Country: Egypt
Year: 1946
Duration: 110'
Cairo, 1921. Abdu Al Khaliq is an honest employee who is forced to steal a small amount of money to help cure his sick mother. He is condemned by the severe deputy prosecutor Thabet and dies in prison. His mother dies as well. This tragedy leaves a mark on his brother Mahmud, who becomes a judge in 1936. One day, he finds himself trying the case of Giamil, the son of Thabet, who in the meantime has become Attorney General. His merciful sentence teaches Thabet a moral lesson.
"The setting of this film is obviously different from the German theatrical piece on which it is based, but the moral message is the same […] The common denominator of the two works is the conflict between the laws of religious doctrine and the secular laws of the State. It is also the conflict between rigid interpretation of the law and comprehension of its moral foundation. Al na'ib al am is the first Egyptian film to address this argument" (Ahmad Kamel Mursi, in an interview with Samir Farid, published in the "Cairo Film Club Bulletin", June 5, 1974).<
Biography
film director
Ahmed Kamel Mursi
Ahmed Kamel Mursi (1909-1987). Director, screenwriter and cinema historian and critic, he began as a theatrical director, and went on to work in cinema as assistant director and director of dubbing. He help create the Association of Film Critics, and became its first president in 1972. He helped write the first encyclopedia of cinema in 1973. In 1980 he received the State Medal.
FILMOGRAFIA
Al awdatu ila al riff (Il ritorno in campagna, 1939), Bitnu al sheikh (La figlia dello sceicco, 1942), Al amel (L'operaio, 1943), Al ginsu al lattif (Il gentil sesso, 1944), Ghurub (Crepuscolo, 1946), Al na'ib al am (Il procuratore generale, 1946), Adlu al sama'i (La giustizia del cielo, 1947), Al muwatinu al saleh (Il cittadino corretto, 1948), Al baitu al kabir (La grande casa, 1948), Sitti el beit (La casalinga, 1948), Kul beit luh raghel (Ogni casa ha il suo uomo, 1949), Leila fa al Iraq (Leila sta in Iraq, 1949), Taishu al shabab (La leggerezza della gioventù, 1951), Al ummu al qatila (La madre assassina, 1951), Iddini aqlak (Prestami la tua mente, 1952), Kidttu ahdimu beiti (Stavo per rovinarmi la vita, 1953), Al dawwama (Il vortice, 1953), Amricani fi Tanta (Un Americano nella città di Tanta, 1954), Tariqu al hayat (La strada della vita, doc., 1954), Al nahdatu al sina'iyya (Il progresso industriale, doc., 1954), Al mi'ad (La promessa, 1954), Abna'un wa abà (Figli e padri, 1955), Al serk (Il circo, doc., cm, 1963), Al Qahira (Il Cairo, doc., cm, 1963), Al cinema alatun wa fann (Il cinema è tecnica e arte, doc., cm, 1964), Mahmud Sa'id (doc., cm, 1965), Yusuf Kamel (doc., cm, 1966), Tarikhu al cinema al misriyya (La storia del cinema egiziano, doc., cm, 1967), Risalatun ul al aduwi (Un messaggio al nemico, doc., cm, 1968).
Cast
& Credits
Director and screenplay: Ahmed Kamel Mursi.
Soggetto e dialoghi: Ahmad Shukri.
Director of photography: Ahmad Khurshid, François Farcash, Mustafa Hasan.
Art director: Ahmad Sidqi, Walii Al Din Sameh, Antoine Polisois.
Editor: Ahmad Isma'il.
Sound: Qadri Mahmud.
Music: Mahmud Abdu Al Rahman.
Cast and characters: Husein Riyad (Mahmud), Abbas Faris (Thabet), Siraj Munir (Giamil), Madiha Yusri, Zuzu Hamdi Al Hakim, Zainab Sidqi, Abdu Al Warith Asar.
Production company and Italian distribution: Misr per il Teatro e il Cinema.
Soggetto e dialoghi: Ahmad Shukri.
Director of photography: Ahmad Khurshid, François Farcash, Mustafa Hasan.
Art director: Ahmad Sidqi, Walii Al Din Sameh, Antoine Polisois.
Editor: Ahmad Isma'il.
Sound: Qadri Mahmud.
Music: Mahmud Abdu Al Rahman.
Cast and characters: Husein Riyad (Mahmud), Abbas Faris (Thabet), Siraj Munir (Giamil), Madiha Yusri, Zuzu Hamdi Al Hakim, Zainab Sidqi, Abdu Al Warith Asar.
Production company and Italian distribution: Misr per il Teatro e il Cinema.