It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

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 is driving to a small Tunisian town in the pouring rain but a rock slide blocks the road and he has to hoof it. He stumbles across a disabled truck carrying a load of contraband pistols...a couple of dudes approach and he hides....he sees the dudes faces in lightning and so the plot is in motion. In a café in town he meets the lackadaisical piano player and mopey barmaid Anouk Aimee. Then the dudes from the truck come in the café and the plot thickens. The truck dudes know he was stranded by the rock slide so they ask him if he saw them or the truck. Gosh,no says he. They don't believe him. One of the dudes is Max. After awhile he convinces Max to run away from the other dude and hightail it to Paris, so he can pursue his career as an artist (not kidding). Max says OK, but the other dude finds out & makes Max go for a swim in concrete boots. Then Howard goes to the police chief to narc on the other dude who snuffed Max but turns out the chief is on the take. Matter of fact the whole town is crooked and owned by the villain who lives behind a desk in the fancy spread outside town. He's the kingpin of the gun-running operation.Well, after some romance between Howard and Aimee, lots of running in the drably scenic Tunisian hills and dales,the good guys and the villains end up all together outside town at Villa d'villain. Its not a bad movie although Anouk Aimee seems in a coma in most scenes and inaudible as well. Howard was 37 when he made this, he's not handsome and he he looks 50 so his Kissie scenes with 19 year old Aimee are really gross and totally unbelievable. Other than that, it has some suspense and has a nice quick pace. I think I'll give it 6 instead of 5.

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.

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.