Watch Golden Salamander For Free

Thanks for the memories!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

GOLDEN SALAMANDER is an intriguing and moralistic British crime film of 1950 that stars Trevor Howard in a winning performance as the sympathetic lead. He plays a British archaeologist who heads off to Tunisia to retrieve some priceless antiquities discovered in a rich client's cellar. While on the scene, he soon becomes aware of a gun running scheme in the locality and must decide between keeping tight-lipped or revealing what he knows to the authorities. Although this feels like a low budget production at times, it's generally pretty effective. The narrative is lean and clean and the exotic landscapes put to good effect. The story plays out in a way which is both slow and realistic. Herbert Lom is an effective villain, as always, and Anouk leads a certain exotic beauty to the role of the love interest. The climax of the film is an extended chase sequence which works nicely, topping off a generally well-rounded production.

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.

In a movie that suffers from to many unanswered questions, too many loose ends, and far too much coincidence, there is one constant which merits mention: the acting of Anouk Aimee. From the moment she enters the as a bar maid she becomes a force in the film, since she is simply a more dominant presence on the screen. The other roles are pretty much clichés. In fact so much so that one expects Howard to really be a secret British agent. And the piano player in the bar drinks as much as he plays. The villains seem much too superficial. The problem stems from a seeming attempt to reproduce World War Two Bogart films, an attempt which is historically out of step with he Cold War of 1950. Does anyone really care about gun running in Tunisia? To me, Anouk Aimee gives a more convincing performance than does Bergman in CASABLANCA or Bacall in TO HAVE OR HAVE NOT. Bergman seems out of place in Rick's, and Bacall's quips appear contrived. Aimee seems natural throughout, and her lines are appropriate. Her performance is reason enough to see this film.

Not really poorly made, but more so mediocre, the film's biggest downfall is the lack of any solid plot. The darkness of the shots at the beginning of the film make it hard to see what is going, however one is able to make out that the protagonist has stumbled across some illegal activity. The first third of the film progresses along with the mystery of what they were doing being the only thing driving the plot. Soon after the mystery is revealed, a romance begins, and the rest of the films ties in the protagonist's love interest to how he deals with the crooks. In other words, it is a bit of a mess, and a bit of a predictable one too. Trevor Howard is a good choice for the lead, but the rest of the acting is merely adequate. To the film's virtue, Neame captures the intriguing nature of a foreign environment and atmosphere well, the locations are good, and close-ups are used well to tell certain parts of the tale. It is probably worth a look for fans of Neame and/or Howard.