CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

SunnyHello Nice effects though.

Ploydsge just watch it!

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

morrison-dylan-fan With my family being away for most of bank holiday Monday,I started searching round for a film I could watch during the day. Hearing about Egyptian cinema from other ICM users during the Musical Challenge,I was thrilled to stumble on an Egyptian Musical,which led to me walking like an Egyptian.The plot:Desiring the hand of marriage from his love Aleya, Operetta writer Asfour finds his hand to be pushed aside by Aleya and her dad,due to Asfour being a rough round the edges working class fellow,who does not have the elite friends that Aleya and her family spend time with. Blindly loving Aleya, Asfour and his friend Bou'ou try to find ways to get enough cash so that they can join the elite. Believing that they have no luck,Asfour finds a lamp containing genie Kahramana,who says she will grant all his wishes. As Asfour orders wishes for Aleya's love, Kahramana finds Asfour to remind her of a long lost love.View on the film:Appearing from a puff of smoke, Samia Gamal gives a magical performance as Kahramana and lookalike Semsema. Giving the genie a very modern sensibility, Gamal shoves the "Yes master" traditions aside to grant Asfour's wishes with a gleeful sass,with Gamal being very funny when Kahramana disapproves of the request. Longing for her love, Gamal strikes transfixing poses in the belly dancing sequences, and expressively shows what Asfour is missing right in front of his eyes. Performing his own songs with a dash of classic movie star glamour, Farid Al Atrache gives a wonderful performance as Asfour,whose love for Aleya springs out with mad-cap energy. Humble before the genie is out of the bottle, Atrache gets Asfour lapping up his new luxuries,whilst prominently keeping all that he is losing in view.Running for an hour and 52 minutes instead of the run time IMDb give, the screenplay by co-writer/(with Abu Seoud El-Ibiary) director Henry Barakat cross sweet Fantasy with smooth Musical,lightly comedic Melodrama. Keeping the genie off screen for the first 30 mins,the writers brilliantly build the friendship between Asfour and Bou'ou, (hilariously played by Ismail Yasseen ) with their humble work life just about keeping Asfour's love for Aleya somewhat grounded. Bringing magic into their lives, the writers do very well at blending Fantasy and Melodrama, via the wishes Kahramana grants, making her love for Asfour more noticeable,and also showing how no matter how many wishes Asfour wants, none of them will grant true love.Giving the dance numbers some Arabian Night riches, director Barakat opens the tale with lavish tracking shots stylishly gathering up all that Asfour has wished. Along with Gamal looking very sexy,Barakat superbly makes each Musical number match Asfour's move from the working class to the elite. Putting on a show for the final, Barakat weaves spells with gliding shots across Asfour's new mansion and fade in/fade outs fading in on Kahramana's disapproval of Asfour's Arabian tale.

TC-Batsy That was the golden age in Egyptian cinema where the best musicals were produced in the 40's and 50's. Farid and Samia were the Middle Eastern version of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers who entertained audiences over the years and were the perfect couple before their separation; Samia married an American businessman and traveled to the US to amaze people with her first class belly dancing while Farid continued singing and acting in movies with dramatic and sad themes until his death. Afrita Hanem is a masterpiece in Egyptian cinema and it's a shame you'll never find this quality of movies in our present days due to cultural and social changes.

