Product Details

• Actors: George Raft, Gianna Maria Canale, Leonardo Scavino, Alfredo Varelli, Mino Doro
• Directors: Edoardo Anton, Ray Enright, Sam Newfield
• Writers: Edoardo Anton, Eugene Ling, Janet Stevenson, Ladislas Fodor, Orville H. Hampton
• Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Vci Video
• DVD Release Date: April 24, 2007
• Run Time: 137 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000NJLM0U
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,664 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Forgotten Noir, Vol. 4 (The Man from Cairo / Mask of the Dragon)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

FORGOTTEN NOIR #4:MAN FROM CAIRO & MA - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars 2 1/2 stars - I was also able to easily forget these 'noirs', July 6, 2011

By 

Bryan Byrd (Earth) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Forgotten Noir, Vol. 4 (The Man from Cairo / Mask of the Dragon) (DVD)

Something about the series title 'Forgotten Noir' suggests that these films were somehow unfairly overlooked - that while some of these movies may deserve the amnesia treatment, there may also be some real gems awaiting rediscovery. Well, 'Man from Cairo' isn't one of those gems, nor is the second bill, 'Mask of the Dragon'.

I can only recommend these two selections to film buffs who have seen everything else from this time period and still can't get enough. For everyone else, there are simply too many other films that deserve your attention first - enough probably to last a lifetime.

'Man from Cairo' stars George Raft at the tail end of his career and Gianna Maria Canale, a pretty edition to many sword-and-sandal Italian films of the fifties and sixties. A case of mistaken identity and 100,000 dollars in stolen gold hidden in the Algerian desert cause all the fuss here, but Raft seems to be just going through the motions, and there's more chemistry between the leads on the film's poster than in the film. A brief moment with Irene Pappas in an extra-bubbly bathtub is worth perking up for, but neither bathtime nor her screentime last long enough to hold my interest.

'Mask of the Dragon' is technically a worse film, though I didn't seem to mind it as much. Maybe I was fooled by the star power in the main feature, but for 'Mask', I didn't have my expectations as high. Looking back on this film from our PC-future, 'Mask' has stereotypical elements that viewers might find offensive, mostly in its portrayal of asians, though few actual asians show up onscreen - caucasians play the majority of those roles. This film isn't really what I would think of as a noir, rather its just a low-budget mystery with a private eye and his girl Friday trying to get to the bottom of a smuggling racket and the murder of his partner.

Bottom line is that, aside from blips now and then, neither of these films are harldy exciting or involving at all. In 'Mask of the Dragon', there is a moment when the P.I. is investigating the smuggling shop, and he sees people who look all the world like junkies coming in and buying 'special' souvenirs, though later we find out it was uranium all along. The junkie angle seemed kind of daring for the times, but someone must have chickened out, and made it about spies and espionage instead. Unless, of course, they were snorting that uranium.

For two forgettable films, I'll have to give VCI Video props for putting together a nice package. Both films are in a 4X3 aspect ratio, and are only minimally cleaned up, but there are some entertaining extras if one were really into these films. A fellow name Joel Blumberg provides commenary for 'Mask of the Dragon', and quickly gives us the rundown on every no-name and partial name actor that floats across the screen. He has a wealth of detail, although there can only be a handful of people that are that interested. I liked it.

There are also some written bios, and a video bio on Sid Melton (the comedy relief in 'Mask'), but you get the same info in the commentary that he gives in the bio. Also there are three vintage trailers, 'Man from Cairo', 'Portland Expose', and 'Motor Patrol', all of which are probably more interesting than the films themselves, though 'Portland Expose' does look like something I might try to find someday. Last there is 'The George Raft Story', which succinctly gave me all the info I think I'll ever need on Mr. Raft.

The quality of the extras make me believe that if there were a specific film in this series that someone anxiously wanted to see, then this would be a nice format in which to pick it up. Unfortunately, these two films don't encourage me to take any chances on any of the other 'Forgotton Noir' titles. Two stars for the films, and another half for the extras.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Truth in advertising would never sell this non-noir DVD. For George Raft fans only, and then just barely, October 26, 2008

By 

C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Forgotten Noir, Vol. 4 (The Man from Cairo / Mask of the Dragon) (DVD)

VCI, its marketing department and those reviewers who uncritically praise this kind of cinematic baloney should be ashamed of themselves. Calling these two movies "forgotten noirs" makes amnesia sound good. They are to noirs what Sam Newfield, responsible for Mask of the Dragon, is to directing. They're just fourth-rate movies churned out to make a fast, quick buck. Rent the disc if you must. If you need to buy it, try to find a copy in a discount bin.

