''Intisar al-Shabab'' ('' ar, نتصار الشباب , lit=The Victory of Youth, or The Triumph of Youth'') is an

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

film released in 1941. It was the first film featuring sibling actor-singers

Asmahan Amal al-Atrash ( ar, آمال الأطرش ', North Levantine ; November 25, 1918 – July 14, 1944),

and her brother

Farid al-Atrash Farid al-Atrash ( ar, فريد الأطرش; October 19, 1916 – December 26, 1974), also written Farid El-Atrache, was a Syrian-Egyptian composer, singer, virtuoso oud player, and actor. Having immigrated to Egypt at the age of only nine ...

, the latter of whom composed all the songs in the film. Al-Atrash presented the

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

-within-a-film ''ليلة في الأندلس'' (“A Night in Andalusia”), the first of several lyrical theatre pieces in

Egyptian cinema The cinema of Egypt refers to the flourishing film industry based in Cairo, sometimes also referred to as Hollywood on the Nile. Since 1976, the capital has held the annual Cairo International Film Festival, which has been accredited by the Intern ...

, including text from poet Ahmed Rami quoted from

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was base ...

. The operetta includes two acts with four scenes and features music in the

maqam MAQAM is a US-based production company specializing in Arabic and Middle Eastern media. The company was established by a small group of Arabic music and culture lovers, later becoming a division of 3B Media Inc. "MAQAM" is an Arabic word meaning a ...

Ajam ''Ajam'' ( ar, عجم, ʿajam) is an Arabic word meaning mute, which today refers to someone whose mother tongue is not Arabic. During the Arab conquest of Persia, the term became a racial pejorative. In many languages, including Persian, Tur ...

. When the film was shown in southern Syria in 1941, the

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

tribal men shot rifles the screen in reaction to seeing actress Asmahan, who came from a noble Druze family, shown in the film in make-up and dressed in Western-style clothing.

Synopsis

Waheed (

) and his sister Nadia (

Asmahan Amal al-Atrash ( ar, آمال الأطرش ', North Levantine ; November 25, 1918 – July 14, 1944),

) leave the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

by train to follow their acting dreams, and on the train they meet teacher Al-Attar ( Abdel Fatah Al Kasri). Al-Attar invites them to live with him and Umm Ismail ( Mary Mounib) alongside the mediocre trio going by Jawz ( Fouad Shafiq), Lawz ( Hassan Fayek), and Bunduq ( Hassan Kamel) (translated as “

Walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

Almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus ...

, and

Hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according t ...

”). Upon hearing Wahid and Nadia, the troika leads them to Nojoom Al Lail (“Night Stars”) Casino, whose manager Khawaja Bechara Al-Gandhali ( Bishara Wakim) becomes smitten with Nadia and hires all five performers. Next to encounter Nadia are a

Pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, gener ...

’s son named Muhyi (

Anwar Wagdi Anwar Wagdi or Wagdy ( ar, أنور وجدي, ; 11 October 1904 – 14 May 1955), born Anwar Wagdi Yehia El Fattal, was an Egyptian actor, screenwriter, director and producer. Life Anwar was born in the Cairo district of El Daher, Cairo. His ...

) and his friend Fawzi (

Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy ( ar, عبد السلام النابلسي) (23 August 1899 – 5 July 1968) was an Egyptian actor of Lebanese-Palestinian origin. Life Nabulsy was born in Tripoli, Lebanon, in 1899, and died 1968 in Beirut. He is known ...

). Nadia declines to date him at first, but he invites her to sing at a party in his manor and ends up marrying her, prompting Bechara to fire the whole troupe and Umm Ismail to evict them since she left the Casino and they cannot pay the housing fee without her revenues. Waheed reads an advertisement for cinema singers and auditions for music teacher Taha Taha (

Stephan Rosti Stephan Rosti ( arz, استفان روستى ) (16 November 1891 – 22 May 1964) was an Egyptian actor and film director who lived and worked in Egypt. Personal Rosti's mother was an Italian Egyptian dancer. She was performing in Egypt w ...

