Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

MartinHafer While the poor casting in "Golden Salamander" might surprise you, it it STILL worth seeing. It begins with a British man, David (Trevor Howard), driving along some very, very wet roads at night in Tunisia. Eventually, he pulls off the road--and stumbles on some guns that have fallen out of a crate. Soon, some folks return to retrieve the guns--and David runs, as he's pretty sure these are smugglers. However, he does NOT report this to the authorities.His job in the town is to pack some antiquities for transport to a British museum. During the time he's in the town, he falls for Anna (Anouk Aimée). He also soon realizes that Anna's brother is one of the smugglers. What's he to do? And, just how deep does this conspiracy go?This is a nice action-romance. As I mentioned above, the casting was odd, as Howard was almost two decades older than his love interest. I also was dumbfounded when there was the HUGE fight near the end...and Anna just stood there watching (even though if the wrong man wins, she will die!). Despite these problems, the film is exciting and has a very good plot...and it's well acted as well.

eldino33 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.

bkoganbing If Golden Salamander had been made in the USA some studio back-lot would have sufficed for Tunisia. But this being post World War II in Europe, the British film adventure was made on the actual location with interiors shot in the UK. That's more than could be said for the great Casablanca.In 1950 when this made the French were busy trying to hang on to their colonial empire and not making much of a go at it. Which brings us to the plot of Golden Salamander and how archaeologist Trevor Howard, in Tunisia to retrieve some salvaged Etruscan works gets himself mixed up in arms smuggling. The guy who has his archaeological treasures is Walter Rilla, the same man who is running the arms smuggling. He's also the local big shot in the coastal town where this is all taking place and owns just about everyone.Who to trust is Howard's problem, he's not even sure about the lovely Anouk Aimee, a refugee with brother Jacques Serna from the Nazis who has settled down there, but would like to get back to Paris once she can afford to. Because of the lack of trust involved in our hero's part, Golden Salamander is an action adventure that plays a whole lot like film noir.Herbert Lom is on hand as Rilla's nasty henchmen. No mystery where he's concerned. Until he got to play Inspector Dreyfys in the Pink Panther series, Lom was as reliable a villain as you could find in film. Wilfrid Hyde-White has an interesting part, if this had been done in America, Hoagy Carmichael would have been cast.The title refers to a particular valuable piece of Etruscan art that is the centerpiece of the collection that Rilla is turning over to Howard. Golden Salamander is a nicely packaged action film with a twist of noir that should satisfy anyone.

dougdoepke With her little-girl voice and arched eyebrows, a 17-year old Anouk (Aimee) is a real attention-getter. Having her fall for the much older and plainer Trevor Howard, however, is something of a stretch. Nonetheless, it's a fascinating movie to look at even if the basic plot is unexceptional. Archaeologist Howard travels to north Africa to retrieve shipwrecked treasures that include a golden salamander. There he stumbles across a network of gun- smugglers and hooks up with the exotic Anna (Anouk) in a seedy, atmospheric café. Just who is and who isn't a part of the network generates some suspense.But the movie's strength is in the acting and the photography. Howard is superb, as usual, while Anouk manages to be both emotionally vulnerable and surprisingly accomplished in her first big part. Special mention should go to Walter Rilla for his super slick version of a gangster kingpin. He looks and acts the sinister role to a proverbial T.However, what I liked best is what the pro's call "mise-en-scene", ie. the placing of a scene. Someone in production had the great idea of filming on location, along the north African coast line. This results in a number of visually stunning compositions made all the more so by the subtle tonalities that only black& white photography can produce. Catch the romantic scene on the beach with the setting sun in deep-focus background. Color is simply too literal to capture this kind of poetic effect.The dialogue is spiced up nicely with several exotic pearls of wisdom, but what about that escape scene by the cliff which seems pretty implausible-- how did Hyde-Whyte know a sheep flock would pass at exactly the right time. Or the climax, which seems a little too tame for my liking. Nonetheless, it's one of those movies that's stayed with me over the years for reasons I can't quite pin down. I guess it's something about the authentic crowds along the Arab bazaar or the sheer poetry of that coast line stretching into the distance and beyond. Yes indeed, there's a lot to be said for the old black & white.