Timbuktu - kuoleman kaupunki

For once it's not the Foreign Legion dashing off against villains in the Saharas, but Victor Mature courting the wife of the French officer in charge, who doesn't seem to mind much. It's always a pleasure to see Victor Mature on the screen, there is no one like him for imposing stature and a kind of brutal but benevolent charm, and Yvonne de Carlo is just the girl for him. It's not a great film, but the tempo is swift, there is nothing wrong with the action and the story, and it even amounts to some suspense towards the end, but it is not a very deep investigation of Muslim mentality and mystery but just another account of another power-crazy local gangster, a beduin speaking perfect English, with some intrigue concerning sewing machines. A decent beefy entertainment with a lot of shooting ambushes, crawling in the sand, running for life on horses and without, great risking in disguises and many casualties, most of them anonymous. Jacques Tourneur has made the best of it backed by decent enough music.