SOUTH OF ALGIERS is another exotic adventure yarn of the 1950s whose only interest is in presenting a few foreign locations to local audiences. Here they did some colour location photography in North Africa, so you get to see a few touristy destinations en route, but otherwise the tired old plot has an archaeologist on the trail of lost treasures and pursued by the usual criminal types. An annoying Van Heflin seems to bag most of the screen time over Eric Portman, and the tacked-on romance is quite excruciating. Marne Maitland and George Pastell inevitably turn up in minor parts.
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Leofwine_draca13 February 2020
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mb014f29084 February 2008I watched this film for Van Heflin and Eric Portman; both usually excellent when given some half decent material. Here they floundered, unable to make something of the dreary dialogue and predictable plot. There was jerky editing of the film, with obvious back projection and use of actors' doubles on location, as well as location shooting cut in from another (bigger) budget film (maybe Portman's and Thorold Dickinson's earlier 'Men of Tomorrow') mixed up with studio close ups. The mix is very uneven and after a while it becomes part of the entertainment to spot whether it's a) studio b) location c) doubles etc Van Heflin does his best, trying to instill some oomph into his supposedly devil may care risk taker entrepreneur character. Trouble is Heflin looks as though he checks the risk percentage on ev ery step he takes. Portman has to watch endless tribal singing and dancing, probably taken from that other African film cut into this one. Wanda Hendrix has so little to do she could have phoned her performance in. However it passed away an hour or so on a wet winter's evening.
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utgard1415 December 2013Writer Nicholas Chapman (Van Heflin) teams up with archaeologist Dr. Burnet and his pretty daughter (Eric Portman, Wanda Hendrix) to search for golden mask of Moloch. Two thieves (Jacques Brunius and Charles Goldner) try to sabotage the expedition to get the mask for themselves. Tomb-raiding adventure film is very dry and very dull. Forced romance between Van Heflin and a girl young enough to be his daughter doesn't help. Partially shot on location in Algiers but there's still plenty of poor rear projection effects. Ultimately, it's an avoidable film that is lacking adventure or suspense -- two prerequisites for movies of this type.
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bkoganbing3 December 2020When a film location has to change from Egypt because a fresh revolution going on there to Algeria and Tunisia where revolutionary activities were just getting into high gear against the French you know this has to be one hard luck film.
American novelist Van Heflin looking for material for a new book teams up with archeologist Eric Portman on a desert dig near the ruins of Carthage. The hunt is for a legendary Golden Mask belonging to a Roman conqueror back in the day.
Along for the ride is Portman's daughter Wanda Hendrix, Portman's daughter who Heflin falls for. There are also a couple of crooks along to try and steal this archeological treasure.
This film was Van Heflin's first foray into European film making and it looks like his paycheck cleared. I saw this film over 50 years ago on television and remember being colossally bored with it. It's not come out on DVD or any other media so I can only write this review from distant memory.
Van Heflin risked revolution for this. He's a reliable and competent aqctor, but even he's entitled to a Thanksgiving feast. -
Irie21217 December 2013Imagine if Indiana Jones and Dr. Belloq from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK had gone on their archaeological quest in the real North Africa-- i.e., Hollywood characters filmed inside a creditable documentary. That's the GOLDEN MASK-- well, without the whip and the Nazis.
Van Heflin plays a writer who is "along for the ride" on an archaeological quest with a rather stuffy British archaeologist (Eric Portman). They head to North Africa, in search of the priceless eponymous mask which legend says is in the lost tomb of a Roman emperor in Djemila (ancient Cuicul, now a UNESCO site).
