Delight of My Eyes

Delight of My Eyes (transliterated as Nour e'youni) is an Egyptian film released on April 19, 1954. The musical drama film is directed by Hussein Fawzi, features a screenplay by Zoheir Bakir, and stars Naima Akef, Karem Mahmoud, Hassan Fayek, and Mahmoud el-Meliguy. The plot involves theatre owner Hanafi's efforts to woo his dancer star Nour el-Ayoun, which degenerate into efforts to stymie her relationship with her neighbor Adel.
Cast
Naima Akef (Noor el-Ayoun)
Karem Mahmoud (Adel)
Hassan Fayek (Hamouda, Noor el-Ayoun's father)
Zeinat Sedki (Sharbat, Noor el-Ayoun's mother)
Mahmoud el-Meliguy (Hanafi, the theatre owner)
Mona Fouad (Samira, a singer at the theatre)
Ezzat al-Jahili (Ali, a composer)
Mounir al-Fangari (Fahlawi, a composer)
Abdel Moneim Bassiouni (police detective)
Mohamed Shawky
Mohsen Hassanein
Fathi al-Safoury
Mohamed Sobeih
Abbas al-Dali
Zaki Mohammed Hassan
Samir Jumaa
Adib Trabelsi
Abdel Moneim Seoudi
Fifi Saeed
Suhair Abdo
Synopsis
Hamouda (Hassan Fayek) sings to guests when his wife Sharbat (Zeinat Sedki) screams that she is going into labor with their first child, prompting him to go look for friends with money to lend to hire a midwife while a neighbor stays with her. Dodging a butcher he owes money, Hamouda asks his friend Fahlawi (Mounir al-Fangari) for money at a cafe, not knowing he was about to borrow from Hamouda to pay the cafe's expenses. The neighbor's very young son Adel summons him with news of Sharbat being in poor condition and asks for a doctor, who does it pro bono but is given money by Hamouda as a reward anyway.
Hamouda names the newborn Noor el-Ayoun (roughly translated as “apple of my eye”), and she grows up to be a girl who loves dance and becomes the greatest passion of Adel (Karem Mahmoud. Noor (Naima Akef) becomes a beautiful young woman and they fall in love. By coincidence, she goes to the theatre where Hamouda works and sings and dances to fill in for an absentee headliner, earning a standing ovation and a job offer from director Hanafi (Mahmoud el-Meliguy). Adel is disappointed that she has become a nouveau riche, but she stays with him despite gift-laden overtures from Hanafi. Singer Samira (Mona Fouad) tries to steer Hanafi away from the temptation and towards her arms, while Fahlawi, a composer, takes Adel to audition for another composer named Ali (Ezzat al-Jahili, who was one in real life). Adel meets Samira there and she introduces him to Hanafi.
When Adel begins singing on Hanafi's stage, his love for Noor becomes entangled with professional rivalry. Samira, now drawn to Adel, changes course and now attempts to split him from Noor by claiming that her career is only a bauble Hanafi is buying her for her love. Adel shoves Samira off a balcony in danger and she falls apparently to her death, whence he and Noor flee to Ali's house, as Hanafi learns when he arrives at Noor's house to have them arrested. Hanafi proposes marriage to her in exchange for a passport and money to help Adel escape trial for the murder, and she sacrifices her love by goading him with a false claim to be Hanafi's mistress as the late Samira had told him. Adel deduces that she is lying, however, and also uncovers that Samira is in fact alive, the passport forged, and the money counterfeit; he informs the police and marries Noor at last.
Songs
The songs are composed by Karem Mahmoud, Ezzat al-Jahili, Ibrahim Hussein, Brahim Haggiag, and Aziz El-Shawan. Lyrics were written by Mustafa Abdel Rahman, Ahmed Mansour, Ibrahim Rajab, Abdel Aziz Salam, Hassan Abdelwahab, and Anwar Nafeh.
External links
El Cinema page
IMDb page
Dhliz page
Karohat page
YouTube video of musical number
YouTube video of musical number
YouTube video of musical number
References
1954 films
Egyptian musical drama films
1950s musical drama films
Egyptian black-and-white films