Pictured here is an 8" x 11" 12-page Egyptian program for the 1954
Ihsan Ferghal musical comedy We Live Once [al-omr wahd]
starring Ismail Yassine based on story and dialogue by Abu Seoud
El-Ibiary with cinematography by Mostafa Hassan. Plot summary: The
owner of a company lusted after his secretary and wanted to seduce
her, but the secretary loved an engineer in the company named Nafe
[Ismail Yasseen]. The secretary married him and the director [Abdel
Fatah Al Kasri] fired them. In the face of the unemployment problems
the engineer decided to go to Brazil where his twin brother Masoud
[also Ismail Yasseen] lived. He boarded an aircraft that crashed and
killed all the passengers and the wife and the brother took the
insurance money, which put them on a better social level. However
Nafe soon appeared; the two had many problems hiding him and Nafe wore
many disguises. He saw with his own eyes how men lusted after his
wife in his absence. Nafe's ruse was discovered, the police arrested
him and the company demanded the money. Nafe's brother arrived from
Brazil and paid the insurance money, ending the problems surrounding
Nafe.
Cast and crew: Ihsan Fergal, Ismail Yasseen, Habaieb, Zeinat Sedki,
Abdel Fatah Al Kasri, Imad Hamdi, Gamalat Zayed, Mostafa Hassan, Abu
Seoud El-Ibiary, Hermine, Wedad Hamdy
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 a 7" x 10" first printing of 16-page Egyptian program for the
1944 Niazi Mostafa 105-minute black-and-white film Hassan and Hassan
[hassan wa hassan] starring Mohammed Al Kahlawi based on a
screenplay by Niazi Mostafa with story and dialogue by Abu Seoud
El-Ibiary and cinematography by Mostafa Hassan. The film was produced
and distributed by Nahas Film. The program has a plot, song lyrics and cast photographs.
Plot summary: One Hassan drove a taxi
and the other was a hustler. The hustler married the cousin of the
brother of the taxi driver so he could drain his assets with the
delusion of the existence of a profitable company. On the train the
two of them met Houria, a girl from a conservative family and they
both loved her, but she had a maid who was going to marry Hassan the
hustler. Houria's family was angry because her daughter was marrying
a driver and they beat him. The hustler tricked Houria's father and
almost went to prison but Hassan the driver intervened to save him,
and he persuaded the family to accept him.
Cast and crew: Mohammed Al Kalhawi, Marcel, Houriyya Mohamed,
Bechara Wakim, Niazi Mostafa, Mostafa Hassan, Abu Seoud El-Ibiary,
Leila Helmy, Ferdoos Mohammed, Mahmoud Ismail, Choukoukou, Hager
Hamdi, Abdel Moniem Ismail, Abdul Hamid Zaki, Latif Amin, Al-Sayed Abu
Bakr, Zaki Ibrahim
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Studio Adly for the
1964 Hassan Reda film The River of Life based on story,
screenplay and dialogue by Mahmoud Sobhi and starring Salah Kabil as
Ahmed. Plot summary: Poverty caused an ailing father [Abu Bakr Ezzat]
to force his daughter Amina [Mona Morad] to marry her stingy old rich
uncle Abbas, [Abdel Ghani Kamar] which made her life hell. Then
she had a new encounter with her first love Ahmed and demanded a
divorce.
Cast and crew: Salah Kabil, Abu Bakr Ezzat, Mona Morad, Hassan
Reda, Abdel Ghani Kamar, Mostafa Hassan, Amal Ramzy, Leila Fahmi,
Samir Sabri, Alim Abdel Monem, Soheir Zaky
This is a 35" x 23.5" Egyptian stone litho one-sheet designed by
Hassan Mazhar Gasour to promote the 1952 Hassan Al Imam 150-minute
black-and-white film Whose Daughter Am I? based on story and
dialogue by Mohamed Mustafa Samy, screenplay by Hassan Al Imam and
starring Leila Fawzi as Nemat. Plot summary: Moharram [Mohsen
Hassanein] is managing his niece Zizi's money; Zizi has killed her
father with the help of Hamed [Farid Shawqi]. Galal [Mohsen Sarhan],
the son of Moharram, has a relationship with Nemat and she becomes
pregnant, but Moharram will not allow his son to marry her. She is
obliged to flee the scandal and live with the blind Sheikh Saleh,
where she has her baby, a girl named Samiha. Hamed burns the home of
Sheikh Saleh when he finds out Nemat is living there. He kidnapped
the girl and adopted her. Galal married Zizi. Samiha grows up a poor
orphan without knowing the identity of her father.
