Nadim Sawalha

The hotel’s night manager in A Touch of Class (1973) has one scene, and Nadim Sawalha gets a laugh out of every line. We laughed with a consistency the film could not sustain once its affair became an occasion for sentiment. Glenda Jackson is still the reason to see Melvin Frank’s comedy, but its supporting players deserve attention too. Paul Sorvino supplies a warm, nosy Walter, and K Callan does much with a raised eyebrow as Patty. We rate Sawalha’s contribution without pretending he carries the film: a small comic part played this effectively deserves notice on its own.

Later parts often restricted him to supplying authority or local knowledge. He plays Aziz Fekkesh, an Egyptian arms dealer, in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), then the chief of security in Tangier in The Living Daylights (1987). Syriana (2005) casts him as Emir Hamed Al-Subaai. The repeated casting gives us little chance to see him outside those familiar jobs. We would have liked those productions to ask more of him, rather than keep finding another position of authority for him to occupy.

Captain Abu Raed (2007) makes the significant change by giving him the lead. As Abu Raed, a widowed airport janitor who inspires children through storytelling, he has more to do than supply information or exercise authority. The dignity and subtlety of his performance suit a character whose appeal depends on the children wanting to listen. It is the role to seek out for a fuller sense of what he can do beyond the familiar supporting assignments.

The later Tel Aviv on Fire (2018) puts him back in a supporting part, as Bassam. There is no need to treat that as a retreat: the night manager had already shown how much a single scene could offer. Start with A Touch of Class for the comedy, but be prepared for the film to grow less entertaining once it starts taking the affair seriously.