This is a rare original Egyptian program for the 1945 Niazi Mostafa
musical Miss Bossy [al-anisa busa] based on story and dialogue
by Abu Seoud El-Ibiary with screenplay by Niazi Mostafa,
cinematography by Mostafa Hassan and starring Nour Al Hoda as Miss
Bossy. Plot summary: Fawzi Basha [Bechara Wakim] made an agreement
with his daughter Bossy that she would marry someone she loved because
of who he was and not because of his money. Fawzi went bankrupt and
moved into a humble dwelling in a poor neighborhood, where he wandered
the streets playing a keyboard while his daughter sang. His daughter
fell in love with a boy from a rich family named Mohsen [Mahmoud
Zulfikar]. Her father approved of their love but the boy's family
forbade his relationship with a girl who was a poor street musician.
Mohsen stayed with her anyway and they eventually married despite
their social differences.
Cast and crew: Niazi Mostafa, Hour Al Hoda, Hassan Fayek, Ferdoos
Mohammad, Bechara Wakim, Mahmoud Zulfikar, Abu Seoud El-Ibiary,
Mostafa Hassan
This is an original 11.5" x 15.5" still photo on heavy stock paper of
Zahrat El-Ola appearing in the 1951 musical My Father Deceived Me
written and directed by Mahmoud Zulfikar and starring Sabah as Kawsar
Amin. Plot summary: Mahdouh [Mahmoud Zulfikar] is a painter of
symbolic art people are unable to understand. His fiancee Kawsar
stands by him and encourages him despite her father's objection to her
fiancee because he wants her to marry a wealthy man. Mamdouh has to
leave her and go to work with a nightclub owner [Stephan Rosti]. One
night he discovers the nightclub owner is about to marry Kawsar.
Cast and crew: Sabah, Mahmoud Zulfikar, Aziza Amir, Mohammed
Al-Bakkar, Tayeya Cariocca, Mahmoud Choukoukou, Zahrat El-Ola, Faten
Hamama, Mousen Hassanein, Negma Ibrahim, Stephan Rosti, Mohsen
Sarhan
This is an Egyptian poster designed by Wahib Fahmy and Mohammed Abdel
Aziz for the 1968 Mahmoud Zulfikar film The Beauty of Love
written by Mohamed Abu Youssef and starring Rushdy Abaza as Ahmed
Ragab. Plot summary: A young girl married a writer in whose eyes she
often saw the ideas and views contained in his writing. She married
him even though the opposite of what appeared in his writing quickly
became evident in her husband's behavior. She decided to leave him
without returning and fled the home with him chasing her. While she
was running away she met an attractive boy. They fell in love and
decided to marry as soon as she obtained a divorce from her husband.
The boy went on a mission abroad and he even summoned her after the
divorce. While she was waiting for him at the airport the aircraft
exploded just before landing and all the passengers were killed.
This is an original 23.5"x 35" Egyptian poster for the 1949 Mahmoud
Zulfikar film The Night is Ours based on story, screenplay and
dialogue by Youssef Gohar and starring Sabah as Nawal. Plot summary:
Nawal is a singer who falsely presents herself as a student to
Dr. Medhat, [Mahmoud Zulfikar] who falls in love with her. After she
confesses she is not really a student, he says he still loves her and
wants to marry her.
Cast and crew: Youssef Gohar, Sabah, Mahmoud Zulfikar, Soleiman
Naguib, Salah Nazmi, Bruno Salvi, Wahba Hessaballah, Nelly Mazloum,
Salah Nazmi, Mohamed Kamel, Abdel Hamid Zaki, Shafik Nour El Din,
Mahmoud Azmy, Abdel Moneim Ismail, Mousen Hassanein
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Abdouh Mohammad and
Fouad Aziz for the 1960 Mahmoud Zulfikar film The Blessed
Marriage based on story, screenplay and dialogue by Tewfik
El-Hakim and Youssef Gohar and starring Sabah as Samiha. Plot
summary: When Samiha's husband Rafet [Salah Zulfikar] does not pay
enough attention to her she becomes interested in other men, but she
eventually realizes her husband is the most important man in her
life.
