''Intisar al-Shabab'' (') is an Egyptian film released in 1941. It was the first film featuring sibling actor-singers Asmahan and her brother

Farid al-Atrash Farid al-Atrash (; October 19, 1910 – December 26, 1974), also spelled Farid El-Atrache, was a Syrian-Egyptian singer, oudist, composer, and actor. Although born in Syria, he immigrated to Egypt at the age of nine with his mother and siblings, ...

, the latter of whom composed all the songs in the film. Al-Atrash presented the

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

-within-a-film ''ليلة في الأندلس'' (“A Night in Andalusia”), the first of several lyrical theatre pieces in

Egyptian cinema The Egyptian film industry is today based mainly in Cairo, which is sometimes referred to as Hollywood on the Nile, Hollywood of the Middle East or Hollywood of the East, despite having its beginnings in the city of Alexandria in the early 20t ...

, including text from poet Ahmed Rami quoted from

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...

. The operetta includes two acts with four scenes and features music in the

maqam Maqam, makam, maqaam or maqām (plural maqāmāt) may refer to: Musical structures * Arabic maqam, melodic modes in traditional Arabic music ** Iraqi maqam, a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq * Persian maqam, a notion in Persian clas ...

Ajam (, ) is an Arabic word for a non-Arab, especially a Persian. It was historically used as a pejorative—figuratively ascribing muteness to those whose native language is not Arabic—during and after the Muslim conquest of Iran. Since the ea ...

. When the film was shown in southern Syria in 1941, the

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

tribal men shot rifles the screen in reaction to seeing actress Asmahan, who came from a noble Druze family, shown in the film in make-up and dressed in Western-style clothing.

Synopsis

Waheed (

) and his sister Nadia ( Asmahan) leave the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

by train to follow their acting dreams, and on the train they meet teacher Al-Attar ( Abdel Fatah Al Kasri). Al-Attar invites them to live with him and Umm Ismail ( Mary Mounib) alongside the mediocre trio going by Jawz ( Fouad Shafiq), Lawz ( Hassan Fayek), and Bunduq ( Hassan Kamel) (translated as “

Walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

Almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...

, and

Hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus '' Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according to ...

”). Upon hearing Wahid and Nadia, the troika leads them to Nojoom Al Lail (“Night Stars”) Casino, whose manager Khawaja Bechara Al-Gandhali (

Bishara Wakim Bishara Wakim (Arabic: بشارة واكيم) (March 5, 1890 – November 30, 1949) was an Egyptian director and actor born in Faggala, Cairo in 1890. Career Wakim, born Bisharah Yoakim, was a Greek Catholic. He was educated in Collège-des-F ...

) becomes smitten with Nadia and hires all five performers. Next to encounter Nadia are a

Pasha Pasha (; ; ) was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitary, dignitaries, and others. ''Pasha'' was also one of the highest titles in the 20th-century Kingdom of ...

’s son named Muhyi (

Anwar Wagdi Anwar Wagdi (, ; 11 October 1904 – 14 May 1955), born Anwar Wagdi Yehia Elfattal, was an Egyptians, Egyptian actor, screenwriter, Film director, director and Film producer, producer. Life Anwar was born in the Cairo district of Daher, Egypt, ...

) and his friend Fawzi ( Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy). Nadia declines to date him at first, but he invites her to sing at a party in his manor and ends up marrying her, prompting Bechara to fire the whole troupe and Umm Ismail to evict them since she left the Casino and they cannot pay the housing fee without her revenues. Waheed reads an advertisement for cinema singers and auditions for music teacher Taha Taha (

Stephan Rosti Stephan Rosti ( ) (16 November 1891 – 22 May 1964) was an Egyptian actor and film director who lived and worked in Egypt. Personal Rosti's mother was an Italian Egyptian dancer. She was performing in Egypt when she met Rosti's father, t ...

