Tosun Pasha

In Alexandria two established families, the Tellioglus and the Seferoglus, are at war over who owns the Green Valley. Whichever side marries Leyla, the daughter of the province's highest official, gets the valley, so the Tellioglus present their servant Saban as Tosun Pasha, the celebrated pasha of Cairo. Saban then falls in love with Leyla. The film is not interested in whether the deception will be exposed. It is interested in how thin a costume class turns out to be: the moment the servant puts on a pasha's clothes, everybody treats him as one. The form is Yesilcam comedy at full strength: dense verbal jokes, quick pacing, and lines written to be watched over and over. The sentences Turkish audiences still quote from memory come from here. Yavuz Turgul wrote the screenplay, and Kartal Tibet sat in the director's chair for the first time on this film. The most-repeated comedy in Turkish cinema is also an early sign of what both men would do later. Kemal Sunal, Sener Sen, Mujde Ar, Adile Nasit and Aysen Gruda star. Who it is for: anyone who loves Yesilcam comedy and Kemal Sunal's playing, and anyone after a film the whole family can watch. Who it is not for: viewers expecting period accuracy. This Egypt is a set built on studio logic, and the film makes no attempt to hide it.