Arabesque Blu-ray - Gregory Peck / Sophia Loren

Firstly, a massive thank you to our Patreon supporters. Your generosity touches me deeply. These supporters have become the single biggest contributing factor to the survival of DVDBeaver. Your assistance has become essential.

What do Patrons receive, that you don't?

1) Our weekly Newsletter sent to your Inbox every Monday morning!
2) Patron-only Silent Auctions - so far over 30 Out-of-Print titles have moved to deserved, appreciative, hands!
3) Access to over 20,000 unpublished screen captures in lossless high-resolution format!

Please consider keeping us in existence with a couple of dollars or more each month (your pocket change!) so we can continue to do our best in giving you timely, thorough reviews, calendar updates and detailed comparisons. Thank you very much.

Search DVDBeaver

S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Stanley Donen
USA 1966

Ultra Mod, Ultra Mad, Ultra Mystery! Enter the world of Arabesque—a high-speed, high-class tale of international intrigue starring screen icons Gregory Peck (Duel in the Sun, Mirage) and Sophia Loren (Five Miles to Midnight, Marriage Italian Style). An American hieroglyphics professor (Peck) is hired by a mysterious Arab oil magnate to decipher a secret message. When the hidden meaning is revealed, the chase is on as he and the oil magnate’s exotic yet unpredictable companion (Loren) find themselves caught in the middle of an assassination plot. The great Stanley Donen (Singin’ in the Rain, Charade) directed this exciting romantic thriller that features the stylish music of Henry Mancini (The Pink Panther, Touch of Evil) and the acting talents of Alan Badel (Force 10 from Navarone), Kieron Moore (David and Bathsheba) and George Coulouris (Citizen Kane).

***

When a plot against a prominent Middle Eastern politician is uncovered, David Pollock, a professor of ancient hieroglyphics at Oxford University, is recruited to help expose the scheme. Pollock must find information believed to be in hieroglyphic code and must also contend with a mysterious man called Beshraavi. Meanwhile, Beshraavi's lover, Yasmin Azir, seems willing to aid Pollock -- but is she really on his side?

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 5th, 1966

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover
		Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:41:00 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:45:36.330
Video	2.35:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.30 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	2.35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 39,533,410,375 bytes Feature: 34,261,708,800 bytes Video Bitrate: 38.91 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate DVD:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0) DUBs: French, German, Italian, Spanish	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1973 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1973 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, None	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Universal Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: May 8th, 2006 Keep Case Chapters: 16	Release Information: Studio: Kino 2.35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 39,533,410,375 bytes Feature: 34,261,708,800 bytes Video Bitrate: 38.91 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson • Music by Mancini: Archival Featurette with Henry Mancini and Nationally Syndicated Columnist Leonard Feather (9:33) • Theatrical Trailer (3:30) • Theatrical Teaser (1:23) • Television Trailer (1:05) • 5 TV Spots (1:52) • Poster Gallery Blu-ray Release Date: September 9th, 2021 Standard Blu-ray Case inside O-card slipcase Chapters 10

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (September 2021): Kino have transferred Stanley Donen's Arabesque to Blu-ray. There was a Universal Blu-ray from 2019 HERE, but I think it was bare-bones (and is costlier than this stacked Kino edition.) Arabesque was also on DVD in The Gregory Peck Film Collection (reviewed HERE.) The Kino 1080P is a massive upgrade, in all areas, over the lackluster 2006 PAL-sped-up DVD. It is a remarkable HD presentation - bright, clean, a much higher level of detail, contrast plus the richness of the colors and frequent depth in the 2.35:1 frame. Strangely we lose a smidgeon of information on the left edge - gaining a similar amount of the right portion of the frame. Kudos to the Reece Pemberton art direction - this looks beautiful on Blu-ray.

NOTE: We have added 60 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the original English language. Arabesque has aggressive moments that come through with modest depth - some gunfire (never by Peck as inaccurately depicted in the posters) and score by Henry Mancini (Days of Wine and Roses, Oklahoma Crude, Wait Until Dark, Operation Petticoat, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Experiment in Terror, Charade) including We've Loved Before (Yasmin's Theme.) Some may recognize the traditional Gaudeamus Igitur - a popular academic commercium song in many European countries. It supports the film well via the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by my favorite trifecta; by film historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. They discuss Charade, identifying notable differences, they cite other films; Donen's own Two for the Road, Sidney J. Furie's The Ipcress File, Prime Cut, North by Northwest, the prevalent Bond films of the era, the fabulous Robert McGinnis art, the cinematographer Christopher Challis and frequently seeing Czech DoP Otto Heller's work in Arabesque, the numerous stylish reflections and compositions that the camera showcases, how different the film is from the book (Alex Gordon's 1961 novel The Cypher) and that this is certainly not a superficial adventure - instead examining the details of relationships, identity and much more. There is also the 10-minute Music by Mancini: Archival featurette with Henry Mancini and nationally syndicated columnist Leonard Feather plus a theatrical trailer teaser, television trailer, 5 TV Spots and a poster gallery. The package has a limited edition O-card slipcase and a reversible cover sleeve (see below.)

Arabesque is a Donen visual extravagance - heavier on style than absorbing plot point specifics with many adventurous camera angles and inventive shots. Sophia Loren is her usual sexy, hypnotic self and Peck is strong as the academic egghead with some street sense - as they both navigate to safety. The Kino Blu-ray is a keeper - such a visual eye-candy film and secondary - also a pleasing, sometimes intense, thriller - looking and sounding great with an in-depth commentary and other extras including the desirable package. Strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze