Kairo - Null Uhr

One of the greatest strengths of filmmaker John Huston was that he knew great source material when he read it and, just as importantly, not to change anything for the sake of change alone. This is a virtue also shared by the makers of ‘Cairo' – a very faithful adaptation of W. R. Burnett's wonderful novel ‘The Asphalt Jungle'. The only problem, of course, is that Huston got there thirteen years earlier.

The switch of locale from the brooding, empty streets of downtown America to the teeming bazaars and markets of Egypt's capital works surprisingly well but in every other department the film is vastly inferior to the Huston version. There is a slight switch of emphasis from the role of the hired gun (Richard Johnson instead of Sterling Hayden) to the criminal mastermind (played with typical cool detachment by George Sanders) and the object of the robbery this time is nothing less than Cleopatra's jewels in the Cairo Museum! Beyond that, however, it's almost a scene for scene remake of the earlier film.

Sanders and Johnson do surprisingly well, even though Johnson is hopelessly miscast as an Arab. The supporting cast is poor at best. ‘Cairo' compares favourably against the other two versions of the tale, ‘Cool Breeze' (1972) & ‘The Badlanders' (1958) – a western with Alan Ladd! – but that's not really saying too much.

Stick with the Huston version or, better still, find a copy of the novel – it's one of the outstanding works of 20th Century American literature.

A surprisingly unenthusiastic piece, which should be a thriller but manages to seem only to go through the motions.

There is a certain amount of visual excitement and atmosphere in the bazaars of Cairo and the scenes between Sanders and Eric Pohlmann are interesting, but there is a somewhat detached feel to the theft itself, where it should be suspenseful.

Richard Johnson is an extraordinary choice for the part of Arab Ali Hassan. Even in black and white, his appearance is not that of an Arab and his accent is very English.

While not terrible, this film fails to excite much and is probably best ignored unless you have an academic interest.

"Cairo" (1963) is notable for being set in Cairo (duh...), but otherwise it's a routine caper film. It's quite leisurely - the caper doesn't start until halfway through the running time - and when it does get to the caper, it's totally unbelievable (the crooks enter the barely guarded Egyptian museum in a thoroughly noisy and indiscreet way!). On-location shooting and a good cast are the strongest assets; Faten Hamamah, reportedly the most popular Egyptian actress of all time, has a rather thankless role in her only Hollywood film, but still manages to give a charming performance. **1/2 out of 4.

The "major" has been released from prison, and has plans to steal artifacts from the national collection in cairo. He's putting a team together of his old cronies to do the job. But once they get the goods, will they be able to get them out of the country? Egypt does not take kindly to people removing the archaeological items from the country. And of course, some of the major's gang gets greedy along the way. Is there any way out of this? Will any of them survive the heist? George sanders always was adept at playing a guy with a dark, evil side. Ie... eve, rebecca, and so many others. And of course, he married TWO of the gabor sisters! Keep an eye out for kuchuk, in the white tuxexo, about twenty minutes in... that's the director's father, walter rilla. Richard johnson supporting; he's probably best known for the haunting. It's quite good! We follow along as the coppers try to figure out what happened in this heist film. Directed by german born wolf rilla. He left germany for the safety of london during world war two. Based on the book by prolific writer william burnett.

... Asphalt Jungle (1950), the story of a well-planned jewel heist gone horribly wrong. That film was directed by John Huston. This one was directed by Wolf Rilla. Need I say more?

It makes the same mistake that many mediocre 60s movies made - They think they can film at an international location with international stars and substitute that for interesting characters and an intriguing plot. But this is practically a carbon copy of Asphalt Jungle, so wouldn't it have interesting characters and an intriguing plot by definition? Yes, but to succeed in execution you still need inspired acting and directing, and this film has none of that. Everybody involved seems so bored, and that made me bored.

There are a few changes. The focus shifts from perpetually angry street criminal Dix Hanley (Sterling Hayden) to the distinguished ex-con jewel thief mastermind Doc (Sam Jaffee). These were the characters and the actors who played them in the original. But here, the biggest star the production has is George Sanders as the mastermind, so the focus shifts to him. Sanders still has it, but it is hard to effectively frame the film around him since his character was originally a supporting role.

The biggest difference in the original Asphalt Jungle and this film is that the character of the crooked cop is completely missing. That could be because the Egyptians objected to an authority figure being portrayed as anything but perfect, or it could be because, in the original, the bad cop was a means to introducing some production code era moralizing and that would have made no sense in this environment and at this point in time.

I'd only recommend this as an object lesson in how important direction and acting and atmosphere are in the success of a production. And atmosphere does not equal pedestrian shots of an exotic locale.