Directed by Youssef Chahine • 1950 • Egypt
Starring Faten Hamama, Hussein Riad, Farid Shawqi
Youssef Chahine’s debut feature—made at the age of just twenty-four, shortly after his time studying acting in Los Angeles—is a touching, bighearted blend of family drama and fantasy (with musical numbers sprinkled in for good measure) that finds the director seamlessly blending the traditions of American and Egyptian popular cinema. Something like an Egyptian IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE meets A CHRISTMAS CAROL, the film spins the story of the simple but virtuous clerk Amin (Hussein Riad) who falls for a get-rich-quick scheme that soon goes wrong. When Amin suddenly dies, he observes from the afterlife the consequences of his actions on his struggling family. The film is famous in Egypt for featuring the sole dance number that Faten Hamama, perhaps the Arab world’s greatest actress, performed on-screen.
Up Next in Directed by Youssef Chahine
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Farewell My Love
Directed by Youssef Chahine • 1956 • Egypt
Starring Farid al-Atrash, Shadia, Ahmed RamzyYoussef Chahine’s love for classic Hollywood musicals shines through his own exuberant forays into the genre, including this inventive and offbeat blend of singing, dancing, and melodrama. Beloved singer-st...
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Lady of the Train
Directed by Youssef Chahine • 1952 • Egypt
Starring Laila Mourad, Yehia Chahine, Emad HamdyA dark, roiling melodrama of greed, deception, and toxic love, Youssef Chahine’s stylish, noir-tinged third feature casts legendary chanteuse Laila Mourad as a singer whose no-good, gambling addict husba...
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My One and Only Love
Directed by Youssef Chahine • 1957 • Egypt
Farid al-Atrash, Shadia, Abdel-Salam al-NabulsyOne of the funniest and most beloved of all Egyptian film musicals, MY ONE AND ONLY LOVE shows off director Youssef Chahine’s lighter side as a supreme entertainer, reuniting popular singing stars Shadia ...
