Racism is implicit in this movie: the cast and crew must have smelt the coming rebellion against French colonial rule. All the Arab characters were played by Europeans, albeit the main Arab role, "Thank-you", was played by an Indian-Englishmen, who'd gone to Oxford, was probably the most educated person on the set. He seemed to be heavily made up, with skin darkening, which reminds me that the English in India sometimes referred to Indians as "blacks" (one of the nicer terms). There was one name in the cast, "Abdie", whom I cannot remember, who was played by "Massoud". Well, how did the audience like it? How did the audience react to little Jasmine and her brother with their donkey? How did these two "desert Arabs" come to speak English? Racism is a sort of romance, where at the end the romantic ones slaughter those about whom the romance is written. That's the plan, anyway. In actual life, usually it is the racist-romantics who get slaughtered, or at least lose their empires. Can we say that the plot, concerning an ancient Roman, "Marcus Manelius", a looter of a city of the other ancient empire in the region, Carthage, successor to Phoenecia, warns us of the fate of all empires? Is that the actual message of the movie with Van Heflin's gentle humor?

Imagine if Indiana Jones and Dr. Belloq from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK had gone on their archaeological quest in the real North Africa-- i.e., Hollywood characters filmed inside a creditable documentary. That's the GOLDEN MASK-- well, without the whip and the Nazis.Van Heflin plays a writer who is "along for the ride" on an archaeological quest with a rather stuffy British archaeologist (Eric Portman). They head to North Africa, in search of the priceless eponymous mask which legend says is in the lost tomb of a Roman emperor in Djemila (ancient Cuicul, now a UNESCO site).That's the plot-- with the addition of Wanda Hendrix as the love interest-- but never mind, because the plot is not what makes this movie worth watching. The director, Jack Lee, even said, ""was a piece of old hokum, made almost entirely on location. It was quite fun, but it was all cliché stuff, with goodies and baddies and all those spahis riding around chasing bandits." He's got a point, but who cares? What makes the movie-- whose alternate title is SOUTH OF ALGIERS-- fascinating is the location:It was indeed filmed largely in and around Algiers by D.P. Oswald Morris (Oscar for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and multiple BAFTA awards), who pointed his camera at Algerian people, scenes and moments such as tribal dancers, including a male belly dancer in the street, a cavalry charge by desert soldiers in flowing robes, camel traders, hardscrabble oases, stretches of wild open road through the desert ("When it rains," says a character called Thankyou, "there is no road"), sites from antiquity including ruins at Djemila and Carthage (Tunis), and more. Much more.In fact, forget RAIDERS. The film that THE GOLDEN MASK really reminded me of is GRASS: A NATION'S BATTLE FOR LIFE, the unforgettable Merion C. Cooper (KING KONG) silent documentary that follows the harrowing trek of 50,000 nomads, with their livestock and belongings, from northern Turkey to western Iran in the early 1920s. Nothing against RAIDERS (which I've seen multiple times, it's such fun), but GOLDEN MASK is like RAIDERS in a real world of tribal cultures. And that's a combination that's hard to beat.

Writer Nicholas Chapman (Van Heflin) teams up with archaeologist Dr. Burnet and his pretty daughter (Eric Portman, Wanda Hendrix) to search for golden mask of Moloch. Two thieves (Jacques Brunius and Charles Goldner) try to sabotage the expedition to get the mask for themselves. Tomb-raiding adventure film is very dry and very dull. Forced romance between Van Heflin and a girl young enough to be his daughter doesn't help. Partially shot on location in Algiers but there's still plenty of poor rear projection effects. Ultimately, it's an avoidable film that is lacking adventure or suspense -- two prerequisites for movies of this type.

The thing that struck me about this movie was how much it set itself apart from similar 'treasure hunt' movies of its day. None of the acting was so overdone that it became unbareable. And the authenticity of the setting and location were extremely refreshing, peeking through the dusty cotton print that has survived. Van was actually cool. He didn't do any big cliches that was criminal. The Egyptian cast was first rate. No Peter Lorre's and miscast Europeans playing the native tongue to the ground. Jack Lee. BAM.