Cast and crew: Imad Hamdi, Mahmoud Zulfikar, Salah Zulfikar, Sabah,
Hesham Wadid Serri, Tewfik El-Hakim, Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy, Youssef
Gohar, Wadid Sirry, Khayria Ahmed, Omar Al Hariri, Salah Nazmi, Zahrat
El-Ola
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster for the 1959 Mahmoud Zulfikar
musical Forbidden Women written by Amin Yousseff Ghurab and
starring Hoda Soltan as Mahasen. Plot summary: The contractor Tareq
[Hussein Riad] was unable to have any children by his wife Hafiza
[Amina Rizk] so he adopted Ahmed, [Salah Zulfikar] who later managed
his work for him and formed a relationship with a woman named
Mahasen. Ahmed formed an illicit relationship with her without knowing
she was married to Tewfiq. Mahasen had a daughter named laila [Amal
Farid]; Ahmed became interested in her without realizing she was his
own daughter.
Cast and crew: Hoda Soltan, Salah Zulfikar, Amina Rizk, Mahmoud
Zulfikar, Hussein Riad, Amin Yousseff Ghurab, Mohamed Abdel Azim, Amal
Farid, Wedad Hamdy, Mohammad Shawqi, Fifi Said, Mohsen Hassanein,
Hussein Assar, Hussein Ismail
This is a 23.25" x 35" stone lithograph movie poster by an unknown
artist for the 1958 Mahmoud Zulfikar film Me and My Heart based
on a story by Amin Yousseff Ghurab, screenplay by Mahmoud Zulfikar and
Amin Yousseff Ghurab and starring Mariam Fakhr
Eddine as Leila. Plot summary: A woman named Leila was
shocked when she saw her mother in her husband's [Hussein Kandil] arms
and ran out of the house in a rush. She was hit by a car and taken to
a hospital. She was shocked again when Dr. Mohsen at the hospital
[Imad Hamdi] gave her a job and then proposed marriage. Dr. Mohsen
knew she was from a prosperous family. He contacted her brother,
[Youssef Fakhr Eddine] who asked her husband to divorce her; he
refused and obtained a court order summoning her to a marital
obedience dwelling.
This is a rare 76" x 100" eight-sheet Egyptian billboard poster designed by
Marcel to promote the 1945 Niazi Mostafa film Miss Bossy
[al-anisa busa] based on story and dialogue by Abu Seoud El-Ibiary
with screenplay by Niazi Mostafa, cinematography by Mostafa Hassan and
starring Nour Al Hoda as Miss Bossy. Plot summary: Fawzi Basha made
an agreement with his daughter that she must marry someone she loved
because of who he was and not because of his money. Fawzi went
bankrupt and moved into a humble dwelling in a poor neighborhood,
where he wandered the streets playing a keyboard while his daughter
sang. His daughter fell in love with a boy from a rich family. Her
father approved of their love but the boy's family forbade his
relationship with a girl who was a poor street musician. The boy
stayed with her anyway and they eventually married despite their
social differences.
Cast and crew: Niazi Mostafa, Nour Al Hoda, Hassan Fayek, Ferdoos Mohammad, Bechara Wakim, Mahmoud Zulfikar, Abu Seoud El-Ibiary, Mostafa Hassan, Marcel
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
Pictured is an Egyptian poster designed by Wahib Fahmy and Mohammad
Abdel Aziz to promote the 1969 Mahmoud Zulfikar 103-minute
black-and-white film Showgirl [fatat al-isterad] starring Soad
Hosny based on the 1960 George Cukor film Let's Make Love with
screenplay and dialogue by Mohamed Abu Youssef and cinematography by
Wadid Serri. Plot summary: A dance troupe rented a theater so they
could mount a confrontation in the press with the wealthy Ahmed Eloui
[Hassan Youssef]. Fahmy [Adel Imam], his director of executive
affairs, told him about it and they went together to attend one of the
troupe's rehearsals. Ahmed invited the troupe's star Faeza [Soad
Hosny] to dinner and he became known to her as Ahmed Al-Eshmawy
because he did not want her to know his real name. However as the
story developed Ahmed fell in love with Faeza, told her his real name
and asked her to marry him.
