This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster for the 1956 musical Girls Today
written and directed by Henry Barakat, music by Mohamed
Abdel Wahab and starring Abdel Halim Hafez as Khaled. Plot summary:
Salwa [Magda] and Laila [Amal Farid] are sisters with vastly different
personalities. Salwa is quiet and polite while Laila is extroverted
and cheerful. Khaled gets into a romance with Laila, which brings out
their differences. Khaled soon turns his attention to Laila's sister
Salwa, but his artist friend Fathy [Ahmed Ramzy] is also attracted to
her.
Cast and crew: Henry Barakat, Youssef Issa, Abdel Halim Hafez,
Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Magda, Ahmed Ramzy, Amal Farid, Seraj Munir,
Soraya Fakhry, Fathiya Shahin, Kariman, Abdel Azim Kamel, Hussain
Ismail, Mokhtar El Sayed, Ahmed Khorshid
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Walid Wahig for the
1974 Houssam El-Din Mustafa film The Heroes written by Mohamed
Abu Youssef and starring Farid Shawqi as Saber. Plot summary: Four
thieves break into a house and rob it, then kill the owner, his wife
and his daughter. The son Ahmed [Ahmed Ramzy] is unharmed because he
is hiding under a bed. When Ahmed grows up to become a karate
champion he decides to take revenge on his family's killers after
Saber, who was unjustly convicted of the crime, is released from
prison. The tagline in red at the top of the poster says this is "the
first Egyptian karate film."
Cast and crew: Farid Shawqi, Ahmed Ramzy, Houssam El-Din Mustafa,
Ghassan Mattar, Ibrahim Saleh, Abdalaziz Abu Allel, Ali Ezz Eldein,
Mona Gabr, Qadreya Kamel, Tawfiq Al Kurdi, Eskandar Mansy, Kamal
Sarhan, Mohamed Sobeih, El Tokhy Tawfik, Farouk Youssef
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Abdel Aziz and Wahib
Fahmy for the 1975 Hussein Kamal film Love in the Rain based on
a story by Naguib Mahfouz, screenplay and dialogue by Mamdouh El
Leithy and starring Mervat Amin. Plot summary: Hassan the
cinematographer opened his home to many different segments of society.
It served both as a nightclub and a place of debauchery; he kept
both functions going in earnest. He therefore needed to find a home
for this purpose, and this is what Aliat and Senia did for him because
they needed money. There was a close relationship between Aliat and
Senia. Senia's brother Marzouq courted Aliat and the officer Ibrahim
courted Senia. The film director Mohamed Reshwan met Marzouq and
offered him work opposite the film star Fetna, who found Marzouq to be
the right man for her and began flirting with him. Meanwhile the
director Adel thought he deserved the artist Fetna, but she quickly
married Marzouq after his courtship of Aliat fell apart, who had gone
back to Hassan's house to engage in lewd behavior. Adel decided to
take revenge against Marzouq and Fetna and he disfigured Marzouq's
face. Life became impossible between Marzouq and Fetna. He divorced
her and went back to Aliat, whom he married after forgiving her for
her past.
Cast and crew: Magda El-Khatib, Hayat Kandeel, Hamdy Ahmed, Samira
Mohsen, Ahmed Al-Gezeiry, Mervat Amin, Adel Adham, Ahmed Ramzy, Imad
Hamdi, Hussein Kamal, Naguib Mahfouz, Kamal Karim, Mahmoud Kabil,
Mohamed Wafik, Kamal Korayem, Mamdouh El Leithy, Salah Nazmi, Hamdy
Ahmed
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster for the 1959 Fatin Abdel Wahab
film The Big Brother based on story, screenplay and dialogue by
Ali El Zorkani and starring Farid Shawqi as Awad. Plot summary: Big
brother Awad took care of his family including his mother, [Ferdoos
Mohammed] his brother Ahmed [Ahmed Ramzi] and his niece Dawlat [Farida
Fahmy]. The family thought he was working as a respectable tradesman
but he was actually the head of a narcotics gang. He was loved by
Ruhia, [Hend Rostom] a dancer who also worked with him in the
narcotics trade. Ruhia had a great desire to marry Awad but he
refused. She then became interested in Awad's brother Ahmed who was
in his final year of law school.