The Man from Cairo:
I'm not positive, but I think this was George Raft's last role as a star lead. The movie was an Italian low-cost production. It was the best Raft's agent could do. What marquee value Raft had left in America was thought worth hiring him for to try to sell enough tickets to turn a profit. Raft was 57 when he made the movie, and looks every year of it. He's kept his weight down but his hair is gray and there wasn't much anyone could do to disguise the shadows under his eyes, the puffiness, the general air of "let's get through this so I can go home."

The story is all confused, international thriller hokum. French gold reserves had been moved to French North Africa during WWII, but $100 million worth were stolen in Algeria. Seven years later the gold is still missing. Mike Canelli (Raft), visiting Algiers, knows about all this; so do several others including a singer who can't act but who has a Gina Lollabrigida chassis. The key seems to be a shadowy character with only four fingers on his right hand. After much tough talk, thrown knives, night-time visits to the casbah, a fight using an obvious double on a train and barely adequate dubbing, we learn all about Mike and the missing gold.

I have a fondness or George Raft. In his declining years I wish he'd been able to do better than things like this, a movie in which everything is perfunctory. I like Raft because he was who he was, and had no pretense. He was no actor, said so himself, but through some mysterious process became a star.

Mask of the Dragon:
Director Sam Newfield and his producer brother ground out movie cheapies like sausages, all made with the smelly meat scraps you don't want to know about. The point was to squeeze production costs until the squealing almost stops and keep the factory busy with low-cost actors, writers and production crews. If costs could be kept low enough, then almost any ticket sold, no matter how few, would yield a penny or two of profit. The movies were booked strictly as cheap filler. They are classic examples of how it is always possible to produce things of lower quality than you'd think possible.

The Mask of the Dragon has to do with a jade dragon from Korea, an investigation into a murder, the discovery of a smuggling ring and the deadly secret behind the dragon. The bizarre, abysmal quality of the movie is vividly evident by the occasional background music...generic thrills played on, wait for it, an organ. Newfield adds a couple of cowboy songs for good measure.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Forgotten Noir #4 ... Man from Cairo (1953) & Mask of Dragon (1951) ... VCI Home Video (2007)", March 6, 2007

By 

J. Lovins "Mr. Jim" (Missouri-USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Forgotten Noir, Vol. 4 (The Man from Cairo / Mask of the Dragon) (DVD)

VCI Entertainment and Kit Parker Films presents "FORGOTTEN NOIR 4" ... Man From Cairo (1953) & Mask of Dragon (1951) --- (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Film noir has sources not only in cinema but other artistic mediums as well...the low-key lighting schemes commonly linked with the classic mode are in the tradition of chiaroscuro and tenebrism, techniques using high contrasts of light and dark developed by 15th- and 16th-century painters associated with Mannerism and the Baroque...film noir's aesthetics are deeply influenced by German Expressionism, a cinematic movement of the 1910s and 1920s closely related to contemporaneous developments in theater, photography, painting, scultpture, and architecture...opportunities offered by the booming Hollywood film industry and, later, the threat of growing Nazi power led to the emigration of many important film artists working in Germany who had either been directly involved in the Expressionist movement or studied with its practitioners...Directors such as Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak, and Michael Curtiz brought dramatic lighting techniques and a psychologically expressive approach to mise-en-scène with them to Hollywood, where they would make some of the most famous of classic noirs. Lang's 1931 masterwork, the German M, is among the first major crime films of the sound era to join a characteristically noirish visual style with a noir-type plot, one in which the protagonist is a criminal (as are his most successful pursuers). M was also the occasion for the first star performance by Peter Lorre, who would go on to act in several formative American noirs of the classic era ... featuring top performances from the '40s and '50s with outstanding drama and screenplays, along with a wonderful cast and supporting actors to bring it all together ... another winner from the vaults of almost forgotten film noir gems

