This was a three-part film, each part a different cast, different story, different director, each a story by the writer Ihsan Abdul-Qudus. There was a separate poster for each story. Each poster had the same title Girls and the Summer [al-banat wal-seif] with the secondary designations first story, second story, third story. The most notable of the three was the third story, which featured Abdel Halim Hafez, Zizi El-Badrawy and Soad Hosny. All three segments were photographed by cinematographer Wahid Farid.
Girls and the Summer First Story (Mariam Fakhr Eddine) directed by Ezzel Dine Zulficar
Girls and the Summer Second Story (Samira Ahmed) directed by Salah Abuseif
Girls and the Summer Third Story (Soad Hosny) directed by Fatin Abdel Wahab
This film was one of almost 40 by director Togo Mizrahi (1905-1986). It is considered one of his best and features the best acting performance in the long career of singer Om Kolsum (ca. 1900 - 1975). Cinematography was by Abdelhalim Nasr, distributed by Behna Films. Starring Om Kolsum, Yehia Chahine, Zouzou Nabil, Fouad Shafik, Abdel Waress Assar, Fakher Fakher and Stephan Rosti.
Salama (23.5" x 35.5") (1945) - (Om Kolsum) Egyptian blue stone litho film poster printed by Nasr printers.
Salama (23.5" x 35.5") Egyptian stone litho film poster, distributed by Behna films, printed by al-Fann Printers of Alexandria.
Salama Egyptian film program
Salama Egyptian lobby card (12" x 17.5")
Salama undated rerelease Egyptian film poster (27" x 39") art by Ahmed Fouad. This poster shows an iconic image of Om Kolsum as she was known to her fans in stage performances in later years; it is not taken from a scene in the film Salama.
Salama undated rerelease film poster (27" x 39") distributed by al-Qawmia films, printed by Arabic Cinema Printers
Stormy Night [leilet momtera] (1939) - (Laila Mourad) Egyptian one-sheet
This old poster (27" x 39") is in remarkably good shape for its age, printed with stone lithography in Alexandria by Dar al-Tabaa. This was Laila Mourad's second film and her first starring role, directed with story and screenplay by Togo Mizrahi, cinematography Abdelhalim Nasr. Starring Laila Mourad, Youssef Wahby, Taheyya Cariocca, Ferdoos Mohammed, Stephan Rosti and Mansi Fahmi
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."
Story by Farid Shawqi, cinematography Mahmoud Nasr, screenplay by Naguib Mahfouz, Atef Salem, Farid Shawqi and Mahmoud Sobhi; starring Farid Shawqi, Hoda Soltan, Mahmoud El-Meliguy, Abdel Waress Assar, Mahmoud Ismail and Said Abu Bakr.
A destitute youth who could not find a way to support himself was treated harshly by circumstances. He lived in a humble room in an old quarter. He was pursued by creditors and had no consolation other than his love for the owner of the house, who gave him food. This overpowered him with despair. He tried to hang himself but the ceiling fell in with his weight and a flood of currency came crashing down with him that was hidden in the floor of the room above his. He found himself awash in cash and free to begin living a life of luxury. He adopted the outlook of an arrogant wealthy person; this led him into a boistrous life where he was fascinated by money. He hid his past and chased beautiful women, neglecting his fiance and provoking the feelings of the people in the quarter. Blinded by money, he had become a thug. However the blessing did not continue for the money had been stolen from a bank by a criminal who had hidden it in the floor above the room he had been renting. The criminal came back to the room one day and did not find the money. He realized the thug had stumbled across his treasure. He went looking for him, discovered his identity and told him he could not spend those currency notes because the police knew the serial numbers. However the police came and arrested the criminal as they were planning what to do with the money.The thug stopped his fiancee's marriage to someone else and married her after deciding to return the money to the authorities, even as he was surrounded by police who had come to arrest him.
Cast and crew: Atef Salem, Naguib Mahfouz, Hoda Soltan, Mahmoud El-Meliguy, Abdel Waress Assar, Mahmoud Ismail, Said Abu Bakr, Mahmoud Sobhi, Mahmoud Nasr, nmsp, Farid Shawqi, El-Sayed Bedeir
My liking for cards like this is purely a matter of visual aesthetics. I like the symmetry and the contrast between the colored and duotone versions of the images. You don't see cards like this in every set.
Ria and Sekina (1953) - (Anwar Wagdi) original Egyptian film poster
Based on a true story, directed by Salah Abouseif, story and screenplay by Naguib Mahfouz and Salah Abouseif, art by Solly, printed by Orfand and Sons, distributed by Al-Hilal Films, cinematography Wahid Farid, starring Anwar Wagdi, Negma Ibrahim, Zouzou Hamdy El-Hakim, Farid Shawqi, Shukry Sarhan, Samira Ahmed, Berlanty Abdel Hamid, Reyad El Kasabgy, Shafik Galal, Said Khalil and Seraj Munir.
English Plot Summary from Film Program: Ghoulish fiends in female shape, murderesses without parallel in the annals of criminology in Egypt! Though thirty years have elapsed since the hangman's noose throttled forever their foul activities, those who remember still shake with horror when thinking of them.
The curtain is raised in Alexandria, the second largest city of Egypt, where for two consecutive years its inhabitants were living under a spell of terror: young women were disappearing into thin air one after the other, leaving absolutely no trace; the police were at their wits end and it was certain that these disappearances were caused by a most highly organized gang and could not be brought about by an individual single-handed.
117 women had disappeared and still the entire police force of Alexandria were baffled and seemingly powerless to deal a death blow to the gang... until one day an apparently insignificant information pricked the ears of a smart young police officer, who at the risk of his life set about to free the country from these murderers: he was certain now that all the missing victims had been murdered, and that the motive was robbery, since all the women wore on them gold jewellery.
These horrible crimes could not go on indefinitely and the old dictum 'crime does not pay' had to be proved correct once more: after breath-stopping incidents the country at last learnt with immense relief the arrest of the gang of assassins; after their arrest only 37 bodies could be found out of the 117 missing.
The scenario of the film Raya and Sekina on the basis of which the film has been made is nothing more than a complete reporting of the case, dramatically brought to screen-life following a thorough study of the Criminal Investigation Department's old files.
