This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Hassan Mazhar Gasour
and Mohammad Aziz to promote the 1965 Hassan El-Seify film Please Kill Me
based on a screenplay by Hassan Hamed and starring Fouad
El-Mohandes as Adel. Plot summary: Adel believes he is going to die
within weeks and decides to end it all quickly. When a thief [Hassan
Hamed] comes to his apartment to rob him he pays him 100 pounds to
kill him within 48 hours. Then Dr. Nabil [Abu Bakr Ezzat] assures him
he is healthy so he tries to avoid his hired killer, who follows him
everywhere.
Cast and crew: Hassan El-Seify, Hassan Mazhar Gasour, Mohammad
Aziz, Fouad El-Mohandes, Abdel Moneim Madbouly, Shouweikar, Abu Bakr
Ezzat, Abdel Salam Mohamed, Hassan Hamed, Soheir Magdy, Safa Magdy,
Salama Elias, Badr Nofal, Abdel Ghani El-Nagdi, Sayyed El Araby,
Monir Yassine, Galal El Masry, Eskandar Menassa, Hassan Atla, Abdel
Monem Basiony, Ahmed Abiya, Hussain Ismael, Mokhtar El Sayed, Mohsen
Hafez, Ezzat Al-Mashad, Ali Mohieddin, Nabila Abaza, Bahgat Amar,
Mostafa Hassan
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster for the 1985 film Office Owner Building Doorman
written and directed by Nadia Salem and starring
Nadia El Guindy as Zizi. Plot summary: To hide from the law
Abol-Moaty [Adel Adham] disguises himself as a doorman and works with
a dancer in the prostitution and drug trades. This changes when he
decides to become an election candidate.
Cast and crew: Nadia Salem, Hassan Mazhar Gasour, Nadia El Guindy,
Adel Adham, Safia El Emari, Hussein El-Sherbini, Naga El-Mogui,
Mahmoud Al Iraqi, Mohamed Abol Hassan, Ola Rami, Etedal Shaheen
Pictured is a 38.5" x 53" two-piece Lebanese poster for the 1973
film Memory of a Night of Love written and directed by Seif
Eddine Shawkat and starring Nelly as Layla. Plot summary: Anwar
[Salah Zulfikar] is living happily with his wife Layla until he runs
into his ex-girlfriend Camilia, [Nabila Ebeid] who is working as a
dancer. She collapses and dies during a visit to his home; Anwar
becomes a murder suspect.
Cast and crew: Seif Eddine Shawkat, Hassan Mazhar Gasour, Nelly,
Salah Zulfikar, Nabila Ebeid, Ziad Mowali, Rafiq Sabi'i, Mariam Fakhr
Eddine, Hala Shawkat, Khaled Taja, Nadia Arslan, Ahmed Abu Saeda, Mona
Wassef
This poster was designed by Hassan Mazhar Gasour for the 1975 Tayseer
Aboud film The Shipyard of Violence with screenplay and dialogue
by Faisal Nada and Gamal Amar and based on a story by Faisal
Nada. Cinematography was by Aly Kheirollah. Plot summary: Rostam Bey
[Farid Shawqi] managed the affairs of a shipping company owned by him
and his late brother. His nephew Hassan [Samir Sabry] demanded his
share of the company, but the uncle refused to give it to him to keep
the fleet from being divided. However Hassan insisted on recovering
his father's rights and his share in the company. While he was trying
to get what was rightfully his he discovered Tawfiq [Tewfik El Dekn]
was manipulating the company's affairs. He tried to change his uncle's
mind but his uncle did not trust him, while Tawfiq was making the
distance between uncle and nephew even greater. When Hassan proposed
to his cousin Dalia [Nahed Sherif] because they were in love, Rostam
refused to allow the marriage and Tawfiq was making plans to kill
Hassan. They had a vicious fight. By the time Rostam Bey and his
daughter Dalia arrived Hassan had been unable to do any harm to his
detested rival; Tawfiq shot Dalia in the chest and she died in the
arms of her father and fiance. Only then did Rostam realize how wrong
he had been about his nephew.