Cast and crew: Fatin Abdel Wahab, Ali El Zorkani, arid Shawqi, Hend
Rostom, Ahmed Ramzy, Ferdoos Mohammed, Mohammed Tawfik, Farida Fahmy,
Ali El Zorkani, Saeed Abu Bakr, Reyad El Kasabgy, Mahmoud al-Seba,
Mahmoud Azmi, Said Khalil, Mohammad al-Tukhi
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Gasour for the 1964
Ahmed Diaeddin black comedy An Abnormal Girl AKA fatat
shaza based on a story by Adly El-Mowalid and starring Showeikar
as the abnormal girl. Plot summary: The film depicts a picaresque
chain of events in which a girl [Showeikar] is modeling swimsuits and
then removed from the scene by her fiance [Ahmed Ramzy] because as a
model she attracts inappropriate attention from a group of men. They
then find themselves at a party at a villa where a physician [Youssef
Fakhreddine] attempts to enlist her services as a model for his
paintings, but this too is deemed inappropriate by her fiance, who
attempts to get the physician charged with lewd behavior with the help
of some compromising photos he has taken. The girl takes a job as a
cabaret waitress; while working there she learns her father [Mahmoud
El-Meliguy] is in prison. She goes to meet him when he is released,
but is surprised to find that his second wife is also there to meet
him. This is so traumatic for her that she attempts to kill herself
by jumping into the Nile, but is rescued by one of her father's men,
who takes her in a coma to her father's home. When she regains
consciousness she finds her father in the room with her and thinks he
is the one who has abducted her. She flees, breaks a leg while
falling off a balcony and is treated by the same painter/physician she
met at the party. She learns that this physician had not been guilty
of lewd intentions after all. However, when questioned and accused in
court the physician commits suicide. Her father attempts to take her
with him from the court but she refuses to go. She makes her way
through a maze of hallways at the courthouse and then disappears.
Cast and crew: Ahmed Diaeddin, Hassan Mazhar Gasour, Victor Antoun,
Rushdy Abaza, Ahmed Ramzy, Youssef Fakhreddine, Youssef Fakhr Eddine,
Shouweikar, Mahmoud El-Meliguy, Tewfik El Dekn, Adly El-Mowalid, Adel
Adham, Mimi Shakeeb, Madiha Kamel, Abdel Khalek Saleh, Fatheya
Chahine, Mohammed Abaza
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Wael for the 1968
Fatin Abel Wahab film Happiness Hotel [فندق السعادة] with story, screenplay
and dialogue by Faruq Sabri and starring Nadia El Guindy as Nagwa.
The film was made in Syria. Plot summary: Ahmed Bey [Ahmed Ramzy]
went to the airport to catch a plane to England, but the flight was
delayed. When he went back home to his mansion he found his domestic
help had converted it to a hotel and were renting it to tourists. The
servants changed everything back the way it was but when Ahmed came
back later the same night he found Mona [Shams El-Baroudy] and Magda
[Nadia El Guindy] sleeping there. They attacked him because they
thought he was a thief, but later it became clear that he was the
owner of the house and that Nagwa was in love with his servant Saeed
[Shoushou].
Cast and crew: Nadia EL Guindy, Shams El-Barudy, Abdel Monein Ibrahim, Ahmed Ramzy, Fatin Abdel Wahab, Shoushou, Hassan Alaeddin, Shafiq Hassan, Ibrahim Marashli
This is a 27" x 39" undated rerelease Egyptian poster designed by
Walid Wahib for the 1955 Henry Barakat musical Days and Nights
based on a story by Henry Barakat and Youssef Gohar, screenplay by
Henry Barakat, cinematography by Wahid Farid, music by Mohamed Abdel
Wahab and starring 26-year-old Abdel Halim Hafez (1929-1977) as
Yehia. Plot summary: A wealthy man married a woman who had divorced an
irresponsible alcoholic painter [Mahmoud El-Meliguy]. The wealthy man
educated her two sons, one of whom was from another husband, and the
boys grew up together like twins. Yehia, the son of the painter,
loved Samia [Imane] but his brother made trouble for him and Samia
turned away from him. They quarreled at a party when he was quite
drunk and then he got in his car and killed a pedestrian. At his
trial he confessed the truth. This caused tension in the family but
when he returned to his father the painter, the father took
responsibility for the first time; he had a reconciliation with his
wife and his son when he saw the love between mother and son and the
son's confession of the truth. The film includes the hit
song Toba [Never
Again]: Lyrics and translation
Cast and crew: Abdel Halim Hafez, Imane, Ahmed Ramzy, Mahmoud El-Meliguy, Henry Barakat, Kamal Hussein, Seraj Munir, Aqila Ratib, Wahid Farid, Youssef Gohar, Ahmed Zaki, Adly Kasseb, Soheir El-Barouni, Samia Rushdy, Souraya Fakhry, Zeinat Alawy
This is a 29" x 54" two-piece Egyptian poster designed by Mohammad
Abdel Aziz to promote the 1971 Hussein Kamal film Adrift on the
Nile [ثرثرة فوق النيل thartharah fawq al-Nil] based on a story by Naguib Mahfouz
and starring Adel Adham as Ali. Plot Summary: This is the story of a
simple Egyptian worker Anis [Imad Hamdi], who dislikes the
hypocrisy of the Egyptian government and the illiteracy of the
Egyptian public. He tries to escape the problems in Egypt by smoking
the drug shisha. Anis meets Ragab [Ahmed Ramzi], a former
student, who invites him aboard a small boat on the Nile. There Anis
meets other lower- and middle-class Egyptians who are also smoking
shisha for the same reasons he does. At the end Anis decides to stop
smoking shisha but is soon left alone and deranged in the
streets--almost everyone else in Egypt is stoned!
Cast and crew: Hussein Kamal, Naguib Mahfouz, Adel Adham, Magda El-Khatib, Mervat Amin, Imad Hamdi, Mamdouh El Leithy, Mustafa Imam, Salah Nazmi, Ahmed Ramzy, Soheir Ramzy, Ahmed Tewfik, Ahmed Al-Gezeiry, Nimat Mukhtar
Pictured is a 27" x 39" original Egyptian stone litho one-sheet
designed by Wahib Fahmy to promote the 1946 Hassan El-Seify 124-minute
black-and-white film Neighborhood Girl [bint el-hetta],
sometimes also translated as The Girl Next Door, starring
Zahrat El-Ola, based on story, screenplay and dialogue by Mahmoud
Ismail with cinematography by Mostafa Hassan. This intricate film
about life in a Cairo neighborhood is filmed entirely on a studio
sound stage and its story, dialogue and screenplay are all the
imaginative work of Mahmoud Ismail, who also plays the part of the
scheming Zaki al-Fayoumi. The sound stage does not do a good job of
showing the loud and chaotic character of a lower class Cairo
neighborhood, but that is not its purpose. Ismail wants to present a
psychological tapestry showing interaction and conflict among people
in difficult circumstances trying to satisfy social and financial
needs in various legitimate and illegitimate ways. This early example
of Egyptian social realism also features two classic performances by
the great dancer Samia Gamal in her role as Zaki al-Fayoumi's
collaborator.
Plot summary: Ekhlas [Zahrat El-Ola] is a university student and her
brother Salim [Ahmed Ramzi] is unemployed. Her mother [Zouzou Nabil]
is a domineering wife and her father [Ahmed Al Gaziri] is a man with a
weak personality who sells animal feed. Omar [Shukry Sarhan] owns a
dairy shop, but has stopped working to help his blind mother [Aziza
Helmy] care for his sisters. Zaki al-Fayoumi [Mahmoud Ismail] is a
tyrant who runs a criminal gang. His trusted assistant is Hambaka
[Tewfik El Dekn]; the beautiful and charming dancer Hosnia [Samia
Gamal] is another of his collaborators. Ekhlas loves Omar, who
persuades her to marry him, but Zaki Al-Fayoumi also loves her and
wants to marry her somehow. To this end he exploits her mother's
greed and her unemployed brother Selim's financial condition. He
employs Selim at a big salary and arranges a marriage between him and
Hosnia in exchange for the right to marry Selim's sister. Ekhlas goes
along with the wishes of her mother and brother and agrees to an
engagement with Zaki in return for being allowed to complete her
studies at the university, but this does not settle the question of
who will marry Ekhlas. Hambaka hires Ganzir [Hassan Hosni] and
Farkasha [Ahmed Abaza] to kill Omar to get him away from Ekhlas, but
they only injure him. Then they tell Ekhlas to break off her
engagement to Zaki and agree to marry Omar after he is cured and
leaves the hospital. On other side, to neutralize Omar as his rival
Zaki orders Selim to plant a package of hashish in a cupboard
belonging to Omar, who is then arrested and put in prison. Selim has
an awakening of conscience and feels he committed a great sin in
submitting to Zaki. Ekhlas feels her brother Selim has had a hand in
the planting of the hashish and tells this to her attorney [Anwar
Madkour]. The attorney hires special investigator Labib [George
Sidhum] to follow Selim. When Zaki senses that Selim is no longer
loyal to him, he asks Hosnia to poison his drink while they are in a
bar, but in a dramatic intervention the investigator Labib sitting
nearby jumps up and warns Selim not to drink it. In a ruse, Ekhlas
claims she loves Zaki and wants to marry him. Omar escapes from
prison seeking to prove his innocence. Hambaka and Zaki go to the
police and confess everything, while Selim confesses to planting the
hashish. They all gather at Zaki's home where the police rescue
Ekhlas. A police officer [Mokhtar Al Sayed] shoots and kills Zaki,
Hosnia is killed by her former lover, Ekhlas's mother goes crazy and
Omar's innocence is proven although he is given a six-month suspended
sentence for breaking out of prison.
Cast and crew: Samia Gamal, Shukry Sarhan, Ahmed Ramzy, Mahmoud Ismail, Mostafa Hassan, Zahrat El-Ola, Hassan El-Seify, Zouzou Nabil, Aziza Helmy, Mahmoud Farag, Anwar Madkour, Abdel Mohsen Seleem, Ahmed Abaza, Ahmed Al Gaziri, Hassan Hosni, George Sidhum, Mokhtar El Sayed
Pictured is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Studio Adly to
promote the 1957 Fatin Abdel Wahab 87-minute black-and-white
film Ismail Yassine in the Navy [اسماعيل يس في الاسطول]
starring Ismail Yasseen based on story, screenplay and dialogue by
Hassan Tewfik with cinematography by Abdel Aziz Fahmy. Plot summary:
Ismail [Ismail Yasseen] was a simple boy who fell in love with his
cousin Nadia [Zahrat El-Ola] in the Al-Anfushi neighborhood. He asked
her to marry him, but the aunt [Zeinat Sedki] opposed the marriage
because she had promised the girl in marriage to an older teacher,
Abbas Afash [Mahmoud El-Meliguy]. The girl asked Ismail to join the
Navy because she had friends there. Ismail did this and formed good
friendships with two them [Abdel Moneim Ismail and Ahmed Ramzy] while
maintaining regular correspondence with Nadia. His comrades in the
Navy were sad when they heard Nadia had became engaged to Abbas
Afash, and they gave Ismail some money so he could go marry her
himself. Then they all descended on the Al-Anfushi neighborhood and
began fighting with the Afash's friends. This spoiled the wedding and
Ismail married his sweetheart after the military police arrested the
troublemakers.
