Cairo Road ** (1950, Eric Portman, Laurence Harvey, Maria Mauban, Harold Lang, John Gregson) – Classic Movie Review 9879

Director David Macdonald’s 1950 thriller Cairo Road stars Laurence Harvey, aged 21, at the start of his film career, although already in his fifth film.

He supports his friend Eric Portman in an exotically located British crime melodrama, in which an Egyptian colonel of police, Colonel Youssef Bey (Portman), and his new young lieutenant assistant, Lieutenant Mourad (Harvey), from the Egyptian Narcotics Bureau unit, investigate a case of narcotics smuggling by an organised band.

Portman’s performance, a strong support cast, Oswald Morris’s noirish black and white cinematography and the unusual locations (Cairo and Port Said, Egypt) partly compensate for the creakiness of the thriller and the woodenness of the production.

The cast includes Egyptian film star Camelia (as Anna Michelis) in her last film. She was killed on 31 August 1950 in the plane crash of TWA Flight 903 when she was 31.

Also in the cast are Maria Mauban, Karel Stepanek, Harold Lang, Grégoire Aslan, John Gregson, Camelia, John Bailey, Martin Boddey, Marne Maitland, Abraham Sofaer, Oscar Quitak, Peter Jones, and Eric Pohlmann.

Principal photography took place in Egypt and it was also made in the studio at Welwyn Studios, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England.

Cairo Road is directed by David Macdonald, runs 95 minutes, is made by Mayflower Productions, is released by Associated British Picture Corporation, is written by Robert Westerby (original story and screenplay), is shot in black and white by Oswald Morris, is produced by Aubrey Baring and Maxwell Setton, and is scored by Robert Gill.

Producer Maxwell Setton was born in Cairo and his film was based on real Egyptian police cases. Originally known as Poison Road, it was made with Egyptian government co-operation.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9879

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