Love Beach – Mahmoud Qasim

The films we write about here have been seen many times and often seen on various channels, especially the old classics carefully made by their masters and filled with immortal stars, like those whose time has passed. Therefore, writing may be useless and we may no longer watch them with the same eagerness and interest, but I try to read each film with a new vision. While wearing a different suit.

The film directed by Barakat in 1950, Love Beach, is based on the novel Selma by the English writer Marie Corelli, translated as Selma in the international series. The novel was circulated among young people when it was published in Arabic, unfortunately, what European cinema took from her did not make an impact on the Egyptian audience, perhaps the reason is the presence of Leila Murad and her magic. But one thing must be taken into account, that is, the director Barakat referred more to foreign literary texts than to the film he adapted, that is, the film was taken from the novel, perhaps in English or French translation, like all his other foreign films, including Pity My Tears, Everlasting Melody and Love Rendezvous, in which cases Yusuf Issa, known for his profound culture, wrote with him, and in this film he transferred the director and his screenwriter to an area far from the filming location, that is, the beach of Marsa Matruh, which later became known as the “Love Beach”. I went there in the summer thirty years ago, and when I stood by the rocks, how I wondered: who led the screenwriter and director to this specific place? The film takes place in the area of ​​​​Mattrou, and the scenes of the meeting? They were all shot at the Lovers’ Rock, but how far is the distance between this city and that rock, I can mention that the film “Night of Love” shot in the same year confirmed that those distant places have completely abandoned the inhabitants, but according to the film, Leila is a teacher with students, her father works in the telegraph office and has something to send or receive, which means that Barakat went to the farthest places of urbanization. , It is a feature of the film that this bold art that we see penetrates from one era to another, so we live in a love story on the beach and next to the Mediterranean Sea, as the lens travels with its stars. All places in Egypt, which means that “Salma” in the English novel becomes an Egyptian girl who has to fall in love despite the extreme reservations of the local people, and if she comes to Cairo, she will become a victim of Egypt. The conspiracy of her husband Adel’s aunt, and the conspiracy of Adel’s former lover Suhail, make her image look like a traitor, that is, we are facing a love story that is everywhere, but its owner. They wear their own masks, the magic of the film still lies in the charm of Leila Murad, an innocent girl with a beautiful voice, who here looks more like a daughter of a big city than a Bedouin girl or a daughter of another country. She has a Cairo accent, which means she is from Cairo, contrary to any indication that we understand that she is a daughter of the environment, and we are dealing with a traditional structure here, Leila is the only daughter. An old man who still works in the government does not get married after his wife left and his daughter married, which is not desirable and maybe does not exist in that area.

In this film, Hussein Sedqi is an attractive lover with a lot of experience in female relationships, and he plays this role acceptable, but I don’t know why this role was assigned to Anwar Wagdy, who starred in the same year as Barakat. In his great film “Prince of Revenge”, Wagdy was undoubtedly more lively and honest, but it is important to respect the director’s choice.