Cast and crew: Ismail Yasseen, Fatin Abdel Wahab, Mahmoud El-Meliguy, Zahrat El-Ola, Ahmed Ramzy, Zeinat Sedki, Hassan Tewfik, Abdel Aziz Fahmy, Abdel Waress Assar, Abdel Moneim Ibrahim, Reyad El Kasabgy, Malek Al-Gamal, Leila Karim, Zeinat Alawy
Pictured is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Mahmoud Atef to
promote the 1961 137-minute Salah Abouseif black-and-white
film Hope against Hope [la tutfi al-shams] starring Faten
Hamama based on story and dialogue by Ihsan Abd al-Qudus, screenplay
by Lucien Lambert and cinematography by Abdelhalim Nasr. Plot summary:
This film is set in the time of the Tripartite Aggression; it tells
the story of an aristocratic family that has lost its breadwinner.
The oldest son Ahmed [Shukry Sarhan] enlists in the Egyptian army and
is shown in desert military action, but in his civilian life he slowly
develops a relationship with the a woman named Shahira [Nadia Lutfi],
which ends in marriage after a few relatively minor complications.
The daughter Layla [Faten Hamama] falls in love with her piano teacher
[Imad Hamdi], who is married. This relationship is fraught with
difficult moral and social problems that are never resolved. The
younger son Mamdouh [Ahmed Ramzy] is more concerned with the practical
matter of earning a livelihood; he serves a vehicle for showing how
class and social issues in Egypt can disrupt productive economic activity.
Cast and crew: Salah Abouseif, Faten Hamama, Imad Hamdi, Nadia Lutfi, Ahmed Ramzy, Shukry Sarhan, Ihsan Abd al-Qudus, Lucien Lambert, Helmy Halim, Abdelhalim Nasr, Aqila Ratib, Laila Taher, Samiha Ayyoub, Shirin, Mohammed Alwan, Omar Zolficar, Mohamed Hamdi, Abdel Khalek Saleh, Ya'qub Michail, Amru Targoman, Adel Al-Mahilmi, Abdel Aziz Mikawi, Nesim Shehab, Alaa Badredin, Salah Musa, Laila Sadeq
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by an
unknown artist to promote the 1965 Ahmed Diaeddin film The Search
for Love [bahes an al-hob] starring Nadia Lutfi based on a story
by Ezzat al-Khatib, screenplay and dialogue by Hussein Helmy and with
cinematography by Mahmoud Fahmy. Plot summary: Nadia Lutfi plays the
part of Nadia, a conservative young woman who goes through a series of
stressful and unhappy love relationships, moving from an innocent
romance with a neighbor to a failed marriage to a musician to a stormy
encounter with an alcoholic and then back to a new beginning with her
neighbor. The drinking, the quarrels, the stark simplicity of the
mid-century modern decor and the contemporary Western styles of dress
give this film a confused and alienated feel.
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Mohammad Abdel Aziz to
promote the 1960 Seif Eddin Shawkat 76-minute black-and-white
film Man without a Heart [ragal bila qalb] starring Hind Rostom
based on story and screenplay by Hassan Tewfik with cinematography by
Abdelhalim Nasr. Galal [Yehia Chahine] discovered his wife Zahra
[Zahrat El-Ola] had betrayed him with Kamal [Shukry Sarhan] and killed
him. He swore he would never again go near his wife. The years
passed and the separation continued. Aida [Hind Rostom] came to the
estate intending to draw Galal into her net. Galal found her lying
ill on the ground and took her to his home to stay there until she
could recover. She caught his son [Ahmed Ramzy], a student named
Nabil, in her net, because he loved her madly. The son and the father
competed to get close to Aida while Galal's wife Zahra was aware of
this situation and kept silent. Zahra quickly learned that Aida was
the sister of the murdered Kamal come to take revenge
against her brother's killer. Aida succeeded in getting Galal to ask
her to marry him, then Galal chased his son across a field with a
rifle with the intent of killing him after learning Aida was running
away with him. Before Galal could shoot, he was killed with a bullet
fired by his wife, who wanted to get justice for herself. This is an example of one of those remarkable events often seen in movies where people otherwise not known to the audience for having any abilities with firearms unexpectedly demonstrate remarkable prowess by hitting a human target with a single fatal shot.
