Action in Arabia
1944 film by Léonide Moguy
Action in Arabia (also known as Danger in Damascus and International Zone) is a 1944 American spy thriller film directed by Leonide Moguy and starring George Sanders and Virginia Bruce. The film was based on the 1943 novel The Fanatic of Fez by M. V. Heberden. Action in Arabia was written by Philip MacDonald and Herbert J. Biberman. The supporting cast includes Gene Lockhart and Robert Armstrong. Despite the title, the plot involves trouble and intrigue with the Nazis in Damascus, who scheme to seize control of the Suez Canal.
Plot
In the spring of 1941, American journalist Michael Gordon and his colleague, William Chalmers, arrive in Damascus. When Chalmers is murdered, Gordon sets out to find out why. He is helped along by glamorous secret agent Yvonne, who is on the trail of a group of Nazi saboteurs. Intrigue centers around the actions of Josef Danesco who offers to sell information, as well as French diplomatic official Andre Leroux and Eric Latimer, the owner of the Hotel International, both suspected of having connections with the Nazis.
Gordon enlists the help of Mathew Reed, a member of the American Legation and uncovers a plot to maneuver the Arabs into an insurrection as a diversion for an attack on the Suez Canal by the Nazis.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Action in Arabia” as 1944 film by Léonide Moguy. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1944 film by Léonide Moguy. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4677213. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1944, 1943 and 1941.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Action in Arabia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.