This isn't a great movie, but it's pretty fun to watch. It's basically a crazed version of "North by Northwest", down to the crop-duster sequence. The plot quit making sense to me halfway through (if not sooner), but I didn't care much by that point, as it was obviously not a movie that required a delicate understanding of the storyline in order to extract pleasure from what's good about it, which is 1) Sophia Loren is various tight and/or ripped dresses 2) Wile E. Coyote set-piece action sequences and 3) the fantastic opening title sequence. Everything else you can live with our without.
Charade (which I saw on a double bill with this) is a much better movie, in part because of better writing, but also because by '66, Arabesque is starting to show some of the cheesier artifacts of late 60's style (forced psychedelia, etc.). But Arabesque is fun for what it is: a campy, pulpy, slightly over-the-top spy action jamboree.
Charade (which I saw on a double bill with this) is a much better movie, in part because of better writing, but also because by '66, Arabesque is starting to show some of the cheesier artifacts of late 60's style (forced psychedelia, etc.). But Arabesque is fun for what it is: a campy, pulpy, slightly over-the-top spy action jamboree.