Cast and crew: Seif Eddine Shawkat, Hind Rostom, Yehia Chahine, Ahmed Ramzy, Zahrat El-Ola, Shukry Sarhan, Abdelhalim Nasr, Hassan Tewfik, Abdel Ghani Kamar, Abdollah Gheith, Awatef Ramadan, Abbas Al-Dali, Abdel Moneim Seoudi, Sayed Ghanim, Gamal Al-Zini, Ibrahim Khan
Life and Hope [hayat wa amal] (1961) - (Imane) Egyptian film poster
This is a picture of a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Mohammad
Aziz to promote the 1961 95-minute Zoheir Bakir black-and-white
film Life and Hope [hayat wa amal] starring Imane based on
story and screenplay by Zoheir Bakir with dialogue by Adly Nour and
cinematography by Ali Hassan. Plot summary: The famous soccer player
Kamal married Salwa, the daughter of an industrialist, while at the
same time her cousin was wanting to marry her. The two lived happily,
then Kamal went abroad to play in a tournament. The plane crashed and
everyone was killed except Kamal, who landed on the coast of Lebanon.
A Lebanese girl picked him up, took him to her family and discovered
he had lost his memory. She took care of him, and in his new identity
he fell in love with her. Then they married. Back in Egypt after
Salwa learned he had died she agreed to a paper marriage to her
cousin. The years passed and Kamal became a success. He went to
Egypt with his second wife to to sign a contract for a special deal in
the textile business. Salwa saw him there and tried to tell him the
truth, but his Lebanese wife kept a watch on this. Kamal didn't
return to his original identity until he had been injured in an
automobile accident. Then the Lebanese wife went back to her country after
deciding to sacrifice her husband, and Kamal went back to Salwa.
Cast and crew: Imane, Ahmed Ramzy, Nagwa Fouad, Zoheir Bakir, Mahmoud Azmy, Abdel Ghani Kamar, Abdel Moneim Ibrahim, Ahmed Mazhar, Ali Hassan, Julia Daw, Adly Kasseb, Nahed Samir, Mohamed Reda, Mohamed Al-Tayeb, Adly Nour, Yasmin, Ahmed Abu'ebia, Ebtesam Helmy, Abu Lam'a, Dr. Shadid, Kamal Al-Zeyni
Pictured is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Abdel Rahman to
promote the 1970 Abdel Hamid Al-Shazly 90-minute black-and-white
film Dreadful Hours [al-saat al-rahiba] starring Nabila Ebeid
based on a story by Nabil Nawar and screenplay and dialogue by Yayha
Tadros with cinematography by Gamal El-Tabei. The film was produced
and distributed by Gamal El-Tabei Films. Plot smmmary: Ramzy was a
young man who worked at his corporate job seriously and with
discipline. He lived in a humble apartment with his sister Sanaa, a
good and simple girl. Shawkat Bey tried to push Ramzy into a projects
office to facilitate his embezzlement activity. He issued an order
appointing Ramzy director of an office so he could collaborate with
him. He also introduced him to an abnormal girl so she could catch
him in her traps. Ramzy proposed to her and discovered the extent of
her demands and dreams about such things as villas and automobiles.
She tried to push him into accepting bribes and Shawkat Bey tried to
get rid of him by catching him on an accusation of accepting a bribe so he
could have him thrown into prison. Ramzy endured the prison sentence;
when he was released he found his sister had committed suicide after
one of his friends had assaulted her. Then he sought revenge against
the manager who had gotten him thrown in prison and the friend who had
killed his sister.