Cast and crew: Nahed Sherif, Hassan Mazhar Gasour, Farid Shawqi,
Samir Sabry, Amina Rizk, Tewfik El Dekn, Youssef Fakhr Eddine, Tayseer
Aboud, Faisal Nada, Gamal Amar, Aly Kheirollah, Ibrahim Qadry, Mohamed
Hamdi, Hamdi Sherif, Amira, Hala Sedki, Dina Abdullah, Ezza Kamal,
Luwais Youssef
Pictured is an Egyptian promotional poster designed by Gasour and
Anise for the 1972 110-minute Ashraf Fahmy color film Forbidden
Desires [raghabat mamnu'a] starring Shadia based on a story by
Hanifa Fathy with screenplay and dialogue by Sabry Moussa and
cinematography by Mohsen Nasr. Plot summary: Tafida [Karima Mokhtar]
was a young woman of breathtaking beauty but her brother Ahmed Atia
al-Gablawy [Hussein Fahmy] put strict controls on her; She was forced
to flee those restraints so she could marry the man she loved, whom
her brother had forbidden her to marry. When she arrived at the
shipping yard in Alexandria where she had agreed to meet her beloved
she was surprised to find someone attacking him, and the attacker
killed him as soon as he saw her. She tried in vain to save him but
he died from the stab wounds all over his body. Tafida went back to
her brother's home, her clothes stained with the blood of her beloved;
her brother's daughter Samia [Shadia] was upset at the sight of the
blood and screamed. The days passed and it seemed as if Tafida had
become deranged after seeing her beloved killed before her eyes. Her
brother Atia got her a room far away from his home close to the docks
and he did not allow her to see anyone or anyone to see her. Atia
al-Gablawy was a hard-hearted man whose human emotions were all dead,
but despite that he was quite possessive. For example he refused to
allow his daugher Samia to attend school because he didn't want anyone
to see her. She lived in ignorance and felt very bad because of that.
He sent his son to school to learn the sciences that would qualify him
to help at the factory he had established, but Ahmad continued his
studies and enrolled at the faculty of fine arts to study art,
unbeknownst to his father. Ahmed fell in love with a classmate named
Azza [Mervat Amin] and they decided to marry. Naturally with their
marital plans Azza learned everything about Ahmed and he learned
everything about her. Azza decided to do a graduation project at the
college about the docks area in Alexandria and Ahmad encouraged
her. He even invited her to live with his family so she could complete
her studies. Azza went to the docks area near Alexandria while Ahmad
happened to be with his father at the factory. She was surprised to
see Samia; he had not known she was her brother's classmate and was
even educated, after being sentenced to ignorance by her father. She
made a show of welcoming her and while she was preparing a room for
her Azza walked around the house. She wandered into the room where
Tafida was staying and screamed in fright at the sight of her. Tafida
screamed more loudly and the panic spread. Atia and his son Ahmad
happened to arrive at the same time, and Ahmad welcomed Azza. He
introduced her to his father who also welcomed her; this calmed her
after the shock of seeing Tafida. Despite Atia Al-Jablawy's show of
welcoming his son's classmate, he watched her closely so she would not
discover the truth about him or what drove Tafida crazy, and
especially the fact that the one who had killed Tafida's beloved was
the husband [Ezzat Abdel Gawad] of the maid Shawq [Aida Abd el Aziz].
Because he feared that discovery, he also concealed his feelings from
his children and behaved in an exemplary way in front of them. It was
of the utmost importance to Azza that the father know the nature of
her relationship with Ahmed's daughter, who deeply loved him. She
insisted on revealing to Ahmad's father their agreement to travel to
Europe to complete their studies, but Ahmed was reluctant to do this
because he knew about his father's ethics and tyranny. However
because of Azza's insistence he had to tell the truth to his father,
who erupted in anger and decided to break up their relationship no
matter what the cost. In the meantime the criminal who had killed
Tafida's beloved had finished his sentence and was about to get out of
prison; his wife was afraid because she had been in a sinful
relationship with Atia al-Gablawy [Mahmoud El-Meliguy] throughout the period of her
husband's absence. She decided to ask for a divorce. The father did
not care about that because he was preoccupied with his son's
relationship with his friend Azza. When Azza saw the father's control
over his son she decided to return to Cairo immediately; one day Ahmed
came across the place where his father had been meeting the maid
Shawq, and just then his sister Samia came upon the same scene!
Cast and crew: Ashraf Fahmy, Hassan Mazhar Gasour, Morteda Anise,
Hanifa Fathy, Shadia, Mervat Amin, Hussein Fahmy, Youssef Sha'ban,
Tewfik El Dekn, Mohsen Nasr, Sabry Moussa, Mahmoud El-Meliguy, Aida
Abdel Aziz, Karima Mokhtar, Mokhtar Al Sayed, Abdel Azim Sa'ad, Ezzat
Abdel Gawad, Anwar Al-Askari, Aly El Cherif, Mohamed Khalil
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Hassan Mazhar Gasour
for the 1985 Adel Sadiq film Husband on Call AKA [zawg taht
al-talab based on story, screenplay and dialogue by Helmy Salem
and starring Adel Imam as Mamdouh. Plot summary: Mamdouh is recruited
by a broker [Fouad El-Mohandes] to act as a temporary husband. He is
not comfortable doing this at first, but he plays the part for three
different women. In the final episode the wealthy Naeem [Mohamed
Reda] decides to remarry his divorced wife Nahed [Laila Eloui]. Nahed
decides to teach Naeem a lesson; she makes a secret arrangement with
Mamdouh, who is as usual being paid handsomely to make the remarriage
possible by acting as an interim husband. Nahed thinks her arrangement
with Mamdouh will make Naeem worry about losing her.
