''Little Miss Devil'' () is a 1949 Egyptian musical comedy film directed by

Henry Barakat Henry Antoun Barakat (, 11 June 1914, Cairo – 27 May 1997, Cairo) was a well known Egyptian film director. Biography He was born in Shubra to a Melkite Greek Catholic father of Syro-Lebanese descent, and a Syro-Lebanese mother. His fathe ...

. The plot is about Asfour, a poor singer, played by Syrian musician Farid Al Atrache, who falls in love with Aleya, the somewhat spoiled daughter of his boss.

Plot

Asfour wants to marry Aleya, but her father won't let the marriage happen due to Asfour's class status. Asfour turns to a genie for help, but the genie, a female genie named Kahramana, played by noted Egyptian actress and dancer

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 ...

, falls in love with Asfour instead, and tries to manipulate his desires.

Release

Following the publicity of Gamal's marriage to Texan Shepherd King in 1951, the film became the first Egyptian film to receive a regular theatrical release in the United States, opening December 7, 1951 in New York City. The New York state censor reportedly deleted one dance scene that had a close up of Gamal's lower abdomen.

Reception

According to the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

’s book ''100 Film Musicals'', ''Afrita hanem'' critiques modernity: “Running through all these films (as through so many Indian films), exploring moral dilemmas in bourgeois family settings, is a discourse in which western modernity – cars, clothes, manners – is viewed negatively in relation to traditional values. The sage who presides over the genie in Afrita Hanem pops up from time to time to deliver homilies about materialistic greed and selfishness.”Hillier, Jim and Douglas Pye. ''100 Film Musicals (Bfi Screen Guides)''. British Film Institute, 2011, p. 16. '' Variety'' felt that Gamal showed "scant thespic ability. Her talent appears to be exclusively confined to a happy faculty of undulating her hips, abdomen and buttocks in an eye-arresting manner". They suggested that "the unitiated will find Arabic tunes as a form of monotonous wail devoid of melody."

References

External links

* 1949 films Egyptian speculative fiction films 1940s Arabic-language films Films directed by Henry Barakat Egyptian musical comedy films 1949 musical comedy films American black-and-white films 1940s Egyptian films {{Egypt-film-stub