Le secret de la Casbah

Original title: Dramma nella Kasbah

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Film Noir Spy Crime Drama Mystery Thriller

An American tourist, who served in Algeria during WW2, is mistaken for an American agent hired by the French government to recover its gold reserves that went missing in the Algerian desert ... Read allAn American tourist, who served in Algeria during WW2, is mistaken for an American agent hired by the French government to recover its gold reserves that went missing in the Algerian desert during the war.An American tourist, who served in Algeria during WW2, is mistaken for an American agent hired by the French government to recover its gold reserves that went missing in the Algerian desert during the war.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.4/10

241

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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5.4241

Featured reviews

6boblipton

Come With Me To The Casbah

George Raft blows into Algiers from Cairo to discover that the local police and the French spies are trying to track down a couple of hundred million in gold that's been missing since the Second World War. With an attitude of "what's that got to do with me?", he schedules an appointment with fellow American Richard McNamara, goes to his apartment, helps himself to a drink, and finds Irene Papas dead. He's spotted by Gianna Maria Canale, who describes him to the police, then refuses to identify him. With his passport held, he finds himself under suspicion of being involved with the missing gold.

In his last starring role (and Ray Enright's last movie as director), Raft finds himself irresistible to women, and bluffing his way through a murky situation. It's an interesting plot, and Raft's diffident performance matches that of his ill-defined character; the fact that it's never clear why he's in Algiers made me suspect early on that he was involved in more than a Wrong Man sort of way. This Hitchcockian tale has a lot to recommend it, but the short budget keeps it from being superior.

searchanddestroy-1

Adventure drama from a western director where Peter Lorre is missing.

It was unusual from Ray Enright - an excellent western maker - to make such an espionage post war feature. It was very popular after WW2, to provide such plots with former nazis, new Russian Soviet enemies and many intrigues. And of course George Raft was hired several times for such schemes. This one, among the last that Ray Enright directed, is not above nor worst than another one of this kind. It is agreeable and predictable to watch. No more. If you are a Raft's fan, go ahead, if not, you'll miss nothing at all. But there is an overall good atmosphere, north Africa atmosphere, very common for this period, late forties early fifties. I don 't know why, I expected to see Peter Lorre in every scene of this intrigue. I don't know why....

4bkoganbing

Subpar noir

George Raft finished a series of pictures he made with anemic budget Lippert Studios with The Man From Cairo. And in the tradition of B movies the title has nothing to do with the film other than Raft changes planes in Cairo.

Where he meets up with an old friend Richard McNamara, an American private detective who has been hired by the French government to locate some French gold that disappeared into the Algerian desert after the Nazis invaded. The bad guys mistake Raft for McNamara after Raft arrives in Algiers and the action begins.

Other than a quick appearance by Greek actress Irene Papas who gets killed off right away, no other players of note to Americans are cast in this film. The Man From Cairo is slightly better than Raft's Outpost In Morocco with the action taking place in the same locale, but not much better.

No one has ever accused George Raft of being a great actor, but he truly is lifeless in this film. I'm sure he was grateful for the paycheck and that's about it.

One definitely for the money.

6CinemaSerf

The Man From Cairo

Just before the Nazis invaded France, it's government secreted their billions in gold reserves to North Africa and divided it up into shipments to keep it safe. One such shipment - worth some $100,000,000 went missing and despite years of searching, nobody has ever found it. Well now it's the turn of "Canelli" (George Raft) to turn his hand at detective work. That's not by choice, though. He's just a tourist having an holiday, but when he is the victim of a mistaken identity that puts him square in the middle of an internecine international plot, he's in it up to his neck and the only way he can stay safe it to find the loot himself. Raft is in his element here, and there are plenty of crooked characters and espionage elements to the plot, but there's still something just a bit too join-the-dots and repetitive about the whole thing and Gianna Maria Canale lacks any fizz as the glamorous "Lorraine" whom he meets and shares his adventure with. The denouement finds us on a train and that and the last five minutes do enliven the film a little, but it's still a fairly mundane meander lacking in much menace that gets us there. It's watchable, and Raft does enough, but you'll never recall it.

1brogmiller

4 fingers

A truly risible film of interest only to die hard film buffs. George Raft is very dapper and expensively tailored but still has the look of a man from whom one would hesitate to buy a second-hand car. He is anyway a wee bit long in the tooth for these sorts of capers and has absolutely no chemistry with luscious former beauty queen Gianna Maria Canale who gives the impression that she is still parading for the judges. Fellini 'regular' Mino Doro, with peruke, is a good villain and there is a tantalising glimpse of stunning Irene Papas in a bathtub. The rest of the cast with the exception of Massimo Serrato, is composed of planks. On a serious note, Gianna Maria was runner-up in the Miss Italia contest of 1947 to Lucia Bose, recently taken from us by the Chinese virus.

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Trivia
Final film of director Ray Enright.

Quotes
[In a bar at the airport in Cairo, Charles Stark can be seen entering. Upon noticing a particular individual who is reading a newspaper, Stark approaches and sits down next to him. This is Mike Canelli]
Agent Charles Stark: Well, well.
[Canelli looks up.]
Agent Charles Stark: From New Orleans, Louisiana to the airport bar in Cairo, Egypt is a long way, even for a guy like Mike Canelli.
Mike Canelli: [smiles and folds his newspaper] Just like somebody said, it's a small world. Hello Charlie.
[Canelli and Stark shake hands.]
Agent Charles Stark: [returns the handshake] What are you doing in Cairo, Mike?
Mike Canelli: Oh, just a twenty minute stopover on my flight west.
Agent Charles Stark: It's been four years since I last saw you back home. What brings you all the way over here?
Mike Canelli: [puts his newspaper on the counter] Knocking around, having fun, trying to stay out of trouble.
Agent Charles Stark: [laughs] That I want to see. Where there's trouble, you'll find Mike Canelli.
Mike Canelli: What's your excuse for being here, Charlie?
Agent Charles Stark: Sorry, Mike, I'm on a confidential assignment, heading for Saudi Arabia.
Mike Canelli: [with interest] Sounds mysterious. But you always did go in for that cloak and dagger stuff.
Agent Charles Stark: Where are you bound for now, Mike?
[an intercom can be heard announcing a flight to Algiers, which is planning to leave soon.]
Mike Canelli: That's me, Charlie. I'm heading for my old stomping grounds, Algiers for a visit.
Agent Charles Stark: Look, Mike, I'm coming there myself in a couple of weeks. Forget I mentioned I'm on a job, will you? If we run into each other, we're strangers, okay?
Mike Canelli: Sure, Charlie? What do you got in Algiers?
Agent Charles Stark: Maybe nothing but a long dull tail job on a guy with a four-fingered right hand.
Mike Canelli: [nods and taps him with his newspaper] I'll be seeing you.
[Stark watches as Canelli turns to leave the bar]