Cast and crew: Adel Imam, Laila Eloui, Samir Farag, Helmy Salem,
Hassan Mazhar Gasour, Hala Sedki, Sally, Adel Sadiq, Fouad
El-Mohandes, Mohamed Reda, Said Abdel Ghani, Angel Aaram, Youseff
Daoud, Othman Abdul Menem, Mahmoud Rashad, Angel, Mona Darwish,
Mokhtar Al Sayed, Wahid Hamdi, Ali al-Sharif al-Saghir, Mohammad
Sanad, Awatef Ramadan, Nabawia Said, Ahmed Shoukry
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 35" x 25.5" Egyptian stone litho one-sheet designed by
Hassan Mazhar Gasour for the 1953 Henry Barakat film The Rule of
Time [hukm al-zaman] based on a screenplay and dialogue by Youssef
Esa and starring Imad Hamdi as Adel. Plot summary: Engineer Adel
returns to Cairo from Europe looking for Wedad [Nour Al Hoda], the
woman he wants to marry.
Cast and crew: Hassan Mazhar Gasour, Giulio De Luca, Imad Hamdi, Henry Barakat, Magda, Nour Al Hoda, Zuzu Shakeeb, Seraj Munir, Mohammed Al-Bakkar, Souraya Fakhry, Abdel Rahim al-Zerkani, Omar al-Hariri, Samiha Tawfik
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian one-sheet printed by Hassan Mazhar
Gasour's Arabic Cinema Printers to promote the 1975 William Girdler
film Sheba Baby starring Pam Grier as Sheba Shayne. Plot
summary: Sheba Shayne, a private investigator in Chicago, returns to
her hometown in Louisville Kentucky to help her father Andy [Rudy
Challenger] confront some local criminals who are trying to run him
out of business. Her old boyfriend Brick [Austin Stoker] lends a hand
at times, but most of the time Sheba heroically confronts, outruns and
destroys her adversaries without any help.
Cast and crew: Pam Grier, William Girdler, Austin Stoker, D'Urville Martin, Rudy Challenger, Dick Merrifield, David Sheldon, Christopher Joy, Charles Kissinger, Charles Broaddus, Maurice Downs, Ernest Cooley, Edward Reece Jr., William Foster Jr., Bobby Cooley, Paul Grayber, Sylvia Jacobson
Egyptian poster for the 1972 Jean-Pierre Melville film Un flic (AKA The Cop, or Dirty Money) starring Alain Delon, a classic film which closely tracks the lives of a criminal played by Delon and the inspector who chases and eventually catches him with a clever ruse. Poster art by Sami, printed in Cairo by Arabic Cinema Printers (Hassan Mazhar Gasour). Cast and crew: Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Delon, Richard Crenna, Catherine Deneuve, Riccardo Cucciolla, Michael Conrad, Paul Crauchet, Simone Valere, Andre Pousse, Jean Desaily, Valerie Wilson, Henri Marteau, Catherine ERethi, Louis Grandidier, Philippe Gaste, Dominique Zentar
Film directed by Sam Firstenberg, poster art by Sami, poster printing by Arabic Cinema Printers of Cairo (Hassan Mazhar Gasour). Cast and crew: Sam Firstenberg, James R. Silke, Sho Kosugi,Lucinda Dickey, Jordan Bennett, David Chung, Dale Ishimoto, James Hong, Bob Craig, Pamela Ness, Roy Padilla, Moe Mosley, Joe LaMotta, Ron Foster, Steven
Lambert, Earl W. Smith, Carver Barnes. This film tells the story of an evil ninja who tries to avenge his own death from beyond the grave by inhabiting the body of an innocent woman.
Deadly Prey (1988) - (Cameron Mitchell) Egyptian film poster
Printed by Arabic Cinema Printers of Cairo (Hassan Mazhar Gasour), art by Sami; cast and crew: David A. Prior, Cameron Mitchell, Troy Donahue, Ted prior, Fritz Matthews, David Campbell, Dawn Abraham, William Zipp, Zuzanne Tara, Thomas Baldwin, Leo Weltman, Peter Aston, Charles Venniro, Timothy Elwell, Jasper Collins, Brian O'Connor
Farewell Song [ogniet al-weda'] (1977) = (Abdel Halim Hafez) Egyptian film poster
This is a rare poster for the film of Abdel Halim Hafez's (1929-1977) last concert
in Paris, produced by Youssef Chahine, directed by Ahmed Rachedi, poster
art by Hassan Mazhar Gasour. The Arabic legend on the poster translates
as "Halim sang for the last time in Paris and the entire world sang with him."
Lipstick [ahmar shafayef] (1946) - (Naguib Al Riyhani) directed by Walli Eddine Sameh
This rare Egyptian poster is very important historically because it was the first one designed by Egypt's legendary poster designer Hassan Mazhar Gasour, whose studio and printing business domitnated the world of Egyptian film posters for over 30 years. Gasour was the only poster designer ever to receive the equivalent of an Egyptian academy award for poster design. The poster is a stone lithograph measuring 24.25" x 35".
