Rapina al Cairo

Of course don't expect to find in this British movie the magnificence of the John Huston's genuine, authentic material. But George Sanders brings his own touch and nobody can regret that. The basic scheme remains the same as in the original. The actors are less powerful as the American cast but this Wolf Rilla's movie is worth watching, and also a bit rare, hard to catch. I won't say it is a masterpiece but for anyone interested in crime films from all over the world, and from old times, this one is absolutely for you. And Cairo atmosphere, settings brings something exotic, quite different from the urban jungle of the ASHALT JUNGLE;

... 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.

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.

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.

I knew that Faten Hamamah, the Egyptian superstar, played a role once in am MGM movie. But it didn't know it was Cairo until I had seen the movie.

Faten Hamamah has been the biggest female superstar in Egyptian cinema since the 50s but unlike Omar Sharif, her ex-husband who became a Hollywood superstar after he got an excellent chance to show his abilities in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago though he was not the best Arab actor at that time; unfortunately this movie did not give her a fare chance to be an international superstar.

Anyhow, still many Arabs, including myself, want to hear and see Faten Hamamah (and some other Egyptian stars at that time) speaks English!