The Blazing Sun (1954)

Omar Sharif ("Ahmed") returns to his Egyptian village to try and help the local agrarian population improve their lot. This does not suit the local Pasha (Zaki Rustum) and so he sets about sabotaging their ambitions to grow and harvest their own crop of sugar cane. What follows is a hybrid love story/crime thriller as the Pasha's daughter - the gorgeous Faten Hamamah returns home after 8 years and begins to rekindle the feelings she had as a child for the hero; whilst becoming embroiled in an ever deepening crisis that only increases as a local Sheikh, who has assumed who was responsible for the destruction of the crop, is slain. It is easy to see why Sharif was snapped up by Hollywood - he is a very good looking man who oozes charisma, and there is a certain natural quality in the scenes he plays - especially with Hamamah. The ending let's it down a bit - I felt that the story sort of ran out of steam, but great onsite photography and a pacily directed (by Youssef Chahine) small cast make this well worth watching.