View source for Maroc 7

{{Short description|1967 film by Gerry O'Hara}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Maroc 7
| image          = maroc7poster.jpg
| caption        = [[Film poster]] by [[Renato Fratini]]
| director       = [[Gerry O'Hara]]
| producer       = John Gale <br> Leslie Phillips <br> Martin C. Schute
| writer         = David D. Osborn
| starring       = [[Gene Barry]]<br />[[Elsa Martinelli]]  <br> [[Leslie Phillips]]
| music          = [[Kenneth V. Jones]]
| cinematography = Kenneth Talbot
| editing        = [[John Jympson]]
| studio         = Cyclone Films
| distributor    = [[Rank Film Distributors]]
| budget         = £399,835{{r|Petrie|p=12}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=J. |title=The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945–1985 |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |year=2022 |isbn=9781399500760 |pages=360}}</ref>
| gross          = £214,494{{r|Petrie|p=15}}
| released       = {{Film date|1967|03|22|df=yes}}
| runtime        = 91 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English
}}
'''''Maroc 7''''' is a 1967 [[UK|British]] [[thriller film]] directed by [[Gerry O'Hara]], starring [[Gene Barry]], [[Cyd Charisse]], [[Elsa Martinelli]], [[Leslie Phillips]] and [[Denholm Elliott]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061956/|title=Maroc 7|access-date=13 November 2021|website=IMDb.com}}</ref>
==Plot==
Louise Henderson is the editor of a respected fashion magazine, but she has a secret career as mastermind of a ring of thieves. With their professional operation as a front, Henderson uses one of her models, Claudia, and a photographer, Raymond Lowe, to steal precious artefacts and jewels. Law enforcement agencies have their suspicions about her, so undercover man Simon Grant is assigned the case. He pretends to be a safecracker to infiltrate Henderson's gang, travelling to Morocco, where Henderson intends to switch an imitation Arabian medallion for a priceless real one.
Grant is given cooperation in Morocco by Chief of Police Barrada. Things go wrong when Grant needs to kill Lowe, who has followed him. The theft takes place as planned, until Claudia dies while trying to take the medallion from Grant. To the surprise of cops and robbers alike, the precious medallion is stolen by the one person none of them suspected.
==Cast==
* [[Gene Barry]] as Simon Grant
* [[Elsa Martinelli]] as Claudia
* [[Leslie Phillips]] as Raymond Lowe
* [[Cyd Charisse]] as Louise Henderson
* [[Denholm Elliott]] as Inspector Barrada
* [[Alexandra Stewart]] as Michelle Craig
* [[Angela Douglas]] as Freddie
* [[Eric Barker]] as Professor Bannen
* [[Tracy Reed (English actress)|Tracy Reed]] as Vivienne
* Maggie London as Suzie
* Ann Norman as Alexa
* Penny Riley as Penny
* [[Lionel Blair]] as hotel receptionist
* [[Ricardo Montez]] as Pablo
== Production ==
The film was the fifth in a series of movies jointly financed by Rank and the [[National Film Finance Corporation]] '''('''NFFC).<ref name="Petrie">{{Cite journal |last=Petrie |first=Duncan |date=January 2016 |title=Resisting Hollywood Dominance in Sixties British Cinema: The NFFC/Rank Joint Financing Initiative |url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/94238/1/01439685_2E2015_2E1129708.pdf |journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television |volume=36 |pages=1–21}}</ref>
Producer Leslie Phillips had seen ''[[The Pleasure Girls]]'' (1965) and hired its director Gerry O'Hara, who was under contract to [[Sydney Box]]. According to O'Hara, Gene Barry replaced a German actor who pulled out of the film. O'Hara said the film was "not a very happy experience... I went over budget. There were lots of problems."<ref name="screen">{{cite web |last=Dixon |first=Wheeler Winston |date=3 December 2010 |title=Working Within the System: An Interview with Gerry O’Hara |url=http://www.screeningthepast.com/issue-30-first-release/working-within-the-system-an-interview-with-gerry-o%E2%80%99hara/ |website=Screening the Past}}</ref>
The instrumental theme song, "Maroc 7", by [[The Shadows]] was released as a single<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maroc 7 (Columbia, DB 8170) |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/2260835-The-Shadows-Maroc-7 |access-date=13 October 2023 |website=Discogs}}</ref> and rose to No. 24 on the [[UK Singles Chart]] in April 1967.<ref name="UKchart">{{Cite web |author= |date=2019 |title=UK Official Chart: Shadows |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/8804/shadows/ |access-date=27 January 2019 |publisher=Official Charts Company}}</ref>
On the release of the film, a novelization of the screenplay was published by [[John Burke (author)|John Burke]], writing as "Martin Sands."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sands |first=Martin |title=Maroc 7 |publisher=[[Pan Books]] |year=1967}}</ref>
==Reception==
''[[Kine Weekly]]'' wrote: "After a slowish and over-mysterious start, the picture gets into a very entertaining stride and the double-twist ending is fun".<ref>{{Cite journal |date=18 March 1967 |title=Maroc 7 |journal=[[Kine Weekly]] |volume=597 |issue=3101 |pages=17}}</ref>
''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin|Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "Despite an attractive cast and a fashionably post-Bond script, something seems to have gone sadly awry with this thriller."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1967 |title=Maroc 7 |journal=[[Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=34 |issue=396 |pages=77}}</ref>
The ''[[New Statesman]]'' described the film as "a feeble thriller,&nbsp;... Denholm Elliott, the archetypal Old Etonian, is cast as a French-Moroccan cop. Gene Barry has the quizzical air of man who's just read the script."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coleman |first=John |date=24 March 1967 |title=Maroc 7 |journal=The [[New Statesman]] |volume=73 |pages=415}}</ref>
[[Leslie Halliwell]] said: "Complex sub-Bond tale of cross and double-cross; hardly worth following really."'''''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0-586-08894-6 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=658}}</ref>'''''
The ''Radio Times Guide to Films'' gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "The heavily insured legs of Cyd Charisse are on display in this lacklustre crime caper.&nbsp;... One of those misfires that makes you wonder why someone in the production line didn’t cry out “Stop, abandon ship”."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=[[Immediate Media Company]] |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=593}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*{{IMDb title|tt0061956/|Maroc 7}}
[[Category:1967 films]]
[[Category:British thriller films]]
[[Category:1960s thriller films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Gerry O'Hara]]
[[Category:Films shot in Morocco]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Kenneth V. Jones]]
[[Category:English-language thriller films]]