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Redundant and unnecessary.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Farid Al Atrache stars as Asfour, a very, very, VERY dumb man. He's infatuated with the boss' daughter, Aleya (Lola Sedki)--even though she's never really reciprocated and she's totally self-absorbed. Despite this, he holds on to this insane notion throughout most of the film that he wants to marry her. It's even more insane because a beautiful female genie, Kahramana (Samia Gamal), adores him and will do anything to have him as her lover. After finding her magic lamp and freeing her, she helps him in so many ways and is very hot (walking about with far less clothes than I'd expected in an Egyptian film) and willing...yet Asfour keeps talking about Aleya almost non- stop. So, this leads to Kahramana playing a variety of tricks on him to derail this relationship with Aleya until, ultimately, she just gives up and disappears. What's next? See the film.Like Major Nelson on "I Dream of Jeanie", Asfour is a total moron. He has an incredibly pretty and devoted genie that can and will do anything for him...and he is blind to all her many, many charms. And, like dopey Anthony, he eventually does realize what he's got...but perhaps it's too late.The film is pretty cute and I was ready to give is an 8. However, the end is just too bizarre and has a song and dance number in Hell....yes, Hell, that makes no sense whatsoever. But overall, still worth seeing.

Every time I watch this classic I say "No way that was made in 1949". But that, I think, is a reason why this is a classic ! The Egyptian movies, as same as the Egyptian people, love to sing and dance. During the 1940s and the 1950s the musical comedies lived a golden age, with endless movies. Some were weak, some were average, and some, like the one in hand, were super.It has not many but all the great factors. (Farid Al Atrache) is a magnificent singer, composer, who assured here how undoubtedly talented he was as a comedian too. His melodies always have a profoundly sad mood, and yes in this movie the happy ones are few, yet that deepened the romantic core of it seriously. (Ismail Yasseen); aka the powerhouse of farce in the Egyptian cinema for at least 2 decades. He does a role of a sidekick in a way makes it a measure for else actors. By the way his name in the movie means in the Egyptian slang (his mouth), mocking at his trademark sizable mouth. (Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy), (Stephan Rosti) and (Lola Sedki) you can't find a trio of evil, comic evil, better than this. Then the movie's icon, the jinni herself, (Samia Gamal) who perfectly mastered the 2 roles, Kahramana and Semsema, with lovely infancy, incredible lightness and fresh sexiness.(Abu Seoud El-Ibiary) was a master writer who knows what can make us laugh. And this is one of his best works. The way he remade the story of Aladdin's Lamp; which belongs to the Arabian heritage of folk stories, is fascinating. The giant male demon turns into very hot barely-covered she-jinni (Kahramana), the poor Aladdin into poor singer and composer (Asfoor), Aladdin's love into a saucy yet deeply romantic dancer, another version of the she-jinni, (Semsema). Look at the way how it makes a classic romance out of it; (Asfoor) loves the wrong girl who's interested in only his money, while he's being really loved by both Kahramana and Semsema however he's the last to know. All of that are mixed into a plot of 2 competing musical stages, where the numbers unfold. And, believe it or not, it eventually managed to be a wise satirical reading to the human naivety; with the monologue of (Zaki Ibrahim), as the old kind Jinni, near the end about preferring every glowing falsity over the true thing. Simply this is how a folk story could be cinematically reborn as big blazing show, while saving its moral message as clear and bitter also.(Henry Barakat) did it all; melodramatic, realistic, romantic, comic movies, and why not musical ones. Sure he was living his golden age as well, making a movie which still oozes youth and vitality till now. Sometimes the pace is so cartoonish, sometimes the image is too-dazzling-it's-colored, and all the time the motion is enticing.Unlike nearly all the musicals back then, where having a number about the Arab and foreign countries' dances is a must, this time – more differently and quite romantically – it's about the year's 4 climatic seasons. And how the spring will win them all where love can grow again, while any previous defeat has to wither. I'm referring to the movie's main number (El Rabee') or (The Spring). It was a song written originally for (Om Kalthom) but when she desired too many changes from its writer (Ma'moon El-Shenawy), the last sold it to (Al Atrache). Ahhh, here's a new reason to love (Om Kalthom) !Shortcomings ? For me I just didn't like the traditional style of shooting few songs. But it's mainly related to the nature of the song that has something to do with the drama, yet with not much to express visually, like (Ha Afdal Ahebak); the song of (Al Atrache) feeling happy before going to engage his first love; where the camera didn't have anything but one close-up for him singing in his car. That was usual back then, but considered, by me, a treachery for the cinematic spirit of the movie, any movie. The end was a bit confusing for me as a kid; thinking always that the lead went into dimensions, traveling to the world of jinn, reuniting with his love. But it was only the staged spectacle where his love, human love, Semsema comes back to him; which's not the strongest ending dramatically though, even if it substantiates how the lead's pain, in the last song, is an enough apology.It has never been, at the time, an actress, this pretty as Samia Gamal, who stays for more than 90 % of the movie with risqué outfit. Whether being in the Jinni's transparent, so wildly naked, dress or the dancer's suit; Samia Gamal was unbelievably sexy, representing such an unprecedented sexual boldness (Now the Jinni of Aladdin's lamp must be so jealous. This is more deviltry !). Impossible to forget the dance she performed for (Asfoor) to show her "abilities" as a cleverer dancer, than his first love. It was – as the whole movie – sultry however done with class.It's a fantasy/musical/romance/comedy. Can I add so sexy as well? Of course. Among many many movies with the same story; about misusing the miraculous power to learn a lesson, since The Sorcerer's Apprentice's segment in (Fantasia – 1940) to Adam Sandler's (Click – 2006), this is the most sincere to the original, standing alone as perfect entertainment. For me, it isn't less than any great Hollywood movie at the time. And there is no Egyptian movie won the Oscar before? Huh. With this quality who needs it?!

