This is a 23.75" x 34.5" Egyptian poster designed by Stamatis
Vassiliou for the 1961 film Wonderful Memories AKA maa
al-zekriat written and directed by Saad Arafa and starring Ahmed
Mazhar as Sherif. Plot summary: While playing a role in a film the
actor Sherif shot his colleague Elham [Mariam Fakhr Eddine] after the
sexually tormented hunchback Madbouli [Salah Mansour] had maliciously
replaced the blanks in Sherif's pistol with live bullets; this was a
profound shock to Sherif. His cousin Amal [Nadia Lutfi] tried in vain
to soothe him, but she looked too much like Elham. Her feelings for
him turned into deep love, made stronger by his determination to
overcome his loneliness and obsession with memories. The facts slowly
emerged about the incident in which Elham had died.
Cast and crew: Saad Arafa, Ahmed Mazhar, Mariam Fakhr Eddine, Nadia
Lutfi, Salah Mansour, Bruno Salvi, Ahmed Louxor, Fotouh Neshati, Said
Khalil, Mokhtar El Sayed
This is a 35" x 46" two-piece Egyptian poster designed by Mohammed
Abdel Aziz for the 1962 Mario Costa film Kerim Son of the
Sheik based on story and screenplay by Mario Stresa and starring
Gordon Scott as Kerim. Plot summary: In the middle of the 19th
Century in Egypt the evil Omar [Alberto Farnese] seeks to kill all his
adversaries, marry the Khedive's neice Fawzia [Cristina Gaioni] and
then overthrow and replace the Khedive. When his violence results in
the death of Laila [Maria Grazia Spina] her brother Kerim becomes his
mortal enemy and starts leading various desert tribes in revolt
against Omar.
Cast and crew: Gordon Scott, Mario Costa, Cristina Gaioni, Moira
Orfei, Alberto Farnese, Farid Shawqi, Mariam Fakhr Eddine, Ahmed
Louxor, Lola Sedki, Nazim Shaarawy, Mohamed Soltan
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster for the 1972 Houssam El-Din
Mustafa crime comedy Devils of the Sea based on story,
screenplay and dialogue by Adly El-Mowalid and starring Shukry
Sarhan. Plot summary: In the city of Alexandria Hamada, [Mohamed Awad]
Salah [Youssef Fakhr Eddine] and Hassan [Hassan Youssef] were brought
together by friendship and locale. The three of them were trying to
get into a relationship with some men dealing in contraband. One day
they stole Haroun's [Ahmed Louxor] automobile, fled in it and were
chased by the police. The three friends went to a recruiting office
and joined the navy. At the same time Salah's sister Samia [Nelly]
went to work for Haroun as his secretary; she was also helping Adel,
[Shukry Sarhan] an undercover detective, in his effort to trap
Haroun's gang.
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
Shown here is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Magdi William to
promote the 1956 97-minute Fatin Abdel Wahab black-and-white
film The Secret Police [al-bolis al-serri] starring Ismail
Yasseen based on a story by Hashem Gom'ah with screenplay and dialogue
by Ali El Zorkani and cinematography by Klelio. Plot summary: Esmail
Effendi [Ismail Yasseen] was a police private who had the job of
escorting a crazy person to a hospital for the mentally ill, but the
crazy person got away from him. Ismail went to his uncle Abed [Abdel
Salam Al Nabulsy] to get his help resolving the difficulty. The uncle
decided he would take the crazy person's place at the hospital for the
mentally ill, and then try to escape from the hospital. Ismail was
then transferred to the anti-crime office where he had to work with
Sergeant Major Bakir in his search for an unknown thief. Ismail and
Bakir disguised themselves as Spaniards and infiltrated the gang.
After a series of adventures they arrested the gang and Ismail was
promoted to sergeant and received a reward, which he gave to his
fiance Waza. When the crazy person was arrested Uncle Abed succeeded
in proving that he was not crazy and got out of the hospital.
Cast and crew: Fatin Abdel Wahab, Hassan Fayek, Ismail Yasseen, Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy, Zeinat Sedki, Tahany Rashed, Klelio, Ali El Zorkani, Hashem Gom'ah, Ahmed Louxor, Edmond Tuema, Mohamed Al-dib, Mousen Hassanein, Nazim Shaarawy, Abdel Moneim Ismail, Eskandar Monsi, Said Khalil
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Abdel Rahman to
promote the 1964 Houssam El-Din Mustafa 111-minute black-and-white
film The Search [al-tariq] starring Rushdy Abaza based on a
story by Naguib Mahfouz with secreenplay and dialogue by Hussein Helmy
and cinematograpny by Wadid Serri. Plot summary: Saber al-Rahimi
[Rushdy Abaza] resisted when his mother [Taheya Cariocca] was telling
him while she was in prison about her scandalous past with his wealthy
respectable father. It became his goal to find that father to save
him from ruin and give him support and security. He left Alexandria
to live in Cairo and on his long trip looking for his unknown father
Saber found himself on his general life journey. He met Karima
[Shadia] the wife of the owner of the hotel where he stayed. She was
a woman softened by lust. Saber wooed her and at the same time he met
Elham [Soad Hosny] at the newspaper Al-Akhbar al-Yom where he
placed an advertisement looking for his father. A tender love story
developed between the two of them but the sensous side developed
between him and Karima, who came to his room at night and asked him to
kill her husband [Hassan el Baroudi] to leave them free. He agreed to
kill the husband but the police suspected him and went looking for
him. Karima helped him flee and Elham tried to save him but the
police lost no time arresting him and he was sentenced to death.
