The Man from Cairo ** (1953, George Raft, Gianna Maria Canale, Massimo Serato, Irene Papas) – Classic Movie Review 12,388

The inventively far-fetched 1953 film noir The Man from Cairo stars George Raft as ex-serviceman Mike Canelli, a tourist mistaken for a US agent seeking lost WW2 gold. 

‘HE TOOK A DESPERATE CHANCE FOR A FORTUNE IN GOLD… and a Beautiful Woman!’

Director Ray Enright’s 1953 British /Italian/ American international co-produced film noir The Man from Cairo stars George Raft as ex-serviceman Mike Canelli, a man who served in Algeria during the war and is now a tourist mistaken for an American agent assisting the French government investigating the location of some lost gold bullion stolen during World War Two in Algiers.

Based on an inventively far-fetched story by Ladislas Fodor, it is an ordinary but not totally insignificant B-movie, made on a meagre budget of $235,000, with Raft showing that his fall as a star was undeserved. It is shot in black and white in Europe and Africa, on location in Italy and Algeria, and in the studio at Palatine Studios, Rome.

It is Raft’s last top billed performance as star, and the last of three films that he made for Lippert Pictures. Raft had appeared in two Lippert Pictures low-budget thrillers, Escape Route (1952), shot in England with Sally Gray, and Loan Shark (1952). After this, he resumed his original career as a dancer, including a show in Las Vegas. He said: ‘As far as films are concerned, I’m dead. Nobody has been breaking their necks trying to hire me.’ Nevertheless, he appeared in Rogue Cop (1954), Black Widow (1954), and A Bullet for Joey (1955).

It is Ray Enright’s final feature and the American film debut of Irene Papas.

The cast are George Raft as Mike Canelli, Gianna Maria Canale as Lorraine Belogne, Massimo Serato as Basil Constantine, Guido Celano as Sgt. Emile Touchard, Irene Papas as Yvonne Le Beaux, Alfredo Varelli as General Dumont aka Professor Crespi, Leon Lenoir as Captain Akhim Bey, Mino Doro as Major Le Blanc aka Emile Moreau, and Angelo Dessy as Pockmark.

The Man from Cairo is written by Eugene Ling, Philip Stevenson [Phillip Stevens] and Janet Stevenson [Janice Stevens], and produced by Bernard Luber who had just made Loan Shark with Raft.

Release date: September 3, 1953 (Italy) and 27 November 1953 (US).

it is also known as Crime Squad (UK), Dramma nella Kasbah (original title) and Missione ad Algeri (Italy).

The Man from Cairo is directed by Ray Enright, runs 81 minutes, is made by Michael David Productions [Michaeldavid Productions] and Societa Italiana Gestioni Manifestazioni Artistiche Italarte, is distributed by Eros Films (UK) and Lippert Films (US), is written by Eugene Ling, Philip Stevenson [Phillip Stevens] and Janet Stevenson [Janice Stevens], based on story by Ladislas Fodor, is shot in black and white by Mario Albertelli, is produced by Bernard Luber and Livio Dall’Oglio, and is scored by Renzo Rossellini, with Art Direction by Giulio Bongini.

Ray Enright (March 25, 1896 – April 3, 1965) directed 73 films between 1927 and 1953. After Coroner Creek (1948), he made six more films: Return of the Bad Men (1948), South of St Louis (1949), Montana (1950), Kansas Raiders (1950), Flaming Feather (1952), and The Man from Cairo (1953).

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,388

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