Afrita Hanem is one of the Classics in Egyptian Movie History. It features both Samia Gamal (a legendary dancer, considered by many to be the greatest Egyptian dancer of all times) and Farid Al-Atrache (one of the best Arab musicians of all times). The two have starred in countless romantic comedies together and are beloved by the Egyptian public even today. This particular movie is the Story of a poor singer(Farid) who finds a magic lamp with a beautiful genie(Samia). The Genie falls in love with the singer instantly because he looks exactly like her long lost love. She promises to give him anything his heart desires. The singer who is in love with his co-star and bosses daughter tries everything he can to gain her interest but his Genie does everything she can to thwart his plans. This leads to some very humorous events. Although the movie is old and it's values are dated it can still be seen and understood by all audiences today including Americans with little to no understanding of Arab or Egyptian culture. Just like the values in our old movies in America are different from the values we hold to day. If you keep in mind what the early portion of the 19th century was like and keep those conservative values in your thought the movie should make a lot of sense. Someone else wrote that one of the scenes which had demons and dancing girls in it, didn't make any sense but seems to have forgotten that that was a part of their show not an actual event that supposedly happens to them in the movie. Throughout the movie they work in an Opera house producing musical and dance productions which are highly successful. This scene is from their show. It is also symbolically supposed to represent the torment that they had to go through to be with each other. The film quality is comparable to American films of the same era. Also if you have the DVD there are English subtitles which make the movie much easier to understand. I'm assuming that the person who wrote the previous review is probably watching one without subtitles.

"Lady Genie", before anything else, is a fun movie. It's sort of a cross between Gene Kelly and Bollywood. The acting is good, and the singing and dancing are excellent. The plot is very silly indeed, and I found it extremely diverting, despite the flaws which I shall now list.The first is not a flaw so much as a disclaimer: those not familiar with the Arabic culture may be baffled for most of the duration. This is an Arabic movie made for an Arab audience, and there are no explanations for outsiders.Second: I have compared "Lady Genie" to a Gene Kelly movie, and the similarities are in that the music numbers are long and don't further the plot. Especially the finale with the demons and the girls in the cages -- long and random.Finally: it's old, and cheap. The film quality in particular suffers from this.But, as I said in the beginning, it's a wild romp, quite funny and featuring some world-class belly-dancing.