Cast and crew: Nabila Ebeid, Ahmed Ramzy, Youssef Chaban, Shams El-Barudy, Nawal Abul Foutouh, Abdel Khalek Saleh, Abdel Hamid Al-Shazly, Gamal El-Tabei, Haleh Al-Shawareby, Mahmoud Sobhy, Rafat El-Tabei, Salah Dessouky, Amin Antar
This film directed by Inas Al Degheidy is based
on the 1946 American film Gilda directed
by Charles Vidor and starring Rita Hayworth. This
Egyptian version of that classic film was a box office
failure, but it has a beautiful poster designed by
Takht Ahd. Plot summary: Jamila (Youssra) is a
singer married to Azmi (Ahmed Ramzi), the owner
of one of the hotels where she works. The hotel
has a new manager named Salah (Mustafa Fahmi)
who had recently been released from prison. Salah,
who has a secret side business as an arms dealer,
is an extremely cruel man. In his earlier years his
marriages had been unsuccessful because of his
infidelities and now he has become an older man
without ever being close to a woman. Jamila takes
up with him and abandons her husband for the
sake of her career, thinking he can help her socially,
but she then tires of Salah and returns to Azmi; this
leads to a violent altercation when Salah tries to take
revenge against Jamila for abandoning him.
Cast and crew: Ahmed Ramzy, Youssra, Inas Al Degheidy, Mustafa Fahmy, Shams, Hussein El Imam, Tarek El-Telmessani, Angel Aaram, Ali Hassanein, Hisham Madkour, Sayed Gabr, Abdel Hai Adib, Gilda, Charles Vidor
This Egyptian film poster was designed by Stamatis Vassiliou and
Marcel to promote the 1956 95-minute Helmy Halim black-and-white
film The Heart Has Commands [al-'alb lu ahkam] starring Faten
Hamama with screenplay by Aly Al-Zarkany, dialogue by El Sayed Bedeir
and cinematography by Ahmed Khorshed. Marcel and Vassiliou were two
of the great early poster designers in Egypt (neither was Egyptian).
This is the only poster I have where they collaborated.
Plot summary: A girl attending
medical college was a poor orphan living in the Bulaq neighborhood
with her grandfather. The people in the neighborhood loved her and
helped her with her living expenses. She loved one of her rich
classmates at the college but he had no feeling for her or any sense
of her emotions. Meanwhile an undertaker loved her and was also
trying to marry her. The girl went to see a friend who owned a bakery
in the Zeinat Sedky neighborhood and told her the secret of her love
for her rich classmate. Her friend made a plan for her to get her
classmate's attention. The girl then succeeded in attracting her
classmate's interest and he promised to meet her at an acquarium.
There she discovered he had been gambling with his classmates about
making a hit with her, and she fled from him in sadness and
disappointment. However the boy's sentiments, which began in
frivolity, turned into true love and he offered to marry her. The girl
took him to her home and told him about her poverty, but he was still
determined to marry her. He told his father the rich contractor about
it, claiming she was from a big family. His father agreed to hold a
party at his mansion to introduce the girl before giving his final
opinion. There was an aristocratic family that wanted to marry their
daughter to the rich student by means of a speculative broker who
would make a plan to prevent the marriage. At the party the rich
contractor was surprised by the people of Bulaq who stormed the
mansion at the broker's invitation. He realized they were the family
of his son's fiance and his friends and he threw them out. However
there was a brawl in which the members of the bankrupt aristocratic
family tried to assualt the contractor and his son. The girl's
friends intervened in the brawl, and the contractor agreed to his
son's marriage to the girl.
Cast and crew: Faten Hamama, Ahmed Ramzy, Helmy Halim, El Sayed Bedeir, Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy, Abdel Fatah Al Kasri, Ahmed Ramzy, Stephan Rosti, Zeinat Sedki, Ahmed Khorshed, Mimi Shakeeb, Seraj Munir, Ahmed Khorshed, El Sayed Bedeir, Aly Al-Zarkany
