Pictured is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Abdel Ghani to
promote an undated rerelease of the 1942 105-minute Kamal Selim
black-and-white film Dreams of Youth [ahlam al-shabab] starring
Farid Al Atrache based on a story by Youssef Wahby with screenplay by
Kamal Selim, dialogue by Badei Khayri and cinematography by Sami
Brail. Plot summary: Farid [Farid Al Atrache] became wealthy; he had
a passion for love so he became acquainted with his neighbor Elham
[Madiha Yousri], an orphan who lived with her Aunt Basiyouni [Marie
Munib]. With Bassiyouni's agreement Farid became Elham's piano
teacher. In a complication that plays itself out during the film a
dancer named Baheya [Taheya Cariocca] also tried to woo Farid, but he
did not love her even though they performed together.
Cast and crew: Kamal Selim, Abdel Ghani, Hassan Fayek, Bechara
Wakim, Farid Al Atrache, Madiha Yousri, Youssef Wahby, Badei Khayri,
Taheya Cariocca, Abdel Fatah Al Kasri, Sami Brail, Marie Munib, Abbas
Fares
This is a 24" x 35" Egyptian poster designed by an unknown artist
for the 1945 Mohamed Abdel Gawad and Kamal Selim film Story of
Love AKA Qisset gharam starring Amira Amir as Hoda.
Cast and crew: Amira Amir, Ibrahim Hammooda, Mohamed Abdel Gawad,
Kamal Selim, Zaki Rostom, Bechara Wakim, Zaki Ibrahim, Mahmoud
El-Meliguy
This is an original 35" x 23.5" Egyptian poster for the 1945 Kamal
Selim film Friday Evening [leylet al-gom'a] based on story and
screenplay by Kamal Selim, dialogue by Badi Khairi and starring Taheya
Cariocca as herself. Plot summary: This is a musical farce in which a
wealthy uncle wants his nephew to marry so he will get his
inheritance, but the nephew is already married.
Cast and crew: Taheya Cariocca, Badi Kheiri, Anwar Wagdi, Kamal Selim, Amira Amir, Bechara Wakim, Marie Munib, Abdel Fatah Al Kasri, Souraya Helmy, Mohamed Abdel Azim, Ismail Yasseen, Ibrahim Hamuda, Mohammad Abdel Matlab, Abdel Moneim Ismail, Ahmed El Haddad
Pictured is a 24" x 36" Egyptian poster designed by Wahdan to promote
the 1942 105-minute Kamal Selim black-and-white film Dreams of
Youth [ahlam al-shabab] starring Farid Al Atrache, based on a
story by Youssef Wahby with screenplay by Kamal Selim, dialogue by
Badei Khayri and cinematography by Sami Brail. Plot summary: Farid
[Farid Al Atrache] became wealthy and he had a passion for love. That
was why he became acquainted with his neighbor Elham [Madiha Yousri],
an orphan who lived with her aunt Basiyouni [Marie Munib]. With
Bassiyouni's agreement Farid became Elham's piano teacher. In a
complication that plays itself out during the film a dancer named
Bahia [Taheya Cariocca] also tried to woo Farid, but he did not love
her even though they performed together.
Cast and crew: Kamal Selim, Hassan Fayek, Bechara Wakim, Farid Al Atrache, Madiha Yousri, Youssef Wahby, Badei Khayri, Taheya Cariocca, Abdel Fatah Al Kasri, Sami Brail, Marie Munib, Abbas Fares
Appearances [al-mazaher] (1945) - (Ragaa Abdou) Egyptian stone litho film poster
This film was directed by Kamal Selim, who also wrote the story, screenplay and dialogue. Cinematography was by Abdelhalim Nasr. Plot summary: Baheyya lived in
a rural neighborhood with her sick aunt. She met the mechanic Mahmoud and
agreed to marry him. Mahmoud and Baheyya
continued to care for the sick aunt until the illness overcame her.
Before she died the aunt told Baheyya she had a wealthy uncle named
Redwan. After she died Baheyya sought Mahmoud's help finding the
uncle as the aunt had advised. They finally found him; he was a good
man who was affectionate towards his niece, although his wife was
harsh fearing the division of half the uncle's wealth with Baheyya.
She moved Baheyya to live in her uncle's palace where Baheyya
discovered the truth and reclaimed her money. She aroused the envy of
her uncle's executive director Nabil. Nabil was able to win her and
make her fall in love with him and forget the poor mechanic Mahmoud.
She married Nabil only to discover that he coveted her money. She
demanded a divorce from him, realizing she needed to return to Mahmoud
and get him to forgive her. Finally Mahmoud became director of her
factory after insisting on it and they married.
Cast and crew: Kamal Selim, Olwiyya Gamil, Fouad Shafik, Ragaa Abdou, Yehia Chahine, Abelhalim Nasr, Ferdoos Mohammed, Stephan Rosti, Abdel Aziz Khalil, Ismail Yasseen, Mimi Shakeeb,Souraya Fakhry, Hassan Kamel, Naima Gamal, Amina Cherif, Mohamed Al-Dib, Nabawiyya Mostafa, Mokhtar Saqar
Determination [al-azima] (1939) - (Fatma Rouchdi) very rare Egyptian film poster 27" x 39" printed by Matabi Masr of Cairo
In the 1995 Cairo 100 Years of Egyptian Cinema Festival this film was ranked number one among the top 100 films. Directed by Kamal Selim, cinematography Very Varkash. Starring Fatma Rouchdi, Abd Al-Aziz Khalil, Zaki Rostom, Hussein Sedki, Anwar Wagdi, Abbas Fares, Marie Munib, Mokhtar Osman, Mokhtar Hussein, Hikmat Fahmi, Souraya Fakhry, Hassan Kamel.
In his 1969 book An Introduction to the Egyptian Cinema Egyptian director Mohamed Khan says of this film: "The story of Determination is only a skeleton to serve the film's other deeper aims. It takes place in a poor district in Cairo and concerns, among others, Mohamed, the local barber's son, who resists becoming a government official after finishing his secondary school. Mohamed hopes to better himself through a business deal with a rich man's son. This deal fails and while Mohamed is awaiting his government appointment he is threatened with the loss of his sweetheart to the local butcher. Eventually Mohamed succeeds in becoming a business man and marrying his girl. Determination is regarded as the first film of a school which was new to the Egyptian scene: the realistic school. For the first time an Egyptian film-maker dealt realistically with a social problem drawn from real life and conditions in Egypt. The deepest traditions of the Egyptian people reflect the respect and esteem accorded to officials, to the exclusion of other social classes such as tradesmen, craftsmen and independent workers. The official in his suit and Tarboosh (the Effendi) is compared with the tradesman or craftsman in his galabia, the official and his fixed regular salary and the independent worker and his uncertain earnings. This grave problem produced consequences which had a great influence on Egyptian society, especially during this period. If a young man were fortunate enough to obtain his secondary school certificate or university degree, his only hope of a stable income was to become a government employee. The result was that only foreigners went into trade or industry. The owners of the commercial or industrial companies in Egypt were Italians, Greeks, French, Swiss or British, and it was unusual to find a single Egyptian among them. Egyptian families of the middle class always chose an official to marry their daughters, however small his income might be, rejecting an independent worker even if his income was higher. Selim's film had a really overwhelming success, such as had never previously been known in the Egyptian cinema."
