''Streets of Fire'' ( ar, شوارع من نار, transliterated as ''Shawera men nar'') is an

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 Medit ...

ian film released on March 12, 1984. The film is directed by Samir Seif and features a screenplay adapted from the film ''

Irma La Douce ''Irma la Douce'' (, "Irma the Sweet") is a 1963 American romantic comedy film directed by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond, based on the 1956 French stage musical of the same name by Marguerite Monnot and Alexa ...

,'' directed by

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Hol ...

. It stars Nour El-Sherif and

Madiha Kamel Madiha Kamel (; August 3, 1948 - January 13, 1997) was an Egyptian actress. Biography Madiha Kamel was born in Alexandria. In 1963, as a teenager, her family moved to Cairo. Accompanied by her mother, she presented herself to a modeling contest ...

Cast

* Nour El-Sherif (Imam al-Sayyid al-Masry) *

(Nafisa Imran/Nousa) * Laila Elwi (Ensaf Imran) * Sayed Zayan (Jalal) * Mohamed Reda (Sayyid al-Masry) * Nagah el-Mogui (Qarni) * Naima al-Saghir (Pedroon) * Karima Sharif (Basima) * Omaima Selim (Gamalat) * Zakariya Mowafi (Al-Usul) * Ahmed Abu Obeya (Al-Tamraji/Al-Barman) * Hanem Muhammad (Mother of Imam al-Sayyid al-Masry) * Qassem el-Daly (Awaden) * Sharifa Zeitoun (Aziza)

Plot

In the 1940s, a policeman named Imam al-Sayyid al-Masry moves from

Ismailia Ismailia ( ar, الإسماعيلية ', ) is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, it is the capital of the Ismailia Governorate. The city has a population of 1,406,699 (or approximately 750,000, includi ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

to work in the red-light district. He falls in love with a prostitute named Nousa, who works for a pimp named Jalal, without knowing her profession. Imam defends her from a British soldier who blocks her path in the street and assaults her, thereby losing his place on the police force after a trial. Thus out of work, Imam returns to the neighborhood to search for work, ultimately becoming a pimp himself and winning a turf war with Jalal. Imam becomes a neighborhood

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

, abolishes prostitution in the district, turns his brothel into a nightclub, and joins the guerrillas resisting

British occupation The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

Production

The film is based on the 1963 film ''

Irma la Douce ''Irma la Douce'' (, "Irma the Sweet") is a 1963 American romantic comedy film directed by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond, based on the 1956 French stage musical of the same name by Marguerite Monnot and Alexa ...

'', starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine and directed by

. The plot is very similar to that of Hossam El Din Mostafa's 1983 film ''Route of Passion'', starring

Yousra Yousra ( ; ar, يسرا, ; born Seveen Nessim, ) is an Egyptian actress and singer. She is considered as a glamorous icon for the Middle East and is an influential voice in the region. Career Yousra participated as a main Role actress in alm ...

, Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, Ahmed Zaki, and Farouk al-Fishawy. A lawsuit dogged the producer of that film, which wound up delayed in the courts for a year. Producer Wassef Fayez took advantage of the opportunity and made a toned-down version of the same story. When ''Streets of Fire'' was a success, producer ''Mohamed Mokhtar'' shot a 1984 version entitled ''Five Door Joint'', which was directed by Nader Galal and starred

Nadia Al-Gindi Nadia Elgendi (Also written as Nadia El Gendi; arz, ناديه الجندى) (born 1940 in Khta Alexandria) is an Egyptian actress and producer. She is often known in Egypt as ''"Negmet El gamaheer"'' (the star of masses) because of the high c ...

and

Adel Emam Adel Emam ( ar, عادل إمام; born 17 May 1940 is an Egyptian film, television, and stage actor. He is primarily a comedian, but he has starred in more serious works and, combined comedy with romance especially in his earlier films, which ...

External links

El Cinema page

References

{{reflist Egyptian drama films 1984 films