his British film debut in 1934 and after a series
of British films made his American debut in 1936 with a role in Lloyd's of London. His
British accent and sensibilities, combined with his suave, snobbish and somewhat menacing
air was utilized in American films during the next decade. He played memorable supporting
roles in prestige productions such as Rebecca, in which he goaded the sinister Judith Anderson
as Mrs Danvers, in her persecution of Joan Fontaine and he played leading roles in lesser pictures
such as "Rage in Heaven". During this time he was also the lead in both "The Falcon" and "The Saint"
film series. He played Lord Henry Wotton in a film version of "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
In 1950 he gave his most widely recognized performance and achieved his greatest success as the
acid tongued, manipulative, cold blooded theater critic Addison DeWitt in "All About Eve", winning an
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role ... (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for Film Noir, B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 72 mins on VHS ~ Warner Home Video ~ (1/01/2002)