''Cairo Road'' is a 1950

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by David MacDonald and starring

Eric Portman Eric Harold Portman (13 July 1901 – 7 December 1969) was an English stage and film actor. He is probably best remembered for his roles in several films for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger during the 1940s. Early life Born in Halifax, ...

Laurence Harvey Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to South Africa at an early age, before later settling in th ...

Maria Mauban Maria Mauban (10 May 1924 – 26 August 2014) was a French actress. She appeared in around fifty films and television series during her career. in 1950 she starred in the British Egyptian-set crime film ''Cairo Road''. The same year she appeared ...

Harold Lang Harold Lang (December 21, 1920 – July 26, 1985) was an American dancer, singer and actor. Life and career Lang began his professional career as a ballet dancer, making his professional debut with the San Francisco Ballet in 1938 and then goi ...

and

John Gregson Harold Thomas Gregson (15 March 1919 – 8 January 1975), known professionally as John Gregson, was an English actor of stage, television and film, with 40 credited film roles. He was best known for his crime drama and comedy roles. He was cr ...

Plot

A team of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian anti-narcotic agents led by Colonel Youssef Bey (

), the chief of the Anti-Narcotic Bureau, and his new assistant Lieutenant Mourad (

), recently relocated from Paris with his wife Marie (

), try to prevent shipments of drugs crossing the southern Egyptian border. They are constantly on alert as even camel caravans are suspect in smuggling narcotics. The agents are investigating the murder of a rich Arab businessman named Bashiri. Raiding a berthed ship in the harbour of Port Saïd leads them to the trail of heroin smugglers, including Rico Pavlis (

) and Lombardi (

Grégoire Aslan Grégoire Aslan (born Krikor Kaloust Aslanian; 28 March 1908 – 8 January 1982) was a Swiss-Armenian actor and musician. Early life Krikor Kaloust Aslanian ( hy, Գրիգոր Գալուստի Ասլանյան) was born in Switzerland or in Cons ...

). One of the police agents, Anna Michelis (

Camelia Camelia may refer to: * Camelia (singer) (born 1974), Malaysian singer and model * Camelia (actress) (19191950), Egyptian actress * Camelia (name), a list of people with the name * Camelia, a character in the telenovala ''Camelia la Texana'' * Cam ...

), is targeted by the smugglers. Eventually Pavlis turns on his partner, killing Lombardi, but Youssef sets a trap for the Pavlis brothers, and the capture of the two remaining criminal gang leaders and their men, proves the police are competent at stemming the flow of narcotics.

Cast

as Colonel Youssef Bey *

as Lieutenant Mourad *

as Marie *

as Humble/Rico Pavlis *

as Lombardi *

Karel Stepanek Karel may refer to: People * Karel (given name) * Karel (surname) * Charles Karel Bouley, talk radio personality known on air as Karel * Christiaan Karel Appel, Dutch painter Business * Karel Electronics, a Turkish electronics manufacturer * Gr ...

as Edouardo Pavlis * John Bailey as Doctor *

Martin Boddey Albert Martin Boddey (16 April 1907 – 24 October 1975) was a British film and television actor. He was a founder member of the Lord's Taverners charity. Boddey started acting when he was nearly 40, often portraying irritable authority fig ...

as Major Ahmed Mustafa *

as Coast guard *

Marne Maitland James Marne Kumar Maitland (18 December 1914 – March 1992) was an Anglo-Indian character actor in films and television programmes. Biography Maitland was born in Calcutta, and educated at Bedales School before going up to Magdalene College, ...

as Gohari *

John Harvey John Harvey may refer to: People Academics * John Harvey (astrologer) (1564–1592), English astrologer and physician * John Harvey (architectural historian) (1911–1997), British architectural historian, who wrote on English Gothic architecture ...

as Major Maggoury *

Abraham Sofaer Abraham Isaac Sofaer (1 October 1896 – 21 January 1988) was a Burmese-born British actor who began his career on stage and became a familiar supporting player in film and on television in his later years. Life and career Although Sofaer was b ...

as Commandant * Peter Jones as Ship's Lieutenant *

as Anna Michelis

Production

The film was based on real cases worked on by the Egyptian police. Producer Maxwell Setton had been born in Cairo. It was originally known as ''Poison Road'' and was made with the co-operation of the Egyptian government. The production was centred around Egypt where principal photography took place, and its cast included Egyptian film star Camelia, who died in 1950 in an aircraft crash.

Reception

''Cairo Road'' received a reasonably positive review from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', who called it an "unpretentious and consistently sensible little film... British restraint and taste not only have saved the day but succeeded in dignifying a battered subject... this routine picture has some sterling ingredients." The critic from ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' said "action moves slowly in the first half and much of the story is veiled so as to obscure the plot. However, it winds up with a meaty climax." In a review in the ''Time Out Film Guide'' by Trevor Johnston, ''Cairo Road'' is described as "a workaday thriller, whose makers actually took the rouble to go to Cairo and Port Said to shoot it. Twenty-something Harvey makes an early appearance as Inspector Portman's bumbling, keen-as-mustard assistant."Pym 2004, p. 174.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Pym, John, ed. ''Time Out Film Guide''. London: Penguin Group, 2004. .

External links

* * {{David MacDonald 1950 films 1950 crime drama films British black-and-white films British crime drama films Films about the illegal drug trade Films directed by David MacDonald (director) Films set in Egypt Police detective films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films