This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster for the 1980 Samir Seif
film The Suspect based on story, screenplay and dialogue by
Ibrahim al-Mawgi and starring Soad Hosny as Fatma/Batta. Plot
summary: Maher [Adel Imam] was a thief who met the whore Fatma/Batta
while he was robbing an apartment. They got married and decided to
repent their crimes.
Cast and crew: Samir Seif, Fouad Ahmed, Aly El Cherif, Naima Al
Soghayar, Soad Hosny, Adel Imam, Sa'eed Saleh, Farouk Al-Fichawi,
Ibrahim al-Mawgi
This is a 27" x 39" Lebanese one-sheet poster designed by Gasour for
the 1985 Mohamed Abdel Aziz film Take Care of Your Mind based
on story, screenplay and dialogue by Ahmed Abdel Wahab and starring
Adel Imam as Wael Abdel Halim. Plot summary: Wael Abdel Halim was
studying for a masters degree in psychology while working in a cabaret
at night to meet expenses. In the mornings he would go to a hospital
for field training in mental illness. He met a girl there named Salwa
[Sherihan] who had severe psychological problems; he became
emotionally involved and decided to marry her after she improved under
his care.
Cast and crew: Mohamed Abdel Aziz, Ahmed Abdel Wahab, Naima Al
Soghayar, Umran Bahar, Ahmed Bedir, Aziza Helmy, Sherihan, Galal El
Sharkawy, Fouad Ahmed, Laila Yousra, Sayed Sadeq, Adawi Geith,
Sausan Rabia, Na'im Esa, Shawqi Shamekh, Awatef Takala, Rafet Ragi,
Ahmed Abuabih, Sameh Mojahed, Hussein al-Sherif, Samir Rostam,
Badria Abdel Gawad, Hoda Kamal, Mahmoud Abu Galila, Samia Hatam, Zizi
Farid
Pictured are two Egyptian promotional posters designed by Sami for the
1986 Ahmad Fouad film The Train [al-qatar] based on story,
screenplay and dialogue by Mohammad Said Marzouk with cinematography by
Ramses Marzouk. Plot summary: The train engineer Ibrahim [Fouad
Ahmed] was sure his wife Gamalat [Amal Ibrahim] had betrayed him with
his assistant and colleague Sobhi [Abu Bakr Ezzat]. He killed her
after confronting her with her confession. He decided to kill his
disloyal colleague while they were on the high-speed train at the
Assyut Station; they got into a fight and fell off the train while it
was throttling down the tracks at high velocity. A drunken passenger saw this while he
was leaning out a window and retching; he told the other passengers
but no one believed him. The train did not stop at its stations on
the way to Aswan and fear and panic spread among the passengers. On
board the wreck-bound train a girl named Farida [Mervat Amin] and a
boy named Khaled [Nour El-Sherif] fell in love after a brief
acquaintance as fellow travelers. Khaled crawled up on the roof and heroically tried to bring
the train into the wheelhouse; a rescue helicopter moved him to the engineer's cabin with a sling so he could stop it
before it crashed. The girl was proud of what the boy she loved had
done. Director Ahmed Fouad makes an appearance as a hitchhiker making
his way to Assyut about 16 minutes into the film.
Cast and crew: Nour El-Sherif, Mervat Amin, Yousef Chaban, Ahmed Fouad, Amin Al-Heinedy, Abu Bakr Ezzat, Wahid Seif, Nabila El Sayed, Salah Nazmi, Fouad Ahmed, Zizi Mustafa, Seif Allah Mokhtar, Ramses Marzouk, Sabry Abdel Moniem, Amal Ibrahim, Hamdy Hafez, Farouk Youssef, Hanem Mohamed, Hosny Abdel Galil, Abou Hachich, Mohammad Haikal, Motawe Ewais
Pictured is an Egyptian promotional poster designed by Gasour and
Anise for the 1983 125-minute Nader Galal color musical Five Doors Bar
[khamsa bab] based on the 1963 Billy Wilder film Irma La Douce,
with screenplay and dialogue by Sharif Al-Minbawy and cinematography
by Ibrahim Saleh. Plot summary: In the 1940s Kollu Mashi (Fouad El
Mohandes) owned a bar in the Ezbekia neighborhood where prostitution
was allowed. The singer Taragy (Nadia El Guindy) worked with the pimp
Abbas (Youssef Eid), with whom she divided her daily take. He
protected her and a number of other girls of the night in an area
where the police would take bribes in exchange for ignoring what was
going on. The policeman Mansour (Adel Imam) was transferred to the
neighborhood and all attempts to bribe him, as had been done with his
predecessors, failed. One night he took everyone to the police
station, but Abbas planted drugs in his room and he was fired.