), whose jealousy scotches Waheed's chance, but Waheed does meet and fall in love with Taha's sister Ehsan ( Rawhiyya Khaled). A record company director is impressed with his voice and books him on the radio, earning him fame and the income to rent an apartment in the tony

Zamalek Zamalek ( , ''al zamalek'') is a ''qism'' (ward) within the West District (''hayy gharb'') in the Western Area of Cairo, Egypt. It is an affluent district on a man-made island which is geologically a part of the west bank of the Nile River, wit ...

district of

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

with Jawz and Umm Ismail (who are now married). When Muhyi's mother Bahia Hanim (

Alwiya Gamil Alwiya Gamil () was an Egyptian actress of Lebanese origin whose real name was Elisabeth Khalil Majdalani. She was born in Lebanon on December 15, 1910 and immigrated with her parents to Egypt. Career Gamil began her career at the age of 15 when ...

) learns that her new in-laws Nadia and Waheed are singers, she asks her son to divorce Nadia or leave home. Muhyi pursues Nadia as she leaves, and he crashes into a train and is taken to the hospital, where Nadia urges him to return home. Ehsan goes to Waheed's house and meets Nadia at the door, who lies to Ehsan that the siblings are married, prompting Ehsan and Taha to leave upset for the Levant. Unsure how to produce his operetta, Waheed turns to the Nut Trio, who trick Bechara into producing it to get closer to Nadia (who they tell Bechara is aiming to leave Muhyi); it ends happily ever after with the operetta a hit, Nadia returning to Muhyi, and Ehsan returning to Waheed.

Crew

*Director: Ahmed Badrakhan *Screenwriting: Omar Jamei (story), Ahmed Badrakhan (screenplay), Badie' Khayri (dialogue) *Music:

Farid Al-Atrash Farid al-Atrash (; October 19, 1910 – December 26, 1974), also spelled Farid El-Atrache, was a Syrian-Egyptian singer, oudist, composer, and actor. Although born in Syria, he immigrated to Egypt at the age of nine with his mother and siblings, ...

*Producer: Gabriel Talhalmi *Production Studio: Talhami Films (Talhalmi Brothers).

Cast

(Waheed) * Asmahan (Nadia) *

(Muhyi) *

(Bechara) * Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy (Fawzi) *

(Bahia Hanim) *

(Taha Taha) * Fouad Shafiq (Jawz) * Hassan Fayek (Lawz) * Hassan Kamel (Bunduq) * Rawhiyya Khaled (Ehsan) * Abdel Fatah Al Kasri (Master Al-Etr) * Soraya Fakhry * Mahmoud Ismail * Mary Mounib (Umm Ismail) * Abdelmonem Ismail *

Samia Gamal Zeinab Ali Khalil Ibrahim Mahfouz (; 5 March 1924 – 1 December 1994), known professionally as Samia Gamal (), was an Egyptian belly dancer and film actress. Gamal performed in more than 50 movies during her career. She is regarded as one of t ...

(dancer)

Songs

Composer:

* “إيدي في إيدك” (“My Hand Is in Your Hand,” lyrics by

Bayram al-Tunisi Bayram al-Tunisi () (born in 1893 in Alexandria, Egypt as Maḥmūd Muḥammad Muṣṭafā Bayram () - died 1961), was an Egyptian poet with Tunisian roots. He was exiled from Egypt by the British for his Egyptian nationalist poetry. Early life ...

) * “إيدي في إيدك” (“Love Is Here,” lyrics by Mohamed Helmy Al-Hakim) * “ليالي الأندلس” (“A Night in Andalusia,” lyrics by Ahmed Rami) * “الشروق والغروب” (“Sunrise and Sunset,” lyrics by Bayram al-Tunisi) * “صدوك عني العدا” (“The Anger from Me,” lyrics by Bayram al-Tunisi) * “صوني الخدود” (“Sunny Cheeks,” lyrics by Bayram al-Tunisi) * “وحيتاك” (“Haytak,” lyrics by Youssef Badros)

References

External links

IMDb page

El Cinema page

El Film page (archive)
{{Authority control Films directed by Ahmed Badrakhan 1941 films Egyptian musical comedy films Egyptian romantic musical films 1940s Egyptian films