Saturday, May 3, 2014

Soft Hands [الأيدي الناعمة] (Sabah) - (1963)

Soft Hands [al-aydi al-na'ema] (Sabah) - (1963) Egyptian film poster

This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Taki, Mohamed Abdel Aziz and Studio Marcel to promote the 1963 Mahmoud Zulfikar film Soft Hands [al-aydi al-na'ema] based on a story by Tewfik El-Hakim with screenplay and dialogue by Youssef Gohar and cinematography by Hesham Wadid Serri. Plot summary: This film tells the story of a man's problematic descent from a life of sumptious aristocratic privilege to the life of an ordinary member of the wealthy middle class. He never loses his huge home or suffers any drastic losses of comfort or convenience; his journey is accompanied with occasional sweet ballads by Sabah, who finally becomes his wife. As the narrative goes, Prince Shawkat [Ahmed Mazhar] loses his wealth and the revolution leaves him with only his mansion. He lives in hopes of selling his paintings. One night while out walking he sees someone selling roasted corn and tries to trade one of his medals for an ear of it, but the seller refuses the trade. A man named Hamuda [Salah Zulfikar] observes this. Hamuda, also broke even though he has a doctorate in Arabic grammar, buys the prince an ear of roasted corn. The two develop a rapport and the prince appoints Hamuda as his private secretary in exchange for room and board. When Hamuda sees paintings on a wall belonging to the prince's daughters Jihan [Mariam Fakhr Eddine] and Mervat [Laila Taher], the prince tells him Jihan has died, while his daughter Mervat has married Salem [Ahmed Louxor], a mechanical engineer. This marriage has angered the prince and Mervat's sister Jihan, who has had to move in with Mervat and Salem.

Salem's sister Karima [Sabah] is living in a villa with their father Abdul Salam [Hussein Assar]. Karima is a young widow who likes the prince and decides to go with his daughter Jihan to make a secret visit to the palace. Knowing the prince is broke, she leaves him some money on a table. Jihan sees Hamuda, recognizes him and assures him she is not really dead. Karima insists the prince must go with her to the market so he can carry the vegetables and a goose. He begins cultivating his own garden but he wears gloves while doing this to keep from hurting his soft hands. The prince decides to try to get a job playing the role of a prince in a film, but he fails the audition while Hamuda succeeds and gets the role. Hamuda is now able to propose to Jihan. The prince begins composing a symphony at a piano; Mervat and Jihan buy the symphony after a number of other people refuse to do so. The prince believes people like his music until Hamuda tells him the truth; this angers him and he decides to look for a job. He finds one with a tourist company as an Egyptian riverboat pilot and tour guide. Hamuda, Karima and Jihan are with him on one of his Nile cruises. Karima is happy the prince is working and earning with the sweat of his brow. After he finishes his descriptions of the attractions for the tourists the prince gives Karima an engagement ring; Hamuda does the same thing with Jihan--the happy ending complete with marriages! We all knew it was coming.

Cast and crew: Sabah, Mariam Fakhr El-Din, Ahmed Mazhar, Salah Zulfikar, Laila Taher, Mahmoud Zulfikar, Tewfik El-Hakim, Youssef Gohar, Wedad Hamdy, Kamel Anwar, Hussein Assar, Ahmed Louxor, Ahmed Khamis



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