Istanbul

Well, maybe it wasn't all THAT good. Jim found the diamonds in a bracelet he purchased for his lady love, and suddenly shady characters - including one who closely resembled Colonel Klink - started hanging around.

Just when it was decided that the two leave Istanbul, Stephanie is lost in a fire...

...with no real reason to return there save one, the Istanbul authorities have their eyes trained on Brennan. They know he's there to get those diamonds he hid years before (good thing they don't clean overhead lamps in that hotel). Of course so do the goofy henchmen.

Another blast from the past makes an appearance: could it be Stephanie??? "Karen" insists she has never met him in her life, but her memory is a little faulty since she was found in that fire. Now she's married to her savior.

As Brennan and his other problems tangle up with Karen, she begins to remember, and... well, I don't want to spoil anything.

Cornel Borchers & Errol Flynn as lovers Stephanie & Jim, with
Nat King Cole looking on.

ISTANBUL is an okay film. It's certainly far from great, but it isn't boring. Flynn was about 47 years old and looks more like 65, so seeing him running around getting beat up in alleys is particularly strenuous to absorb. The music's great though; this film marked Nat King Cole's cinematic debut, and he gets to sing two songs, including "When I fall In Love". This movie was released to home video last year by UNIVERSAL, but it no longer appears in their inventory. You might want to haunt established, well-stocked video outlets for left over copies. It was made in Technicolor and Cinemascope, and has been shown on American Movie Classics in its wide screen format.

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