Cast and crew: Hassan Al Imam, Mohsen Sarhan, Mohsen Hassanein, Hussein Riad, Sanaa Gamil, Hassan el Baroudi, Farid Shawqi, Leila Fawzi, Ahmed Allam, Sherifa Maher, Mohamed Mustafa Samy, Mostafa Hassan, Mansi Fahmi, Wedad Hamdy, Fakher Fakher, Salah Wahbi, Souraya Fakhry, Zaki Ibrahim, Mohammad Idris, Abdel Hamid Zaki, Soheir Fakhry
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 first printing of a 33.5" x 45" Egyptian stone
lithograph poster made by an unknown designer to promote the
105-minute Mostafa Hassan black-and-white film The Unknown
Singer [al-moghani al-maghul] starring Mohammed Al Kahlawi based
on an idea by Mohammed Al Kahlawi with screenplay and dialogue by Abu
Seoud El-Ibiary and cinematography by Mostafa Hassan. Plot summary:
Mohammad and Shafiq grew up together. Shafiq became an engineer while
Mohammad was unable to finish school and became a skilled decorator.
Mohammad also had a beautiful voice and was able to record his singing
for radio broadcasts. Mahasen, Shafiq's cousin, loved Mohammad and he
reciprocated, but Shafiq also loved her. When Mohammad proposed to
Mahasen her father refused to allow it because he wanted her to marry
Shafiq. However when Mohammad won a prize for his singing he became
an important person and Mahasen's father changed his mind and allowed
the marriage.
Cast and crew: Mostafa Hassan, Mohammed Al Kahlawi, Amira Amir, Aziza Amir, Abu Seoud El-Ibiary, Choukoukou, Hassan Fayek, Bechara Wakim, Hagar Hamdi, Fakher Fakher, Souraya Fakhry, Abdel Hamid Zaki, Naima Gamal, Soad Hussein, Mousa Helmy, Abbas Ahmed, Gaber Ahmed, Abbas Hassan
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
Pictured is a 27" x 39" Egyptian promotional poster designed by Hassan
Mazhar Gasour to promote the 1953 101-minute Youssef Wahby
black-and-white musical comedy The Marital Obedience Dwelling [beyt
al-ta'a] starring Youssef Wahby based on story and screenplay by
Youssef Wahby with cinematography by Mostafa Hassan. Plot summary: In
this domestic battle of the sexes comedy there is harsh bickering
between husband Gamil Rushdy [Youssef Wahby] and wife Fekiya [Hoda
Soltan]. The husband insults his wife and their life becomes such an
unbearable hell that the husband uses an obedience cane on his wife.
This only makes matters worse so they go to a judge. The wife demands
a divorce and the husband demands that she live with him in a marital
obedience dwelling. The judge sides with the husband and orders the
wife to obey her husband and live in a special obedience dwelling
where she must do as he directs. The wife complies and goes to the
obedience dwelling (a special apartment that has been rented and
furnished for the purpose with such things as signs that read
"relatives are scorpions" and "down with my mother-in-law") along with her
mother [Marie Munib], who was the reason for most of the
bickering. The husband works on refining his wife and the
mother-in-law learns not to interfere in her daughter's affairs. Peace
is restored, the disagreements between them disappear and love and
happiness replace the disputes that were ruining their lives.
Cast and crew: Youssef Wahby, Hoda Soltan, Ismail Yasseen, Farid Shawqi, Marie Munib, Zouzou Mady, Mostafa Hassan, Hagar Hamdi, Fakher Fakher, Hussein El-Meliguy, Shafik Noureddin, Amina Kheyri, Hassan el Baroudi, Mohamed Sabih, Gamalat Zayed, Abdel Aziz Badawi
Pictured is an undated Egptian rerelease poster designed by Abdel
Rahman to promote the 1967 148-minute Essa Karama black-and-white
film That Man Is Driving Me Crazy [al-ragol da haganini]
starring Fouad El-Mohandes based on story, screenplay and dialogue by
Abdel Fatah al-Sayed with cinematography by Mostafa Hassan. Plot
summary: Attia [Fouad El-Mohandes] was a good man whose wife Amina
[Shouweikar] complained about his weak character and finally left him.
He did not know what happened to her or their daughter [Madiha
Salem]. After a few years Attia decided decided to look for work in
the cinema. He met a greedy producer [Mahmoud El-Meliguy] and learned
that he intended to use a wealthy woman to produce films for him
because he was bankrupt. Attia learned that this woman was none other
than his wife, who had been left a large amount of money from a man
she had been nursing. Attia tried to save his daughter, who thought he
had died, and his wife from the greedy producer. He hid his identity
from his daughter [Madiha Salem] hoping to prevent her from marrying
the producer's son [Samir Sabri], but then he had a change of heart
when the producer's son turned out to be different from his father;
the marriage eventually took place and Attia and Amina were also
reconciled again.
Pictured here are two original-year Egyptian posters designed by Hassan
Mazhar Gasour to promote the 1954 Ihsan Ferghal film We Live
Once [al-omr wahd] starring Ismail Yassine based on story and
dialogue by Abu Seoud El-Ibiary with cinematography by Mostafa Hassan.
Plot summary: The owner of a company lusted after his secretary and
wanted to seduce her, but the secretary loved an engineer in the
company named Nafe [Ismail Yasseen]. The secretary married him and the
director [Abdel Fatah Al Kasri] fired them. In the face of the
unemployment problems the engineer decided to go to Brazil where his
twin brother [also Ismail Yasseen] lived. He boarded an aircraft that
crashed and killed all the passengers and the wife and the brother
took the insurance money, which put them on a better social level.
