Zarak, 1956

The British Empire of the 1800s is trying to keep the mail routes running smoothly in Afghanistan, but there is a problem: Zarak Khan and his Afghan bandits won't let it happen. They are devoted instead to the ancient and respected profession of banditry, and, of course, to turning a profit whenever possible. Completely at odds with this goal, the Empire dispatches Major Michael Ingram (Michael Wilding) to deal with the situation.

Meanwhile, Zarak Khan (Victor Mature), the bandit leader, has problems of his own. His banditry business is running smoothly, but unfortunately for him, he has a haunted past, that is, he's got a powerful yen for one of the young women among his father’s many wives, the dancer Salma (Anita Ekberg). When the two get near each other, Zarak looks like he's in great pain and Salma says that she wants to kill herself or have someone else kill her. In fact, getting caught smooching Salma is what got Zarak tossed out into the wilderness from his father's clan and from where Zarak began his current bandit operation.

This colorful film, directed by Terence Young, is a handsome Technicolor/CinemaScope adventure shot on location in India, Morocco, and Myanmar. When we see majestic, snow-covered mountains as Zarak rides across the peaks taunting the British, those are not matte paintings in the background. Finlay Currie, appearing as “The Mullah,” periodically enters the story to provide another of his familiar performances as the voice of mercy and seasoned wisdom in a grand adventure film (a role he also fulfilled in epics such as Ivanhoe and Ben Hur).

And, then there's Anita Ekberg, age 25, physically fit, to say the least, and probably the main special effect in this film. Except for Victor Mature's pained expressions from an uncomfortable moral sense stirring inside of Zarak's heart and clashing with the cruel demands of traditional bandit badness, Ekberg is showcased as the reason we're here. Watching her dancing around in a harem girl outfit (and apparently finding it sort of funny, judging by her expressions) it seems part burlesque and part a real effort to make it clear why Zarak, usually determined and in charge, is regularly getting discombobulated. But how a Swedish girl ended up in Afghanistan isn't addressed.

Original page May 2026

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