Escape from Zahrain Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Escape from Zahrain Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 17, 2026

Ronald Neame's "Escape From Zahrain" (1962) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include new audio commentary by critic Dwayne Epstein and vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The hijacked ambulance

The Desert has always been a favorite destination for ambitious film producers. But the films that popularized The Desert as one of the most spectacular locations for memorable cinematic adventures did not all follow the same route to get there.

In the 1930s, visiting The Desert usually meant a trip to Arizona, which was then properly embellished with plenty of footage shot in Southern California. This practice remained unchanged during the 1940s, when big films, like Sahara, tried hard to appear as authentic as possible. It was during the 1950s that select films finally began incorporating meaningful, authentic exotic footage, some of which was from The Desert. West of Zanzibar and Ice Cold in Alex, for instance, both feature such footage. In the 1960s, ambitious producers on both sides of the Atlantic routinely funded big adventure films set and shot on location in The Desert. In France, Greed in the Sun became a huge box office hit, while in America, Lawrence of Arabia won seven Oscar statuettes.

Directed by Ronald Neame, Escape From Zahrain comes from that transitional period of approximately ten years that started in the mid- 1950s and lasted until the late 1960s, when big and smaller adventure films still followed different routes to visit The Desert, as it was becoming increasingly obvious that in the near future almost all of them would be shot at authentic locations. It is a small production, or at least when compared to the likes of The Flight of the Phoenix, another film from the same period that visited The Desert while spending time in Arizona and Southern California, which worked very hard to appear as authentic as possible. It is also representative of the dying kind of exotic adventure film that visited The Desert, because it is essentially a color replica of its dated black-and-white counterparts from the 1940s.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Escape From Zahrain invents an oil-rich country ruled by a despotic monarch who has become a target for a small group of revolutionaries. While the leader of the revolutionaries, Sharif (Yul Brynner), is transported to a different prison, Ahmed (Sal Mineo) and several more of his fanatical supporters free him. In the ensuing chaos, the revolutionaries are joined by a few more of Sharif’s cellmates, including the American embezzler Huston (Jack Warden) and the seasoned criminal Tahar (Anthony Caruso), and together they hijack an ambulance truck with a young nurse (Madlyn Rhue). While the monarch’s security forces track them down, the fugitives then enter a massive desert region, hoping to reach the Aden Protectorate on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, where Sharif can organize an uprising. However, it quickly becomes obvious that not everyone is fit enough to survive the journey.

The misery and shootouts the fugitives must endure create the excitement expected in all exotic adventure films set in The Desert. Also, the sizeable character transformations that are attached to it are entirely predictable. The only unique material is the one in which the personalities of the stars begin to merge with the personalities of their characters.

Fortunately, in Escape From Zahrain, this unique material is abundant, so the equally predictable virtue preaching -- coming almost exclusively from Brynner -- is countered quite well with it. Also, even though The Desert never becomes an authentic character, its ability to easily destroy anyone who disrespects it is very effectively recreated while the journey to the Aden Protectorate is underway.

Escape from Zahrain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Escape From Zahrain arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release presents a fabulous new 4K restoration of Escape From Zahrain, prepared at Paramount. I think that this 4K restoration is every bit as impressive as the recent 4K restoration of Sands of the Kalahari, also prepared at Paramount.

I have in my library this older release of the film, produced by Olive Films in 2013, and did not feel the need to do any comparisons with it because all improvements I saw were beyond dramatic. In some areas, the new 4K restoration makes the previous presentation look almost like upscaled material. Delineation, clarity, and especially depth are either excellent or outstanding. Unsurprisingly, all visuals, including the ones from the shootout during the sandstorm, boast vastly better dynamic range. Color reproduction and balance are fantastic. All primaries and supporting nuances are properly set and look strikingly healthy. As a result, the entire film has a spectacular, very impressive, faithful period appearance. There are no traces of any problematic digital corrections. Image stability is excellent. Lastly, I did not see any distracting large cuts, marks, debris, warped or torn frames to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Escape from Zahrain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

All action material sounded wonderful on my system. In several areas where the planes fly over the fugitives or attack them, I thought that dynamic intensity was great. (The same material sounds quite good on the previous Blu-ray release of Escape From Zahrain as well). The dialogue is very clear, clean, and stable. I did not notice any age-related anomalies to report in our review.

Escape from Zahrain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic Dwayne Epstein. It is a good commentary, providing plenty of accurate information about the production of Escape From Zahrain, how the film bends reality and why, the stars' performances and careers.

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for Escape From Zahrain. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

Escape from Zahrain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even though many films have faked its personality and aura, The Desert has always been a great cinematic character. Films that visit it almost never disappoint. While not a big and authentic film, Escape From Zahrain visits it and produces all the excitement one should expect from a proper exotic adventure film. If you choose to acquire it for your library, I suggest you bundle it with Ice Cold in Alex. Kino Lorber's release presents a marvelous, very faithful new 4K restoration of Escape From Zahrain, prepared at Paramount. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.