Cairo Road (film)

Plot

A team of Egyptian anti-narcotic agents led by Colonel Youssef Bey (Eric Portman), the chief of the Anti-Narcotic Bureau, and his new assistant Lieutenant Mourad (Laurence Harvey), recently relocated from Paris with his wife Marie (Maria Mauban), try to prevent shipments of drugs crossing the southern Egyptian border. They are constantly on alert as even camel caravans are suspect in smuggling narcotics.

The agents are investigating the murder of a rich Arab businessman named Bashiri. Raiding a berthed ship in the harbor of Port Saïd, leads them to the trail of heroin smugglers, including Rico Pavlis (Harold Lang) and Lombardi (Grégoire Aslan). One of the police agents, Anna Michelis (Camelia) is targeted by the smugglers.

Eventually, Pavlis turns on his partner, killing Lombardi but Youssef sets a trap for the Pavlis brothers, and the capture of the two remaining criminal gang leaders and their men, proves the police are competent at stemming the flow of narcotics.

Production

The film was based on real cases worked on by the Egyptian police. Producer Maxwell Setton had been born in Cairo. It was originally known as Poison Road and was made with the co-operation of the Egyptian government.

The production was centred around Egypt where principal photography took place, and its cast included Egyptian film star Camelia, who died in 1950 in an aircraft crash.

Reception

Cairo Road received a reasonably positive review from The New York Times, who called it an "... unpretentious and consistently sensible little film... antidote. British restraint and taste not only have saved the day but succeeded in dignifying a battered subject... this routine picture has some sterling ingredients."

The critic from Variety said "action moves slowly in the first half and much of the story is veiled so as to obscure the plot. However, it winds up with a meaty climax."

In a recent review by Trevor Johnston, Time Out noted, Cairo Road was, "... a workaday thriller, whose makers actually took the rouble to go to Cairo and Port Said to shoot it. Twenty-something Harvey makes an early appearance as Inspector Portman's bumbling, keen-as-mustard assistant."