Timbuktu (1959)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

Paul Dudley (writer)
Anthony Veiller (writer)

Release Date:

22 November 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Tagline:

The mighty revolt that turned the Sahara red!

Plot:

In 1940 Col. Dufort arrives in Timbuktu with his wife to take over the French garrison. This garrison...

Plot Keywords:

Staked Out | Shirtless Male Bondage | Adventurer | Spider Bite | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Victor Mature	...	Mike Conway
Yvonne De Carlo	...	Natalie Dufort
George Dolenz	...	Colonel Charles Dufort
John Dehner	...	Emir Bhaki aka The Lion of the Desert
Marcia Henderson	...	Jeanne Marat
Robert Clarke	...	Captain Girard
James Foxx	...	Lt. Victor Marat
Paul Wexler	...	Suleyman

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Edward Small Productions

Quotes:

Mike Conway: [about to be subjected to tarantula-torture] Bring on your spiders.

From Vancouver to Timbuktu.

Unofficial sequel (me thinks so) to Yvonne De Carlo's Fort Algiers, this hot and heavy desert drama arrives at the end of Miss De Carlo's initial leap into a Hollywood film career, 1945-59, just before her semi-retirement, and prior to her reemergence as "Lilly Munster," the antithesis of Donna Reed's more perfectly molded vision of motherhood. In this one, American Mature is running guns to the Tuareg tribes, while a French garrison, led by Dolenz, tries their very best to thwart the rebellion and any colonial retribution residue. A love triangle soon erects itself between De Carlo, Dolenz and Mature. It's all very civilized and modern. Dolenz doesn't put up much of a fight. I would. De Carlo is definitely worth fighting for. John Dehner, who played a good guy in Fort Algiers, turns around and becomes the demented, evil Emir in this one. Another sadistic rebel has a scar running down the entire length of his face. Dehner tests one of Mature's automatic weapons on the fellow with the hideous scar. He dies. He later will turn up planted in the Emir's vegetable garden. Nice one. Green thumb? Spiders are cleverly enlisted to torture and kill the French. An Iman is rescued, secreted and forgotten along the way. Strange stuff: a long trek across the sands reveals some legionnaires impaled on spears, like shish-kabobs at an oasis barbecue. It's all a bit convoluted and thematically tangled. But, for the most part, highly recommended for folks who enjoy a few Camels with their Tuareg coffee.