Salah Abu Seif

Directing

Salah Abu Seif

Born — Died

1915-05-10 — 1996-06-22

Place of birth

Egypt

Known for

Directing

Credits

42 titles

Salah Abu Seif (صلاح أبو سيف‎; 1915 – 1996) was one of the most famous Egyptian film directors. Many of the 41 films he directed, many of which were based on novels by Naguib Mahfouz, are considered Egyptian classics. Known as the Godfather of Egyptian neorealism, Abu Seif pioneered shooting on location - though he also used sets - in places none of his predecessors had dared to visit, like ghurza (the equivalent of old Chinese opium dens), brothels and impoverished areas whose existence had never been officially acknowledged.

Known for

The Beginning and the End poster
8.2

Set in the suburbs of Cairo in the late 1930s, the story follows a middle-class Egyptian family grappling with the hardships of life after the death of their father, their sole breadwinner. The mother and her four children—three brothers and their sister, Nefisah—struggle to avoid slipping into poverty. They all go in different directions which aren't exactly good.

The Beginning and the End

1960

The Barred Road poster
8.5

Faiza is raised in a family where the mother and the two sisters work in illegal acts. They try to drag her in with them but she refuses. She studies to become a school teacher and decides to move to the countryside away from them, but she finds other temptations that try to lure her in.

The Barred Road

1958

Rayya and Sekina poster
6.4

In Alexandria a terrifying phenomenon of the disappearance of women, spreads terror in the city. Police work to unravel its secrets. Officer Ahmed is preparing a plan to uncover who's behind it and it turns out to be the gang of Raya and Sakina, who were targeting women to steal their jewelry.

Rayya and Sekina

1952

The Water-Carrier Is Dead poster
7.8

Shousha El-Sakka, fears death because it took his wife. He meets with Shehata, and later knows that he is an undertaker assistant and he becomes pessimistic of him ,but when Shehata dies, Shousha is saddened by his passing.

The Water-Carrier Is Dead

1977

Agony of Love poster
7.0

Amal marries the train driver Mahmoud, who treats her harshly. She feels neglected despite her husband's presence, Mahmoud travels to another city and asks his assistant Hassan to look after his wife. During his absence, Amal expresses admiration for Hassan's morals, which soon turns into a special love.

Agony of Love

1960

The Beast poster
7.1

Abdel Sabour was a thief and a smuggler known as The Beast to the people in one of the villages of upper Egypt; everyone was afraid of him, including the police. He enjoyed the protection of Redwan Pasha, who in turn used him during elections to eliminate his rivals. Officer Raouf Saleh was sent to the village with his wife and son with the assignment of arresting The Beast. However The Beast and his gang worked together from the beginning trying to dispose of the officer and his family in any way possible.

The Beast

1954

Film credits

Behind the camera

The Beginning and the End poster
8.2

Set in the suburbs of Cairo in the late 1930s, the story follows a middle-class Egyptian family grappling with the hardships of life after the death of their father, their sole breadwinner. The mother and her four children—three brothers and their sister, Nefisah—struggle to avoid slipping into poverty. They all go in different directions which aren't exactly good.

The Beginning and the End

1960

The Beginning and the End poster
8.2

Set in the suburbs of Cairo in the late 1930s, the story follows a middle-class Egyptian family grappling with the hardships of life after the death of their father, their sole breadwinner. The mother and her four children—three brothers and their sister, Nefisah—struggle to avoid slipping into poverty. They all go in different directions which aren't exactly good.

The Beginning and the End

1960

The Barred Road poster
8.5

Faiza is raised in a family where the mother and the two sisters work in illegal acts. They try to drag her in with them but she refuses. She studies to become a school teacher and decides to move to the countryside away from them, but she finds other temptations that try to lure her in.

The Barred Road

1958

Rayya and Sekina poster
6.4

In Alexandria a terrifying phenomenon of the disappearance of women, spreads terror in the city. Police work to unravel its secrets. Officer Ahmed is preparing a plan to uncover who's behind it and it turns out to be the gang of Raya and Sakina, who were targeting women to steal their jewelry.