Cast and crew: Hesham Wadid Serri, Hassan Afifi, Soad Hosny, Hassan Youssef, Adel Imam, Abdel Moneim Madbouly, Mahmoud Zulfikar, Wadid Serri, Mohamed Abu Youssef, George Cukor, Hussein Ismail, El Sayed Radi, Fifi Youssef, Alia Abdel Moneim, Mimi Gamal, Kamel Anwar, Zakarai Mouafi, Hamed Morsi
Pictured is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Hassan Mazhar
Gasour and Moaty to promote the 1969 Mahmoud Zulfikar 104-minute
black-and-white film The Secrets of Girls [asrar al-banat]
starring Naglaa Fathy based on a story by Adly El-Mowalid with
screenplay and dialogue by Adly El-Mowalid, Abdel Fatah Al-Sayed and
Farouk Said and cinematography by Kamal Korayem. Plot summary: This
film is about lives of four schoolgirls, their family problems, their
troubles at school and their relations with men. The end comes when
three of them receive marriage proposals.
Cast and crew: Mahmoud Zulfikar, Naglaa Fathy, Hassan Youssef, Nelly, Youssef Fakhreddine, Nelly, Fatma Mazhar, Hala Fakher, Adly El-Mowalid, Abdel Fatah Al-Sayed, Farouk Said, Kamal Korayem, Badreddine Gamgoum, Adly Kasseb, Mimi Shakeeb, Tewfik El Dekn, Mohamed Reda, Nazim Shaarawy, Ibrahim Saafan, Fifi Youssef, Zizi Mustafa, Safinazi Qadri, Aleyah Abdel Monem, Qadria Kamel, Sayed Abdullah, Ahmed Abo Abeya, Abdel Moneim Bassioni
This is a first printing of a 45" x 34.5" Egyptian poster designed by
Ahmed Fouad and printed by Raghaeb Printers to promote the 1944
110-minute black-and-white Niazi Mostafa film Hababa starring
Aziza Amir based on a screenplay by Niazi Mostafa with story and
dialogue by Ahmed Fathy and cinematography by Mostafa Hassan. The
film was produced and distributed by Studio Masr. Plot summary:
Prince Zayed fell in love with his neighbor Hababa who sang like an
angel, but there were jealous neighbors who wanted to separate them
and they succeeding in banishing Hababa from the palace. Prince Zayed
became caliph and increased his power. He discovered he could not
live without Hababa and went looking for her. He finally found her
and the lovers were reunited, but his love for Hababa created social
and political problems for him. Hababa realized this and decided to
get out of his life. She committed suicide with poison and the prince
lived in sorrow for his lost love for the rest of his life.
Cast and crew: Niazi Mostafa, Mostafa Hassan, Aziza Amir, Mahmoud Zulfikar, Abdel Aziz Khalil, Seram Munir, Amina Sherif, Ferdoos Hassan, Yahya Chahine, Ferdoos Mohammed, Abdel Aziz Ahmed, Zuzu Shakeeb
Money [al-folus] (1945) - (Aziza Amir) Egyptian film poster
Shown here is a 22" x 34" first printing of an Egypian poster designed
by Marcel and printed by L'Art Graphique to promote the 1945 Ebrahim
Emara 100-minute black-and=white film Money [al-folus] starring
Aziza Amir based on a screenplay by Aziza Amir with dialogue written
by Abu Seoud El-Ibiary and cinematography by Mostafa Hassan. The film
was produced by Nahas Film. Plot summary: The father died leaving his
son Kamal and his daughter Salma in the care of their big brother,
whose wife completely dominated him and treated his siblings harshly;
in contrast she was raising her daughter Fifi to be irresponsible.