), whose jealousy scotches Waheed's chance, but Waheed does meet and fall in love with Taha's sister Ehsan ( Rawhiyya Khaled). A record company director is impressed with his voice and books him on the radio, earning him fame and the income to rent an apartment in the tony

Zamalek Zamalek ( ar, الزمالك , ''al zamalek'') is an affluent district of western Cairo encompassing the northern portion of Gezira Island in the Nile River. The island is connected with the river banks through three bridges each on the east an ...

district of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

with Jawz and Umm Ismail (who are now married). When Muhyi's mother Bahia Hanim (

Alwiya Gamil Alwiya Gamil ( ar, علوية جميل) was an Egyptian actress of Lebanese origin whose real name was Elisabeth Khalil Majdalani. She was born in Lebanon on December 15, 1910 and immigrated with her parents to Egypt. Career Gamil began her care ...

) learns that her new in-laws Nadia and Waheed are singers, she asks her son to divorce Nadia or leave home. Muhyi pursues Nadia as she leaves, and he crashes into a train and is taken to the hospital, where Nadia urges him to return home. Ehsan goes to Waheed's house and meets Nadia at the door, who lies to Ehsan that the siblings are married, prompting Ehsan and Taha to leave upset for the Levant. Unsure how to produce his operetta, Waheed turns to the Nut Trio, who trick Bechara into producing it to get closer to Nadia (who they tell Bechara is aiming to leave Muhyi); it ends happily ever after with the operetta a hit, Nadia returning to Muhyi, and Ehsan returning to Waheed.

Cast and crew

Director:

Ahmed Badrakhan Ahmed Badrakhan (18 September 1909 – 26 August 1969) was an Egyptian film director and screenwriter of Kurdish origin. He directed 41 films between 1936 and 1968. He is famous for his 1952 romantic drama '' A Night of Love'' starring Ma ...

; screenwriting: Omar Jamei (story), Ahmed Badrakhan (screenplay),

Badie' Khayri Badī Khayrī ( ar, بديع خيري; 18 August 1893 – February 1966) was an Egyptian folk lyricist and playwright. He was one of the folk lyricists who took their words and inspiration from old traditional Egyptian folk stories and popular ...

(dialogue); film producer: Talhalmi Films (Talhalmi Brothers). *

(Waheed) *

Asmahan Amal al-Atrash ( ar, آمال الأطرش ', North Levantine ; November 25, 1918 – July 14, 1944),

(Nadia) *

(Muhyi) * Bishara Wakim (Bechara) *

(Fawzi) *

(Bahia Hanim) *

(Taha Taha) * Fouad Shafiq (Jawz) * Hassan Fayek (Lawz) * Hassan Kamel (Bunduq) * Rawhiyya Khaled (Ehsan) * Abdel Fatah Al Kasri (Master Al-Etr) * Soraya Fakhry * Mahmoud Ismail * Mary Mounib (Umm Ismail) * Abdelmonem Ismail *

Samia Gamal Samia Gamal ( ar, سامية جمال, born as Zaynab Khalil Ibrahim Mahfuz, 5 March 1924 – 1 December 1994) was an Egyptian belly dancer and film actress. Biography Born in the small Egyptian town of Wana in March 1924, Samia's family moved ...

(dancer)

Songs

Composer:

* “إيدي في إيدك” (“My Hand Is in Your Hand,” lyrics by

Bayram al-Tunisi Bayram al-Tunisi () (born in 1893 in Alexandria, Egypt as Maḥmūd Muḥammad Muṣṭafā Bayram () - died 1961), was an Egyptian poet with Tunisian roots. He was exiled from Egypt by the British for his Egyptian nationalist poetry. Early life ...

) * “إيدي في إيدك” (“Love Is Here,” lyrics by Mohamed Helmy Al-Hakim) * “ليالي الأندلس” (“A Night in Andalusia,” lyrics by Ahmed Rami) * “الشروق والغروب” (“Sunrise and Sunset,” lyrics by Bayram al-Tunisi) * “صدوك عني العدا” (“The Anger from Me,” lyrics by Bayram al-Tunisi) * “صوني الخدود” (“Sunny Cheeks,” lyrics by Bayram al-Tunisi) * “وحيتاك” (“Haytak,” lyrics by Youssef Badros)

References

External links

IMDb page

El Cinema page

El Film page (archive)
{{Authority control Films directed by Ahmed Badrakhan 1941 films Egyptian musical comedy films Egyptian romantic musical films