Mansour went back to working as a tough guy and took over the
neighborhood. He fell in love with Tragy, tried to convince her to
repent and tried to get money for her so she could live in better
conditions. He impersonated a wealthy man, then married her after she
repented; Abbas was arrested. This film was initially banned in Egypt.
Cast and crew: Adel Imam, Nadia El Guindy, Nader Galal, Fouad
El-Mohandes, Fouad Ahmed, Ibrahim Saleh, Billy Wilder, Youssef Eid,
Sharif Al-Minbawy, Rashad Othman, Hosny Abdel Galil, Samiha Mohamed,
Youssef El-Assal, Saeed Rostom, Wasil a Hussein, Hindam Mohammad,
Ibrahim Qadry, Sami Khattab, Shukry Mansour, Mutawe Owais, Sayed
Al-Hanawy, Imran Ali, Salah Alam, Mohamed Abo Hashish, Moemen Hassan,
Sami Atia, Gamil Ghali, Aziz Hafez, Luwais Youssef, Mostafa Nohal
Fouad El-Mohandes, Adel Imam and Nadia El Guindy shown in an 11x14 still from Nader Galal's Five Doors Bar.
Plot Summary
This film is an Egyptian adaptation of Billy Wilder's 1963 film Irma La Douce starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. In the 40s Kollu Mashi (Fouad El-Mohandes) owned the Five Doors Bar in Cairo's Ezbekiyyah quarter, where illicit relationships were allowed. The prostitute Taragi (Nadia El Guindy) worked with the pimp Abbas (Fouad Ahmed) who took a share of her daily take and protected her and number of the other girls of the night in the neighborhood. The police officer on duty was in the habit of taking a fee in exchange for not disclosing what was happening.
An upright officer named Mansur (Adel Imam) was transferred to the neighborhood; all the efforts to bribe him, as had been done with his predecessor, failed. One night he even took everybody to the police station. The pimp Abbas contrived a retaliatory scheme, with help from Taragi, to stash some narcotics in Mansur's room, then reported him to the police. Mansur was then fired from the police force.
Mansur began working as a ruffian laborer, dominating the neighborhood. He fell in love with Taragi. He tried to save money for her so she could live a better life and disguised himself as a rich foreigner who appeared occasionally as one of Taragi's customers. This is the plot's weakest element, for the viewer is asked to believe that Taragi is sleeping alternately with Mansur and his foreigner alter ego without realizing they are the same man!
Mansur knew Taragi was supporting an invalid son at a nearby rehabilitation facility and paid the boy's expenses. He married Taragi after she repented and gave up prostitution, and the pimp Abbas was arrested after a dramatic fight scene in which Mansur gave him a good clubbing with some sticks he found in an alley.
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This film was skillfully acted with the three lead characters played by some of the real giants of Egyptian cinema, Fouad El-Mohandes, Adel Imam and Nadia El Guindy. It had beautiful sets and high production values from Nader Galal, one of Egypt's great directors. The work provided the most wholesome sort of entertainment: a dramatic love story and a tale of moral restoration and evil vanquished.
Yet the film was banned, in all probability due at least in part to the presence among the bar patrons of a male cross-dresser and dancer. This man, though prominently featured, was just an incidental character in the plot; but in 1983 Egyptian authorities might not have been ready for a public exhibition of gay behavior.
Since Egypt relies heavily on its police to maintain order and state control, it is also possible the film's portrayal of a criminal who outwits a policeman might have been deemed inappropriate as public entertainment.
Egyptian film poster for Nader Galal's The Five Doors Bar [khamsa bab] (1983)