That's the plot-- with the addition of Wanda Hendrix as the love interest-- but never mind, because the plot is not what makes this movie worth watching. The director, Jack Lee, even said, ""was a piece of old hokum, made almost entirely on location. It was quite fun, but it was all cliché stuff, with goodies and baddies and all those spahis riding around chasing bandits." He's got a point, but who cares? What makes the movie-- whose alternate title is SOUTH OF ALGIERS-- fascinating is the location:
It was indeed filmed largely in and around Algiers by D.P. Oswald Morris (Oscar for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and multiple BAFTA awards), who pointed his camera at Algerian people, scenes and moments such as tribal dancers, including a male belly dancer in the street, a cavalry charge by desert soldiers in flowing robes, camel traders, hardscrabble oases, stretches of wild open road through the desert ("When it rains," says a character called Thankyou, "there is no road"), sites from antiquity including ruins at Djemila and Carthage (Tunis), and more. Much more.
In fact, forget RAIDERS. The film that THE GOLDEN MASK really reminded me of is GRASS: A NATION'S BATTLE FOR LIFE, the unforgettable Merion C. Cooper (KING KONG) silent documentary that follows the harrowing trek of 50,000 nomads, with their livestock and belongings, from northern Turkey to western Iran in the early 1920s. Nothing against RAIDERS (which I've seen multiple times, it's such fun), but GOLDEN MASK is like RAIDERS in a real world of tribal cultures. And that's a combination that's hard to beat. -
gstevens-226 June 2001This movie has not been seen anywhere for several years (that I am aware of. The story deals with an archaeologist's passion to find a fabulous golden mask thought to be buried in a Roman tomb. The hunt begins in Rome and ends in the sands of Africa.The pursuers of the mask range in character from good to evil. The movie rather reminded me of the movie,Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Both are in black and white, dealing with greed and the consequences of greed.The flavor of this movie was interesting to me. The rather bleak desert locations were more than made-up for by the depiction of the local tribes and their customs. Unfortunately for this movie, the background music was seriously overdone, almost detracting from it. I find this to be the case often with early European movies. However, if you enjoy treasure hunts and ancient history somewhat fictionalized, this is a treasure hunt movie worth seeing. I'd like to see it again.
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planktonrules26 January 2014This film was recently shown on Turner Classic Movies and the print was appallingly bad. While shot in Technicolor, the print is badly faded, a bit dark at times and a bit blurry. It sure ain't pretty.
Dr. Burnet (Eric Portman) is an archaeologist whose passion is finding the famed Mask of Moloch. However, after years of searching in Algeria, he's exhausted his funds--though he thinks he's tantalizingly close. In order to finance his next expedition, he's forced to take along an American writer who he has no interest in taking with him. He thinks Nicholas Chapman (Van Heflin) is a boob, though Chapman is naturally the right man for the expedition. You know this because the British producers of this film have imported an American to star in the picture--and they'd never have such a star be an idiot! While such an expedition might seem pretty mundane, unfortunately a couple fortune-hunters, Kress and Petris are never far behind--waiting to steal the treasure and sell it to the highest bidder. You realize that something is afoot when Chapman returns to his hotel room to find it ransacked. But Kress and Petris are more than willing to go much further to get the mask.
With all these story elements, you would most likely assume it would an action-adventure film like "Raiders of the Lost Ark", right? Wrong. I agree with the other reviewers that say that it plays more like a documentary in style and especially in its pacing. The film should have been exciting but too often it just seems like a travelogue with a bit of a plot tossed into the mix. It takes too long to develop and the characters are amazingly flat. So, the dryness in this film is not just due to the desert locale! Overall, watchable but this is hardly an endorsement for you to watch the picture! -
brownrainjacket4 August 2003The thing that struck me about this movie was how much it set itself apart from similar 'treasure hunt' movies of its day. None of the acting was so overdone that it became unbareable. And the authenticity of the setting and location were extremely refreshing, peeking through the dusty cotton print that has survived. Van was actually cool. He didn't do any big cliches that was criminal. The Egyptian cast was first rate. No Peter Lorre's and miscast Europeans playing the native tongue to the ground. Jack Lee. BAM.
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richardchatten10 February 2020A typical early fifties Technicolor travelogue shot in Algeria with 'A' feature stars and sumptuous colour photography courtesy of cameraman Ossie Morris fresh from 'Moulin Rouge'.