elshikh4 Every time I watch this classic I say "No way that was made in 1949". But that, I think, is a reason why this is a classic ! The Egyptian movies, as same as the Egyptian people, love to sing and dance. During the 1940s and the 1950s the musical comedies lived a golden age, with endless movies. Some were weak, some were average, and some, like the one in hand, were super.It has not many but all the great factors. (Farid Al Atrache) is a magnificent singer, composer, who assured here how undoubtedly talented he was as a comedian too. His melodies always have a profoundly sad mood, and yes in this movie the happy ones are few, yet that deepened the romantic core of it seriously. (Ismail Yasseen); aka the powerhouse of farce in the Egyptian cinema for at least 2 decades. He does a role of a sidekick in a way makes it a measure for else actors. By the way his name in the movie means in the Egyptian slang (his mouth), mocking at his trademark sizable mouth. (Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy), (Stephan Rosti) and (Lola Sedki) you can't find a trio of evil, comic evil, better than this. Then the movie's icon, the jinni herself, (Samia Gamal) who perfectly mastered the 2 roles, Kahramana and Semsema, with lovely infancy, incredible lightness and fresh sexiness.(Abu Seoud El-Ibiary) was a master writer who knows what can make us laugh. And this is one of his best works. The way he remade the story of Aladdin's Lamp; which belongs to the Arabian heritage of folk stories, is fascinating. The giant male demon turns into very hot barely-covered she-jinni (Kahramana), the poor Aladdin into poor singer and composer (Asfoor), Aladdin's love into a saucy yet deeply romantic dancer, another version of the she-jinni, (Semsema). Look at the way how it makes a classic romance out of it; (Asfoor) loves the wrong girl who's interested in only his money, while he's being really loved by both Kahramana and Semsema however he's the last to know. All of that are mixed into a plot of 2 competing musical stages, where the numbers unfold. And, believe it or not, it eventually managed to be a wise satirical reading to the human naivety; with the monologue of (Zaki Ibrahim), as the old kind Jinni, near the end about preferring every glowing falsity over the true thing. Simply this is how a folk story could be cinematically reborn as big blazing show, while saving its moral message as clear and bitter also.(Henry Barakat) did it all; melodramatic, realistic, romantic, comic movies, and why not musical ones. Sure he was living his golden age as well, making a movie which still oozes youth and vitality till now. Sometimes the pace is so cartoonish, sometimes the image is too-dazzling-it's-colored, and all the time the motion is enticing.Unlike nearly all the musicals back then, where having a number about the Arab and foreign countries' dances is a must, this time – more differently and quite romantically – it's about the year's 4 climatic seasons. And how the spring will win them all where love can grow again, while any previous defeat has to wither. I'm referring to the movie's main number (El Rabee') or (The Spring). It was a song written originally for (Om Kalthom) but when she desired too many changes from its writer (Ma'moon El-Shenawy), the last sold it to (Al Atrache). Ahhh, here's a new reason to love (Om Kalthom) !Shortcomings ? For me I just didn't like the traditional style of shooting few songs. But it's mainly related to the nature of the song that has something to do with the drama, yet with not much to express visually, like (Ha Afdal Ahebak); the song of (Al Atrache) feeling happy before going to engage his first love; where the camera didn't have anything but one close-up for him singing in his car. That was usual back then, but considered, by me, a treachery for the cinematic spirit of the movie, any movie. The end was a bit confusing for me as a kid; thinking always that the lead went into dimensions, traveling to the world of jinn, reuniting with his love. But it was only the staged spectacle where his love, human love, Semsema comes back to him; which's not the strongest ending dramatically though, even if it substantiates how the lead's pain, in the last song, is an enough apology.It has never been, at the time, an actress, this pretty as Samia Gamal, who stays for more than 90 % of the movie with risqué outfit. Whether being in the Jinni's transparent, so wildly naked, dress or the dancer's suit; Samia Gamal was unbelievably sexy, representing such an unprecedented sexual boldness (Now the Jinni of Aladdin's lamp must be so jealous. This is more deviltry !). Impossible to forget the dance she performed for (Asfoor) to show her "abilities" as a cleverer dancer, than his first love. It was – as the whole movie – sultry however done with class.It's a fantasy/musical/romance/comedy. Can I add so sexy as well? Of course. Among many many movies with the same story; about misusing the miraculous power to learn a lesson, since The Sorcerer's Apprentice's segment in (Fantasia – 1940) to Adam Sandler's (Click – 2006), this is the most sincere to the original, standing alone as perfect entertainment. For me, it isn't less than any great Hollywood movie at the time. And there is no Egyptian movie won the Oscar before? Huh. With this quality who needs it?!

stelmarta-1 "Lady Genie", before anything else, is a fun movie. It's sort of a cross between Gene Kelly and Bollywood. The acting is good, and the singing and dancing are excellent. The plot is very silly indeed, and I found it extremely diverting, despite the flaws which I shall now list.The first is not a flaw so much as a disclaimer: those not familiar with the Arabic culture may be baffled for most of the duration. This is an Arabic movie made for an Arab audience, and there are no explanations for outsiders.Second: I have compared "Lady Genie" to a Gene Kelly movie, and the similarities are in that the music numbers are long and don't further the plot. Especially the finale with the demons and the girls in the cages -- long and random.Finally: it's old, and cheap. The film quality in particular suffers from this.But, as I said in the beginning, it's a wild romp, quite funny and featuring some world-class belly-dancing.