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Cairo Station

Original title: Bab el hadid
  • 1958
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 17m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
5K
YOUR RATING
Cairo Station (1958)
CrimeDrama

A newspaper salesman at the train station in Cairo develops an unhealthy obsession with a woman who sells refreshments.A newspaper salesman at the train station in Cairo develops an unhealthy obsession with a woman who sells refreshments.A newspaper salesman at the train station in Cairo develops an unhealthy obsession with a woman who sells refreshments.

  • Director
    • Youssef Chahine
  • Writers
    • Abdel Hai Adib
    • Mohamed Abu Youssef
  • Stars
    • Farid Shawqi
    • Hind Rustum
    • Youssef Chahine
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.5/10
    5K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Youssef Chahine
    • Writers
      • Abdel Hai Adib
      • Mohamed Abu Youssef
    • Stars
      • Farid Shawqi
      • Hind Rustum
      • Youssef Chahine
    • 21User reviews
    • 37Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 nominations

    Photos79

    Cairo Station (1958)
    Youssef Chahine in Cairo Station (1958)
    Youssef Chahine in Cairo Station (1958)
    Hind Rustum in Cairo Station (1958)
    Youssef Chahine in Cairo Station (1958)
    Hind Rustum and Farid Shawqi in Cairo Station (1958)
    Cairo Station (1958)
    Cairo Station (1958)
    Cairo Station (1958)
    Cairo Station (1958)
    Cairo Station (1958)
    Cairo Station (1958)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Farid Shawqi
    Farid Shawqi
    • Abu Siri
    • (as Farid Chawki)
    Hind Rustum
    Hind Rustum
    • Hanuma
    Youssef Chahine
    Youssef Chahine
    • Qinawi
    Hassan el Baroudi
    • Madbouli
    • (as H. el Baroudy)
    Abdulaziz Khalil
    • Abu Gaber
    • (as Abdel Aziz Khalil)
    Naima Wasfy
    • Hallawatim
    • (as Naima Wasfi)
    Said Khalil
    Abdel Ghani Nagdi
    Loutfi El Hakim
    Abdel Hamid Bodaoha
    F. El Demerdache
    Ahmed Abaza
    Hana Abdel Fattah
    Safia Sarwat
    Asaad Kellada
      Sherine
      Soheir
      Esmat Mahmoud
      • Director
        • Youssef Chahine
      • Writers
        • Abdel Hai Adib
        • Mohamed Abu Youssef
      • All cast & crew
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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      Storyline

      Edit

      Did you know

      Edit
      • Trivia
        Official submission of Egypt for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 31st Academy Awards in 1959.
      • Connections
        Featured in Caméra arabe (1987)

      User reviews21

      Review
      Review
      Featured review
      Chahine's masterpiece, among the greatest films of all time
      It's not hard to see why "Cairo Station" was banned for 20 years in Egypt. It gained much recognition in Berlin, being nominated for the Golden Bear and Chahine missing out on the Best Actor prize on a technicality, but in Egypt the audiences, used mostly to the romantic comedies and melodramas Egypt's massive film industry was expected to release, found the film's darkly sexual nature disturbing, and the censors reacted in an even harsher manner. Expectations for the film were probably even further away from the finished product since the film starred Farid Shawqi and Hind Rostom, two big stars of the Egyptian cinema.

      Everything you hear about the film from Chahine and from Egyptian film scholars suggest that he put his heart and soul into making this film. If the gritty yet stunningly well-orchestrated visuals don't convince you that's true, then Chahine's passionate, masterful portrayal of the main character surely will. It really is one of the greatest performances of all time, and that's fairly surprising coming from someone who chose to stay behind the camera for most of his long career. There's not a single moment where you don't completely believe the character and the character's motivations and feelings, Chahine is just THAT good.

      The storyline itself is nothing to write home about unless you view it within the context of Egypt when the film was released. The film is very reflective of the pent-up frustration that many Egyptians felt (one could even say that inner turmoil of the main character is completely intended as a reflection of Egypt before Nasser took over), and the events surrounding the main plot are hugely reflective of the transition Egypt was going through (in one spectacularly stylized scene Qinawi looks on as rock n' roll is celebrated Egyptian-style inside a train carriage).

      There are some brilliant moments throughout the film, but Chahine's handling of the final twenty-odd minutes are beyond brilliant. For one, he handles the change of tone spectacularly well, and his performance certain helps here. It's remarkable to watch a film directed by its star in which the actor's performance and the director's work feel so intrinsically connected- when Chahine the actor is dancing to rock and roll, Chahine the director is wonderfully playful, allowing the camera to move freely and capture the energy and enthusiasm of the scene. When Chahine the actor is at his most vulnerable and sexually obsessive Chahine works the film into a tense, spectacularly well-edited frenzy.

      This isn't Chahine's first film, but it is quite possibly Chahine the auteur's first film. Although it contains a fair bit of Lang and a little Hitchcock (it is remarkably similar in its final stages to Hitchcock's "Psycho", which would only come out two years later, even some of the editing is similar), the film is mostly Chahine, looking at Egypt as only he can. "Cairo Station" is a film of remarkable depth, filled with great characters and wonderful performances, and featuring a spectacularly tense score. Beyond all that it is a film of immense technical precision and of unparalleled passion, and it is unquestionably the work of a master. A perfect film, the greatest Arabic-language film ever made, and one that I would personally rank as one of the greatest films made anywhere by anyone.

      10/10
      helpful•39
      6
      • ametaphysicalshark
      • Aug 10, 2008

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      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • January 20, 1958 (Egypt)
      • Country of origin
        • Egypt
      • Language
        • Arabic
      • Also known as
        • Glavna železnička stanica
      • Filming locations
        • Ramses Railway Station, Cairo, Egypt
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Technical specs

      Edit
      • Runtime
        1 hour 17 minutes
      • Color
        • Black and White
      • Sound mix
        • Mono
      • Aspect ratio
        • 1.66 : 1

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