There's a plot of sorts about a pair of Continental crooks also after the fabulous Golden Mask, but Jack Lee's directorial brief is plainly not to let the cast unduly obstruct the view. So they don't. -
howard_marosi22 November 2020Watchable. Interesting footage of actual local culture, journeys through the desert. Lacks character development, apart from Van Heflin's character, and one poignant scene between Wanda Hendrix and Jacques, Heflin's rival for her affection.
I like to research backgrounds to films after I watch them, so some actual history would have given the film a bit more depth for me. I looked up the character Marcus Manilius- there was a famous poet/astrologer by that name, and one famous general with a similar name, but no connection to the plot here. Same with the places Rifka and Sadamis- nothing turns up. -
Racism is implicit in this movie: the cast and crew must have smelt the coming rebellion against French colonial rule. All the Arab characters were played by Europeans, albeit the main Arab role, "Thank-you", was played by an Indian-Englishmen, who'd gone to Oxford, was probably the most educated person on the set. He seemed to be heavily made up, with skin darkening, which reminds me that the English in India sometimes referred to Indians as "blacks" (one of the nicer terms). There was one name in the cast, "Abdie", whom I cannot remember, who was played by "Massoud". Well, how did the audience like it? How did the audience react to little Jasmine and her brother with their donkey? How did these two "desert Arabs" come to speak English? Racism is a sort of romance, where at the end the romantic ones slaughter those about whom the romance is written. That's the plan, anyway. In actual life, usually it is the racist-romantics who get slaughtered, or at least lose their empires. Can we say that the plot, concerning an ancient Roman, "Marcus Manelius", a looter of a city of the other ancient empire in the region, Carthage, successor to Phoenecia, warns us of the fate of all empires? Is that the actual message of the movie with Van Heflin's gentle humor?
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navins-854-13879422 August 2016This is a neglected gem about a British archaeologist's 15 year pursuit of historical treasures from the Roman empire in Northern Africa. It is shot on locale with wonderful scenes of Algiers, its nearby famous ruins, and most especially, spectacular footage of the desert. I have read a few negative reviews, which baffle me; I find the plot line, character development and dialogue a distinct cut above. But what makes this worth owning (alas, the DVD won't play on most American sets) are the unforgettable shots of the desert. Unique in this film is a sub-plot involving an orphaned brother and his young sister. It adds a dimension to the film of unexpected and uncharacteristic (for the genre) humanity.
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SnoopyStyle21 August 2021Doctor Burnet (Eric Portman) is an archaeologist from the British Museum. He is searching for the Golden Mask of Moloch and reluctantly takes along adventure writer Nicholas Chapman (Van Heflin) who offers to work for free. They are joined by Burnet's daughter Anne and followed by unscrupulous treasure hunters.
The real life street footage in Algiers is interesting. The Arab women seems to be conservatively dressed and the men are wearing fez hats. The dude doing the belly dancing is weird but I'm guessing that a female performer would never do it in the streets although a girl does do a fun dance in the desert. Let's be frank. The story is a bland Indiana Jones in a suit and tie. The local colors are much more interesting and the locations are great. Sadly, this chocolate covered confection has a bland chalky white center as in the white characters are all very bland. -
A British adventure; A story about a British archaeologist and an American philanthropist searching for an ancient, fabled golden mask in a Roman tomb in Algeria. They have to contend with dangerous looters out to steal the artefact. This schoolboy style tale lacks originality, but it gains for being colourful, with marvellous scenery and locations, and the cinematography of desert scenes are stunning. It was mostly filmed on location in Algiers and Tunis which are the main attractions for viewers. Scholarly Eric Portman and jaunty Van Heflin provide good contrast and conflict. Wanda Hendrix provides adequate support and all the supporting and local players are impressive for all their contributions. All in all, it is crisply directed but low key for its subgenre.