First up we have Michael David Productions and Lippert Pictures feature "MAN FROM CAIRO" (aka: Dramma nella Kasbah) (1953) (81 mins/B&W) --- Under Ray Enright (Director), Bernard Luber (Producer), Edoardo Anton (Screenwriter), Eugene Ling (Screenwriter), Janet Steveson (Screenwriter), Philip Stevenson (Screenwriter), Ugo Velona (Asst. Director), Carlo Bessi (Prod. Manager), Mario Albertelli (Cinematographer), Giulio Bongini (Art Director), Franco Ferrara (Music), Mario Serandrei (Film Editor), Ladislas Fodor (Original Author) - - - - the cast includes George Raft (Mike Canelli), Gianna Maria Canale (Lorraine Beloyan), Leon Lenoir (Police Captain Akhim Bey), Alfredo Varelli (Professor H. M. Crespi), Mino Doro (Major C. Blanc), Massimo Serato (Basil Constantine), Richard McNamara (Charles Stark), Irene Papas (Yvonne LeBeau), Guido Celano (Emile Touchard), Angelo Dessy (Ugly Henchman), Franco Silva (Armeno) - - - - released on November 27, 1953, Mike Canelli (George Raft), the man from Cairo, nosing around Algiers with mystery surrounding the people he meets and the things he does and has done to him, all deriving from the war-time theft of $100,000,000 in gold which lies somewhere in the adjacent desert. People representing many nationalities and reasons are also seeking the gold. It boils down to a battle between Canelli and the badie aboard a speeding train. Raft again to the fore creating excitement in every scene, shows why he was the number one boy on the Warner Bros. lot ... beautiful Greek actress Irene Papas in a tub with Raft standing in the doorway getting an eye full.

BIOS:
1. George Raft (aka: George Ranft)
Date of birth: 26 September 1895 - New York City, New York
Date of death: 24 November 1980 - Los Angeles, California
2. Gianna Maria Canale
Date of birth: 12 September 1927 - Reggio di Calabria, Calabria, Italy
Date of death: Still Living
3. Ray Enright (Director)
Date of birth: 25 March 1896 - Anderson, Indiana
Date of death: 3 April 1965 - Hollywood, California

Second on the double bill is a Spartan Productions Inc and Robert L. Lippert Picture release "MASK OF THE DRAGON (1951) (55 min/B/W) --- Under Sam Newfield (Director), Sigmund Neufeld (Producer), Orville H. Hampton (Story/Screenwriter), Rupert Hughes (Story), Dudley Chambers (Original Score), Jack Greenhalgh (Cinematographer), Carl Pierson (Editor), Carl Pierson (Editor) - - - - the cast includes Richard Travis (Phil Ramsey), Sheila Ryan (Ginny O'Donnell), Sid Melton (Manchu Murphy), Michael Whalen (Major Clinton), Lyle Talbot (Police Lt. McNaughton), Richard Emory (Dan Oliver), Dee Tatum (Terry Newell), Jack Reitzen (Kim Ho), Mr. Moto (Simo), "Killer" Karl Davis (Kingpin), John Grant (Announcer), Ray Singer (Grantland), Eddie Lee (Chin Koo), Carla Martin (Sarah), Curt Barrett and the Trailsmen (Western Band) - - - - released March 10, 1951, Lt. Dan Oliver (Richard Emory), an American soldier in Korea, agrees to deliver a jade dragon to a curio shop in Los Angeles. Soon after his return to the states, he is murdered. His buddy Phil Ramsey (Richard Travis) and Ginny O'Donnell (Sheila Ryan) trace the murder to the shop of Professor Kim Ho (Jack Reitzen). When a package mailed to Ramsey, by Oliver from Honolulu, proves to contain the jade dragon, Ramsey takes it to the curio shop to force a showdown with Kim Ho over what Ramsey suspects is a smuggling racket. Not to be confused with "The Maltese Falcon" but it moves right along, and even throws in Curt Masey and His Trailsmen in an unexpected sighting ... don't touch that dial you're about to find out all the twists and turns of this film noir mystery ... all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and film noir features like this one.

BIOS:
1. Richard Travis (aka: William Justice)
Date of birth: 17 April 1913 - Carlsbad, New Mexico
Date of death: 11 July 1989 - Pacific Palisades, California
2. Sheila Ryan (aka: Katherine Elizabeth McLaughlin)
Date of birth: 8 June 1921 - Topeka, Kansas
Date of death: 4 November 1975 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
3. Sid Melton (aka: Sidney Meltzer)
Date of birth: 23 May 1920 - Brooklyn, New York
Date of death: Still Living
4. Sam Newfield (Director)
Date of birth: 6 December 1899 - New York, New York
Date of death: 10 November 1964 - Los Angeles, California

BONUS FEATURES:
1. Blumberg Commentary (Mask of the Dragon)
2. The George Raft Story by Stone Wallace
3. Photo Gallery
4. Bios
5. Sid Melton Video Bio by Joel Blumberg
6 Trailers
"Man from Cairo"
"Motor Patrol"
"Portland Expose"

Great job by the people at VCI Entertainment, hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for Film Noir, B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been Cowboys!

Total Time: 137 mins on DVD ~ VCI Home Video KPF-555 ~ (4/24/2007)