The brother's wife expelled Kamal and Salma from her home and the two
of them went looking for work. Salma found work as s photographer at a
newspaper. With her connections at the newspaper she was even able to
find work for Kamal at a theater where he loved to sing. Salma and
Kamal succeeded in their work life while their brother's daughter Fifi
remained irresponsible and immoral and she tried to drive a wedge
between Salma and Kamal. She convinced Kamal that he got his job at
the theater because of a relationship between Salma and the theater
director. Kamal became angry and tried to kill the theater director
but Salma found a press picture of the theater director with a call
girl and discovered she was Fifi. She revealed the facts to Kamal and
he apologized to her, while their big brother, his wife and their
daughter Fifi were shamed and dishonored.
The paper on these old Egyptian movie posters is fragile, brittle and has a tendency to crumble. It has never been archivally deacidified and the vast majority of them are long gone. The few survivors like this one have a special aura for me because of their design, the media they represent and the subtle crinkling sounds they make when you pick them up.
Cast and crew: Ibrahim Emara, Aziza Amir, Hassan Fayek, Mahmoud Zulfikar, Mostafa Hassan, Abu Seoud El-Ibiary, Rawhiyya Khaled, Bechara Wakim, Mohamed Salman, Abdel Waress Assar, Abdel Hamid Zaki, Tawfiq Ismail, Said Abu Bakr, Soad Ahmed, Abdel Moniem Ismail, Samia Rushdy, Nabawiya Mostafa
Pictured is a first printing of a 24" x 35" Egyptian poster designed by Sherif to promote the 1939 Ahmed Kamal Morsi 90-minute
black-and-white film Return to the Countryside [al-'awdet ila
al-reef] starring Mahmoud Zulfikar based on story and screenplay by
Ahmed Kamal Morsi with cinematography by Francois Verkash. It was
printed by al-Raghaeb and
distributed by Behna Films. Plot summary: This film tells a story of
an incident in the lives of a wealthy family that forces them to move
from the city to the country, where they become aware of the needs of
the peasant laborers on their land and the issues surrounding the
question of absentee ownership.
Cast and crew: Ahmed Kamel Morsi, Malak, Mahmoud Zulfikar, Francois Verkash, Abdel Aziz Ahmed, Fouad Al-Raisi, Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy, Hussein Assar, Nesim Neda
Plot summary: The old husband of a young woman manager of a
beverage company died and the employees gathered around her. One of
them flattered her because he wanted to be the general director.
However she preferred the company's director of advertising and took
him as a husband instead of appointing him general director, even
though he was already the husband of a good woman and the father of
three girls. The new wife was able to convince her husband to divorce
the mother of his children and keep his daughters with him until they
were of legal age. This separation was painful for the family. The
youngest went to visit her sisters in the home of her father. They
decided to run away and resolved not to separate. The three sisters
passed their nights outside for they had no place to go. Their lives
continued in this painful way. The father and the divorced mother
searched for the fugitive sisters with the police while a journalist
became aware of this social problem, and then the truth was told. The
three sisters disguised themselves as boys and went to work for the
pianist Ibrahim and his boy, another child who had lost his family in
a similar way. The three sisters took up the profession of dancing
and singing accompanied by the piano and stayed in an abandoned bus
procured for them by Nadia. They decided to attack the factory of the
carbonated beverage company owned by the wife of the father. The
three little girls began distributing publications and warning the
people against buying the factory's products. This threatened the
factory and brought it to a sales slump. The angry wealthy wife
lodged complaints against the divorced wife accusing her of inciting
her daughters against her.
The accused was interrogated and the police arrested the girl. The
sisters learned of the arrest and fled with a determination to commit
suicide. The police, the father and the mother began searching for
the sisters and the group found clothing floating in the water. This
seemed to mean the sisters had killed themselves, but then the girls
suddenly appeared and the father embraced his divorced wife.
The Fairuz starring in this film was a much younger Egyptian actress
and is not to be confused with Lebanese diva by the same name.
Cast and crew: Fairuz, Mahmoud Zulfikar, Seif Eddine Shawkat, Nelly, Aziza Helmy, Mohammed Tawfik, Hassan el Baroudi, Abdel Ghani Nagdi, Anwar Madkour, Abbas Rahmy, Hassan Tewfik, Bruno Salvi
This film tells the story of a family of orphaned children and their quests for fortune and love in the Egyptian newspaper and theater businesses. The art is a joint project by Studio Adly and Ahmed Fouad.