According to film critic Sa'ad al-Din Tawfiq this is one of the top
100 Egyptian films.
Cast and crew: Rushdy Abaza, Shadia, Soad Hosny, Taheya Cariocca, Houssam El-Din Mustafa, Naguib Mahfouz, Wadid Serri, Hassan el Baroudi, Mohammad Tawfik, Abdel Khalek Saleh, Hussein Helmy, Ahmed Louxor
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Mohammad Abdel Aziz to
promote the 1974 87-minute Saad Arafa color film Journey of
Life [rahlet al-omr] starring Shams El-Barudy and Ahmed Mazhar
based on story, screenplay and dialogue by Saad Arafa with
cinematography by Ahmed Dia Al-Mahdi. Plot summary: Salwa was a girl
of foreign extraction who lived with her aunt in Cairo. She was a
girl with a liberal perspective who loved a boy her age named Essam.
They agreed to spend a few days at Sidi Abdel Rahman. Salwa went
ahead and reserved an adjoining room for him. However Essam went early
too because of a soccer match. Mahmoud, a bank manager, also arrived
at the hotel and the booking agent asked Salwa to let Mahmoud use the
room she had reserved for Essam, because he was used to using it every
day. Mahmoud was married to Madiha, who had gone to the country to
spend a few days with her family. Mahmoud and Madiha had a boring life
together. Salwa tried to get Mahmoud interested in her and they were
soon involved in a torrid affair. When Essam arrived at the hotel
Salwa rejected him, and he went back to Cairo to finish his vacation
there. Salwa and Mahmoud also went back to Cairo. Mahmoud tried to
resume his life with his wife, but could not do so, because when he
went back home he discovered she had left when she found out about the
relationship with Salwa. Then he tried to go back to Salwa, but she
rejected him.
Cast and crew: Shams El-Barudy, Ahmed Mazhar, Mariam Fakhr Eddine, Ahmed Louxor, Saad Arafa, Ahmed Dia Al-Mahdi, Ali Kemal, Naima Wasfy, Salama Elias, Samia Rushdy, Hamdy Youssef, Mokhtar Al Sayed
This is an Egyptian promotional poster designed by Abdel Rahman for
the 1958 Kamal El Sheikh film Merchants of Death [toggar
al-mawt] with screenplay and dialogue by Aly Al-Zerkany and
cinematography by Abdelhalim Nasr. Plot summary: Dr. Abbas [Mahmoud
El-Meliguy] was stripped of all humanity. He would commit insurance
fraud with victims, get rid of them and then share the payments with
the beneficiaries. He had agents who hunted for victims and then got
rid of them for him. Morad [Farid Shawqi] happened to be doing the
same kind of work Abbas was doing. Circumstances had forced him to embezzle
300 pounds from some funds entrusted to him, and he spent it all on
his mother's illness. Then he tried to recover what he had lost at
the gambling table, but ended up losing twice the amount he owed. He
threatened Abbas with a pistol to try to get enough to cover the
amount he had embezzled, but Abbas turned the tables on him and did
not give him anything. They then agreed Morad would marry and insure
his wife's life for 20000 pounds. Then they would dispose of the wife
and divide the the money. Abbas tempted Morad with a lot of money
that would be enough to pay his debt, and he gave him the dowry and
enough money to pay for the marriage. Morad accepted the deal and
married the daughter of a colleague who had died. She was a naive
girl named Layla, [Imane] and they had a lovely month together. Then
came the time for her to die as agreed, but Morad felt he was too weak
to kill his wife. Instead of helping Morad get rid of Layla, Abbas
went to the police and asked them to save her. The effort to save the
wife succeeded and the gang and its members fell into the hands of the
police.
Cast and crew: Farid Shawqi, Kamal El Sheikh, Rushdy Abaza, Imane, Aly Al-Zarkany, Abdelhalim Nasr, Said Abu Bakr, Ferdoos Mohammed, Aziza Helmy, Mohammed Abaza, Ahmed Louxor, Sahar Attia, Abdel Qader Al-Masiri, Nazim Shaarawy, Hussein Assar, Kamal al-Zeiny, Naguib Ghatas
