La anam

A masterpiece: directed by the great Salah Abu Seif, written by the Controversial Ehsan Abdel Quoddous, based on his famous novel "sleepless". The story is if full of romance, seduction and revenge. The movie was reproduced recently to be available on DVD's.

The movie introduces 7 famous stars in the Egyptian Cinema led by Faten Hamama and Omar Sharif (after three years of their marriage).

This is a unique movie in Faten Hamama's career where she played the teenager who wants to control the life of her father and destroy his marriage, in an effort to keep her life as it used to be.

Great performance by Faten, Omar and Rushdi Abaza.

"Sleepless" (1957) is another Egyptian film which I would recommend to anyone interested in getting a taste of Egyptian cinema, as it is a very accessible, technically proficient film - it plays almost like a Hollywood melodrama, only in a different language. It's an overlong (a little over two hours) but engrossing soap opera, with Freudian implications. Slickly made, in vivid color, and a prime cast: Egyptian superstar Faten Hamamah, convincingly playing below her age, is especially effective in her off-screen narration, while Hind Rustum is worth two Jayne Mansfields all by herself. And if all that is not enough, Omar Sharif has a sizable role as well. *** out of 4.