The Youssef Chahine Podcast No. 21: Devil of the Sahara/ The Desert's Devil

A discussion of the Youssef Chahine's Devil of the Sahara aka The Desert's Devil. We discuss the influence of Zorro and Robin Hood on the film, how Sharif is deployed as a combination of Errol Flynn AND Tyrone Power. We praise the film's production values; how it's a piece of entertainment filmed with a verve and flair that comes across even in the very bad copy we had access to. The film has exciting action sequences that make one re-think action in his later films and very successful large-scale musical numbers -- the influence of Minnelli evident throughout -- that likewise raises questions about the deliberateness of later choices. A glossy piece of entertainment we both loved even though we saw it in the worst circumstances possible.