Rayya and Sekina

1952

Rayya and Sekina poster
6.4

In Alexandria a terrifying phenomenon of the disappearance of women, spreads terror in the city. Police work to unravel its secrets. Officer Ahmed is preparing a plan to uncover who's behind it and it turns out to be the gang of Raya and Sakina, who were targeting women to steal their jewelry.

Rayya and Sekina

1952

The Water-Carrier Is Dead poster
7.8

Shousha El-Sakka, fears death because it took his wife. He meets with Shehata, and later knows that he is an undertaker assistant and he becomes pessimistic of him ,but when Shehata dies, Shousha is saddened by his passing.

The Water-Carrier Is Dead

1977

Agony of Love poster
7.0

Amal marries the train driver Mahmoud, who treats her harshly. She feels neglected despite her husband's presence, Mahmoud travels to another city and asks his assistant Hassan to look after his wife. During his absence, Amal expresses admiration for Hassan's morals, which soon turns into a special love.

Agony of Love

1960

Agony of Love poster
7.0

Amal marries the train driver Mahmoud, who treats her harshly. She feels neglected despite her husband's presence, Mahmoud travels to another city and asks his assistant Hassan to look after his wife. During his absence, Amal expresses admiration for Hassan's morals, which soon turns into a special love.

Agony of Love

1960

The Beast poster
7.1

Abdel Sabour was a thief and a smuggler known as The Beast to the people in one of the villages of upper Egypt; everyone was afraid of him, including the police. He enjoyed the protection of Redwan Pasha, who in turn used him during elections to eliminate his rivals. Officer Raouf Saleh was sent to the village with his wife and son with the assignment of arresting The Beast. However The Beast and his gang worked together from the beginning trying to dispose of the officer and his family in any way possible.

The Beast

1954

The Beast poster
7.1

Abdel Sabour was a thief and a smuggler known as The Beast to the people in one of the villages of upper Egypt; everyone was afraid of him, including the police. He enjoyed the protection of Redwan Pasha, who in turn used him during elections to eliminate his rivals. Officer Raouf Saleh was sent to the village with his wife and son with the assignment of arresting The Beast. However The Beast and his gang worked together from the beginning trying to dispose of the officer and his family in any way possible.

The Beast

1954

The Second Wife poster
7.6

A story in the Egyptian countryside about an unjust mayor who controls everything in the village with his power.

The Second Wife

1967

The Second Wife poster
7.6

A story in the Egyptian countryside about an unjust mayor who controls everything in the village with his power.

The Second Wife

1967

Citizen Masrey poster
6.5

The story of Mayor Abdul Razek al-Sharshabi (Omar al-Sharif) when his younger son, Tawfiq (Khalid al-Nabawi) is called for army recruitment, his wife (Safiya al-Omari), rejects it, suggesting to send someone else to go instead. So the Mayor persuaded a poor father named Abdul-Muqeem (Izzat al-Alayli) to send his only son Masrey instead.

Citizen Masrey

1991

The Malatily Bathhouse poster
5.5

The film is an adaptation of a novel by Ismåeel Walieddin. The main character, Ahmad, leaves rural eastern Egypt for the city hoping to become economically self-sufficient, gets an apartment for his parents, and obtains a law degree. He and his family are refugees from a town occupied by the Israeli army, Ismaåilia. Ali, the owner of the Malatily Bathhouse, offers to let him stay there for free. Ahmad encounters several characters there, including Naåeema, a prostitute who he becomes obsessed with, and Raouf, a homosexual man.

The Malatily Bathhouse

1973

The Malatily Bathhouse poster
5.5

The film is an adaptation of a novel by Ismåeel Walieddin. The main character, Ahmad, leaves rural eastern Egypt for the city hoping to become economically self-sufficient, gets an apartment for his parents, and obtains a law degree. He and his family are refugees from a town occupied by the Israeli army, Ismaåilia. Ali, the owner of the Malatily Bathhouse, offers to let him stay there for free. Ahmad encounters several characters there, including Naåeema, a prostitute who he becomes obsessed with, and Raouf, a homosexual man.

