Salamah

In the Umayyad era, the shepherdess Salama with a charming voice is in love with Abdrahman, but Ibn Suhail stands in their way, which makes her run away for fear of herself and her love, and Abdrahman begins his journey searching for her. This film is a musical melodrama showcasing the singing of Om Kolsum. As it begins Salama is shown passing in silence without returning a greeting from a man sitting with a group of friends. When asked why Salama did not return his greeting, the man tells her story. Salama once lived with her companion Shawq as a maid in the home of Sheikh Abu Wafa. She had a beautiful voice and developed songs during the day and sang them at night, until Sheikh Abu Wafa got tired of her songs and sold her and Shawq on the maid market. She was bought by a libertine named ibn Soheir who commercialized the voice of his new maid. Salama met and fell in love with a pious man named Sheikh Abdel Rahman al-Qos [Yehia Chahine] who was ridiculed for his love of a maid by the other Arabs. When ibn Soheir went bankrupt and sold his maids and all his property, Abdel Rahman came forward to buy her and marry her, but found that she had been summoned to the caliph's palace and had then fled the palace. Abdel Rahman looked for her and became ill; Salama went looking for him, only to find him just as he was breathing his last. The scene returns to Salama, her silence and the man relating the events of her life. —John C Green john@filmpaper.com