Little Miss Devil
{{Infobox film
| name = Little Miss Devil
Afrita hanem
| image =
| caption =
| native_name = {{Infobox name module|Arabic|عفريتة هانم}}
| director = Henry Barakat
| producer = Farid Al Atrache
| writer = Abo El Seoud El Ebiary
| starring = {{ubl|Samia Gamal|Farid Al Atrache|Lola Sedki|Ismail Yassine}}
| music = Farid Al Atrache
| cinematography = Ahmed Adley
| editing = Emile Bahri
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|1949}}
| runtime = 112 minutes
| country = Egypt
| language = Arabic
}}
Little Miss Devil ({{langx|ar|عفريتة هانم|translit=Afrita hanem|lit=Little Miss Genie}}) is a 1949 Egyptian musical comedy film{{Cite book |last=Pye |first=Douglas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wwj8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT23 |title=100 Film Musicals |last2=Hillier |first2=Jim |date=2019-07-25 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-83871-404-8 |pages=23 |language=en}} directed by Henry Barakat. The plot is about Asfour, a poor singer, played by Syrian musician Farid Al Atrache, who falls in love with Aleya, the somewhat spoiled daughter of his boss.{{Cite web |date=2020-08-06 |title=Singalongs and Big Dance Numbers: 8 Classic Egyptian Musical Films From Back in the Day |url=https://egyptianstreets.com/2020/08/06/singalongs-and-big-dance-numbers-8-classic-egyptian-musical-films-from-back-in-the-day/ |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=Egyptian Streets |language=en-US}}
Plot
File:Samiaetfarid.jpg and Farid Al-Attrach]]
Asfour wants to marry Aleya, but her father won't let the marriage happen due to Asfour's class status. Asfour turns to a genie for help, but the genie, a female genie named Kahramana, played by noted Egyptian actress and dancer Samia Gamal, falls in love with Asfour instead, and tries to manipulate his desires.
Release
Following the publicity of Gamal's marriage to Texan Shepherd King in 1951, the film became the first Egyptian film to receive a regular theatrical release in the United States, opening December 7, 1951 in New York City.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=December 12, 1951|page=1|title=Egyptian Dancer Who Wed Oil Heir Cooches Film Into Regular Release|url=https://archive.org/details/variety184-1951-12/page/n76/mode/1up?view=theater|access-date=February 26, 2024|via=Internet Archive}} The New York state censor reportedly deleted one dance scene that had a close up of Gamal's lower abdomen.
Reception
According to the British Film Institute’s book 100 Film Musicals, Afrita hanem critiques modernity: “Running through all these films (as through so many Indian films), exploring moral dilemmas in bourgeois family settings, is a discourse in which western modernity – cars, clothes, manners – is viewed negatively in relation to traditional values. The sage who presides over the genie in Afrita Hanem pops up from time to time to deliver homilies about materialistic greed and selfishness.”Hillier, Jim and Douglas Pye. 100 Film Musicals (Bfi Screen Guides). British Film Institute, 2011, p. 16.
Variety felt that Gamal showed "scant thespic ability. Her talent appears to be exclusively confined to a happy faculty of undulating her hips, abdomen and buttocks in an eye-arresting manner". They suggested that "the unitiated will find Arabic tunes as a form of monotonous wail devoid of melody."
{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=December 12, 1951|page=6|title=Film Reviews: Little Miss Devil|author=Gilb.|url=https://archive.org/details/variety184-1951-12/page/n76/mode/1up?view=theater|access-date=February 26, 2024|via=Internet Archive}}
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References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0297707|Afrita hanem}}
Category:Egyptian speculative fiction films
Category:1940s Arabic-language films
Category:Films directed by Henry Barakat
Category:Egyptian musical comedy films
Category:1949 musical comedy films
Category:American black-and-white films
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