The Malatily Bathhouse

1973

The Malatily Bathhouse poster
5.5

The film is an adaptation of a novel by Ismåeel Walieddin. The main character, Ahmad, leaves rural eastern Egypt for the city hoping to become economically self-sufficient, gets an apartment for his parents, and obtains a law degree. He and his family are refugees from a town occupied by the Israeli army, Ismaåilia. Ali, the owner of the Malatily Bathhouse, offers to let him stay there for free. Ahmad encounters several characters there, including Naåeema, a prostitute who he becomes obsessed with, and Raouf, a homosexual man.

The Malatily Bathhouse

1973

A Bit of Torment poster
8.0

When her stepfather tries to rape her, Amal kills him and flees. She finds refuge in the house of the fine artist Ahmed Khaled who falls for her, but his protégé, the sculptor Sherif, also falls for her and competes with Ahmed to win her favor.

A Bit of Torment

1969

Al-Qadisiyya poster
10.0

A historical epic about the battle of Qadiseya, which was helmed by the Arabian knight Saad Ibn Abi Waqas, and which enabled Muslims from conquering Persia in 636 A.D.

Al-Qadisiyya

1981

Al-Qadisiyya poster
10.0

A historical epic about the battle of Qadiseya, which was helmed by the Arabian knight Saad Ibn Abi Waqas, and which enabled Muslims from conquering Persia in 636 A.D.

Al-Qadisiyya

1981

The Sun Will Never Set poster
7.7

An aristocratic family is torn down after the death of its patriarch. He leaves alone his widow wife and five of his daughters and sons. His eldest son, Ahmed (Shukry Sarhan), takes the role of the man in the house and helps his mother take care of his brother and sisters. Mamdouh (Ahmed Ramzy), his brother, is a self-centered man who refuses to follow his brother’s step and decides to make his own decisions in his life.

The Sun Will Never Set

1961

Lak Yom Ya Zalem poster
9.0

With her husband terminally ill, a wife becomes the target of her husband's friend who wants her money so bad that he kills his friend and proposes to his newly-widowed wife.

Lak Yom Ya Zalem

1951

Lak Yom Ya Zalem poster
9.0

With her husband terminally ill, a wife becomes the target of her husband's friend who wants her money so bad that he kills his friend and proposes to his newly-widowed wife.

Lak Yom Ya Zalem

1951

Lak Yom Ya Zalem poster
9.0

With her husband terminally ill, a wife becomes the target of her husband's friend who wants her money so bad that he kills his friend and proposes to his newly-widowed wife.

Lak Yom Ya Zalem

1951

The Thug poster
6.8

Haridy arrives at the vegetable market in search of a job opportunity, he works for Master Abu Zaid and after a while he separates and marries Hossnyia. Haridy forms an alliance against Abu Zaid, but he soon becomes more powerful and his condition turns to worse.

The Thug

1957

The Thug poster
6.8

Haridy arrives at the vegetable market in search of a job opportunity, he works for Master Abu Zaid and after a while he separates and marries Hossnyia. Haridy forms an alliance against Abu Zaid, but he soon becomes more powerful and his condition turns to worse.

The Thug

1957

A Woman's Youth poster
7.3

A rural mother sells her only cow in order to enroll her son, an imam (Shukri Sarhan) at Dar al-Uloom College. When an imam arrives in Cairo, he rents a room in the Citadel area from a domineering woman named Shafa'at (Tahiya Karioka) who is fascinated by his youth and vitality and lures him into practicing vice with her. As a result, he stumbles in his studies and health. At this time, a girl whom she and her father knew from a young age helps him to get rid of all the corruption in which he lives, and her father advises him to stay away from intercessions, but the intercessions plots against him in an attempt to stay with her.

