mark.waltz
What is an interesting plot conceptually ends up dropping down to mediocrity thanks to moments of slowness that seem to make the film drag on to eternity. Obviously, the "Golden Salamander" is a take-off on the legend of the "Maltese Falcon" with the mysterious statue of the tiny lizard (enlarged to iguana size) providing the film's theme of "The best way to conquer evil is to confront it". That's the case for the British Trevor Howard, in Northern Africa for "private business" and his sudden involvement in a ring of thieves lead by the nasty Herbert Lom. Long before the shout of "Clouseau!" would drive him to insanity, Lom was already playing film heavy's in British thrillers like this, and for a side-kick, he gets none other than a very thin Wilfred Hyde White, resembling Percy Kilbride, who is the first person to encounter Howard when he arrives at the inn run by Anouck Aimee, simply billed by her first name.There's a lot of insinuation that certain sleazy characters aren't as bad as they seem or that those who seem nice or on the side of the law really aren't. While this provides some potentiality for clever plot twists, some of those moments aren't clarified for plot line purposes and the results are somewhat confusing. An extensive chase sequence towards the end of the film seems to go on forever and leads into more plot developments which extends the film's running time when it seemed as if it was already running out of plot. Ronald Neame's direction certainly isn't to blame and neither are the performances who do their best to enliven the action. Compared to American romantic heroes of the time, Howard is certainly a unique leading man and manages to stay charming even if he doesn't fall into the same league as the crop of stars doing similar adventure yarns in Hollywood films. What ultimately decreases overall interest in the film is the excessive use of moments of action with little to no sound which really proves that sometimes, silence is deafening.
MartinHafer
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.
Michael Neumann
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.
JaQaL
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
AD