However Nafe soon appeared; the two had many problems hiding him and
Nafe wore many disguises. He saw with his own eyes how men lusted
after his wife in his absence. Nafe's ruse was discovered, the police
arrested him and the company demanded the money. Nafe's brother
arrived from Brazil and paid the insurance money, ending the problems
surrounding Nafe.
This is a 27" x 39" undated rerelease Egyptian poster designed by an
unknown artist to promote the 1962 Houssam El-Din Mustafa 119-minute
black-and-white film The Remains of a Virgin [baqaya azraa]
starring Mariam Fakhr Eddine based on a story by Ismail al-Habruk with
screenplay and dialogue by Youssef El Sebai and cinematography by
Mostafa Hassan. Plot summary: Nabila [Mariam Fakhr Eddine] went to
Cairo to teach and on her first job she quarreled with Hoda Abdel
Fattah [Magda El-Khatib], the daughter of a former minster and head
of one of the nationalist political parties. Hoda had lost her mother
when she was a child and this had made her stubborn and spoiled. Her
father [Zaki Rostom] sent for Nabila to tell her this and a strong
relationship developed between them which resulted in their marriage,
even though she had been in love with the journalist Mahmoud Kamal
[Shukry Sarhan] since they were children. However Mahmoud had not
wanted to marry her because he was afraid a marriage with a village
girl would hurt his career; he was in Algeria covering the
revolution when Nabila married Abdel Fattah. He returned to Cairo
with the intention of marrying her, only to find that he had missed
his opportunity. Nabila was also still in love with Mahmoud and they
remained friends. Mahmoud was later falsely accused of a political
murder and sentenced to death, but Nabila testified at the trial that
he had been with her, so he was acquitted. However they were never
able to marry.
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
This is a 21.5" x 34" first printing of an Egyptian poster designed by
Marcel and printed by L'Art Graphique to promote the 1944 Niazi
Mostafa 105-minute black-and-white film Hassan and Hassan
[hassan wa hassan] starring Mohammed Al Kahlawi based on a screenplay
by Niazi Mostafa with story and dialogue by Abu Seoud El Ibiary and
cinematography by Mostafa Hassan. The film was produced and
distributed by Nahas Film. Plot summary: One Hassan drove a taxi and
the other was a hustler. The hustler married the cousin of the brother
of the taxi driver so he could drain his assets with the delusion of
the existence of a profitable company. On the train the two of them
met Houria, a girl from a conservative family and they both loved her,
but she had a maid who was going to marry Hassan the hustler.
Houria's family was angry because her daughter was marrying a driver
and they beat him. The hustler tricked Houria's father and almost went
to prison but Hassan the driver intervened to save him, and he
persuaded the family to accept him.
Cast and crew: Mohammed Al Kalhawi, Houriyya Mohamed, Bechara Wakim, Niazi Mostafa, Mostafa Hassan, Leila Helmy, Ferdoos Mohammed, Mahmoud Ismail, Choukoukou, Hager Hamdi, Abdel Moniem Ismail, Abdul Hamid Zaki, Latif Amin, Al-Sayed Abu Bakr, Zaki Ibrahim
Amal (1952) - (Shadia) Egyptian oversize film poster
This film was directed by Youssef Maalouf, story and screenplay by Henry Barakat, cinematography Mostafa Hassan. The poster was designed by Farag and measures 47" x 36".
The plot as summarized in the studio film program: "Hussein
belonged to an old family in Alexandria and went to Cairo now and
then. He knew the dancer Soheir, loved her and married her without
telling his family, in order not to anger them. He chose a house for
her in Cairo and made a habit of visiting her there from day to day.
After months passed Soheir gave birth to a child named 'Widad.' When
Hussein learned about this he went quickly from Alexandria to witness
the birth, which was difficult in a way. After he was assured of the
health of mother and child he arranged to return to Alexandria and to
explain the matter to his family. He believed it would be easy to
persuade his father to accept Soheir into the family, since he was his
only son and because his father would be sympathetic to the little
granddaughter. However fate was unkind to the wife and her daughter.
Hussein's automobile turned over in a horrific accident. As a
result he was taken to the hospital and there his uncle came to see
him, since the father was bedridden. Hussein told his uncle about the
secret marriage and then died. The uncle, named Amr, saw what was
coming, because with the death of Hussein he would be the sole heir to
his brother's enormous fortune were it not for the unexpected
marriage. He therefore decided to make plans to make himself the sole
heir of the enormous wealth; he was was encouraged by his wife Doria
to carry out this evil plan, and the child Amal became an orphan. He
turned her over to the costodian of the estate. The years went by and
Amal became a lively, vigorous girl, but she lived like a stranger in
her own house, an abject person in her own land. Was she destined to
know her origins? Was she destined to win her beloved? You will find
out in the film."
Cast and crew: Youssef Maalouf, Shadia, Mohsen Sarhan, Farid Shawqi, Zouzou Nabil, Mimi Shakeeb, Choukoukou, Souraya Fakhry, Salah Mansour, Mostafa Hassan, Afaf Shaker, Henry Barakat
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.