A Woman's Youth

1956

A Woman's Youth poster
7.3

A rural mother sells her only cow in order to enroll her son, an imam (Shukri Sarhan) at Dar al-Uloom College. When an imam arrives in Cairo, he rents a room in the Citadel area from a domineering woman named Shafa'at (Tahiya Karioka) who is fascinated by his youth and vitality and lures him into practicing vice with her. As a result, he stumbles in his studies and health. At this time, a girl whom she and her father knew from a young age helps him to get rid of all the corruption in which he lives, and her father advises him to stay away from intercessions, but the intercessions plots against him in an attempt to stay with her.

A Woman's Youth

1956

Three Women poster
NR

Three different stories about three women. Three women, the first (Hana), who loves (Adel), but she meets (Sami) to also fall in love with him, the second widow (Tawahida), who loves (Yusef) the employee of the Muslim Council, but he is married, and the third (Shams), the singer who falls in love with Fathi But he lives at a loss because of her sitting with clients, what happens to the three women

Three Women

1969

No Time for Love poster
7.2

Hamza "a member of the volunteer National Guard" meets up with the teacher Fawzya "Faten", after the fire of Cairo broke out, the British trying to capture all the volunteers in the National Guard , Hamza hiding in the house of one of his friend, and Fawzya help him, and she is trying to formation its own cell in order to hit the English forces in the Canal zone.

No Time for Love

1963

I Am Free poster
6.7

Part of a trilogy by Salah Abu Seif about women’s empowerment. The film takes place in late 1940s / early 1950s urban Egypt, and tells the story of a young woman’s search for personal freedom and a fulfilling identity as a young modern Egyptian.

I Am Free

1959

The Avenger poster
8.0

Two chemists working at the same laboratory compete over the heart of the daughter of the laboratory owner. When the girl chooses one, the other gets jealous and ploys a scheme that aggravates and leads to a great explosion and an even greater tragedy.

The Avenger

1947

The Avenger poster
8.0

Two chemists working at the same laboratory compete over the heart of the daughter of the laboratory owner. When the girl chooses one, the other gets jealous and ploys a scheme that aggravates and leads to a great explosion and an even greater tragedy.

The Avenger

1947

Foreman Hassan poster
6.0

Hassan, frustrated by poverty, becomes involved with a wealthy woman and eventually abandons his family for her.

Foreman Hassan

1952

Foreman Hassan poster
6.0

Hassan, frustrated by poverty, becomes involved with a wealthy woman and eventually abandons his family for her.

Foreman Hassan

1952

The Criminal poster
6.0

Monier takes advantage of Zaghloul's naivety to take advantage of his family's financial resources to fund his gambling addiction. But he takes it one step further when he throws Zaghloul into the Nile and pretends that he couldn't save him.

The Criminal

1978

The Criminal poster
6.0

Monier takes advantage of Zaghloul's naivety to take advantage of his family's financial resources to fund his gambling addiction. But he takes it one step further when he throws Zaghloul into the Nile and pretends that he couldn't save him.

The Criminal

1978

Between Heaven and Earth poster
8.6

In the blasting heat of a Friday afternoon in Cairo, a group of people – among them a movie star, a thief, a madman, a cook and a pregnant woman – find themselves trapped in an elevator for 12 hours.

Between Heaven and Earth

1959

Between Heaven and Earth poster
8.6

In the blasting heat of a Friday afternoon in Cairo, a group of people – among them a movie star, a thief, a madman, a cook and a pregnant woman – find themselves trapped in an elevator for 12 hours.

Between Heaven and Earth

1959

No artwork available
8.0

When a committee is formed to serve the people of the neighborhood and Mr. Monjid is chosen head, dispute finds its way to the committee due to their different approaches, as Monjid believes that problems should be solved amicably, and Hanafi, one of the members, believes the law should be their reference.

Case 68

1968

No artwork available
8.0

When a committee is formed to serve the people of the neighborhood and Mr. Monjid is chosen head, dispute finds its way to the committee due to their different approaches, as Monjid believes that problems should be solved amicably, and Hanafi, one of the members, believes the law should be their reference.

Case 68

1968