Peter Ustinov

Peter Ustinov died a couple of days ago. He was one of those actors whose face I knew, but not the name, even when I'd see the name Peter Ustinov.

I'm like Emily. I knew him largely from the Great Muppet Caper.

And also from Spartacus.

But I got to looking at his IMDB filmography, and I found the title of a movie I'd been looking for quite a long time.

Treasure of Matecumbe.

It's been twenty years or more since I've seen it. I remember it from summertime Disney Channel viewings. I probably watched it three or four times, but now I remember very little other than images from the movie: the band of travellers (whom I'd think are searching for a treasure) fighing huge, black swarms of mosquitos with a campfire, only to have it doused by a downpour. An Indian announcing a coming hurricane.

And Peter Ustinov's character getting swept away by a tidal wave.

Ustinov plays a doctor. Who's possible treacherous. I don't remember how the plot plays out. Much at all.

I saw a picture of Ustinov with a beard attached to one of his obituaries, and that's what jogged my memory enough to look in his filmography.

I don't remember much else about the movie. Like I said, it's been 20 years. But now I know the name, so I'll have to look for it, if only to be able to put the images in my head in some manner of agreeable storytelling order.