The surprise-filled world of vintage EGYPTIAN and ARABIC-LANGUAGE horror, sci-fi and fantasy movies (with LOTS of screencaps!) in Foreign Horror Forum

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The surprise-filled world of vintage EGYPTIAN and ARABIC-LANGUAGE horror, sci-fi and fantasy movies (with LOTS of screencaps!)

Author	Comment
Camps		#21	[-]
Jul 15 11 10:04 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Dr Kiss, may I belatedly add that you are a walking treasure trove of invaluable information -- and an absolute pleasure to read! ISMAIL AND ABDEL MEET FRANKENSTEIN has been available in a decent print from Sinister Cinema. Definitely of the so-bad-it's-good variety and nearly a shot-for-shot rip-off of A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN -- with the added (much to my personal delight) twist of frequent uses of the s@#% word in the subtitles. I've also seen JOURNEY TO THE MOON (though I can't recall the source provider) and can vouch for its weirdness.
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Barbenfouillis		#22	[-]
Jul 15 11 12:30 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Doc Kiss, I find your posts so interesting that I often go to your profile just to read your recent posts. Even if they are not in folders that I frequent, I always enjoy them and am in awe. Well, enough gushing....keep it up! Steve "It can boast of truly dramatic moments, and these moments come in such logical regularity and are so brim-full of natural action and depict, so realisticly, vital moments in the every-day lives of the present generation, that from the flash of the initial title to the familiar monosyllabic notice 'End', there is not a moment given any, excepting those whose business it is to look for defects, to debate with him or herself, whether or no the picture should be adversely criticized for presenting for discussion on the screen such a wholly improbable subject."
doctor kiss	Not quite peas in a pod...	#23	[-]
Jul 19 11 5:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	doctor kiss wrote: 11) LEBANESE MAD SCIENTISTS GHAWAR LAIB KURA GHAWAR THE FOOTBALL PLAYER (1972 Lebanon/Turkey, dir. Khalqi Sanir) This vehicle for Syrian comedian Duraid Lahham offers the most risqué mad scientist subplot to be found in any of these Lebanese films, thanks to his character visiting the inventor of the Sexatron, a machine whose precise practical purpose remains sketchy, although the method for causing it to blow up is outlined clearly enough in the screencaps below. This sequence evidently tested the censor's limits and contains three splices in the Lebanese version of the movie; it may well have escaped uncut in the Turkish edit of the film. Thanks to some assistance from people who are far more familiar with Turkish cinema than I am, I can now confirm that the Turkish version of this one went by a title that could scarcely be more different, BİR DAMAT ARANIYOR (LOOKING FOR A BRIDEGROOM), which was produced in 1968, although adverts for it first seem to appear in Turkish newspapers during March 1972. The director's credit to 'Khalqi Sanir' on Lebanese prints is in fact an Arabic rendering of... Hulki Saner, perhaps most familiar in these parts as the creator of TURİST ÖMER OZUY YOLUNDA (TURKISH STAR TREK, 1973). Although the two versions share a considerable amount of footage, GHAWAR THE FOOTBALL PLAYER runs around 9 minutes longer than LOOKING FOR A BRIDEGROOM, and features some additional sequences with locally-known star Duraid Lahham, who has only a supporting rôle in the Turkish version. There are some differences in the credits also, with Oksal Pekmezoğlu gaining an assistant director's credit in the Lebanese version, perhaps indicating that he was responsible for the extra scenes with Duraid Lahham. As I'd suspected, Lahham's Sexatron-induced shenanigans escaped uncut in the Turkish version of the movie, with some actual physical contact instead of the splices present in the Lebanese edit, as indicated in the screencaps below. This particular sequence was also played up on the Turkish poster, with its participants billed as 'international comedians Duraid (Lahham) and Nihat (Kalai)'. Turkish poster, and screencaps from the Lebanese (above) and Turkish (below) versions of the Sexatron sequence. (The Turkish screencap is from a complete black-and-white television print; the surviving Turkish color print is incomplete): ANTAR FI BILAD IR-RUMAN ANTAR IN THE LAND OF THE ROMANS (1974 Lebanon/Turkey, dir. Samir ul-Ghusayni and Orhon M. Ariburnu) The other Lebanese-Turkish co-production mentioned in this overview also turns out to have been released in a distinct version in each nation. Despite the relative similarity of the posters below, the Lebanese version runs almost 25 minutes longer than the Turkish one... and yet the Turkish one still finds time for a modernday wraparound to the story, which is nowhere to be found in the Lebanese edit. Samir ul-Ghusayni's credit as co-director is present only in the Lebanese version of the film, and again could indicate that he may have been responsible for shooting some of the (fairly considerable number of) additional scenes intended only for use in the Lebanese release.
Bill Warren		#24	[-]
Jul 19 11 8:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've been reading this until I can'ts read no more. This is great stuff, should be better known. Movies are made all over the world; they're often influenced by American productions, but even more often grow out of their own cultures. The Southeast Asian movies are a treasure trove of weirdness (I'm still longing to see BATMAN FIGHTS DRACULA), but these Arabic-language wonders are mostly new to me. I did run across some of them when working for Walt Lee, just enough to make me realize there was a whole lot more out there somewhere. Thank you Dr. Kiss.
dcwillis9		#25	[-]
Jul 28 11 12:03 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I keep up with Dr. Kiss's invaluable contributions to Dave Sindelar's Lost and Hard-to-Find Movies forum, but this takes it to another level. Fine work! The coda to "Morocco" is pretty out-there already, but The Lady & the Ape ending, above somewhere, goes it one better, or weirder....
ryanbrennan		#26	[-]
Jul 30 11 4:23 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	All I know is that I'm feeling rather frustrated because I'd really like to see ALL of these movies. And, again, Doctor Kiss, thanks for this thread. It's great.
doctor kiss		#27	[-]
Jul 30 11 7:49 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	ryanbrennan wrote: All I know is that I'm feeling rather frustrated because I'd really like to see ALL of these movies. If it helps at all, my frustration at wanting to see the Egyptian ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW remake FANGS/ANYAB (1981) lasted from 1992, when I first read about it by pure chance in a book chapter I was translating, through to 2007, when I finally got to see it! And I've still only seen the film in a pretty poor off-air video version, sorry to say. The re-emergence of the majority of these titles, making them less tricky to finally locate in the past five years or so, can be put down to a single factor: the proliferation of Arabic-language satellite and cable TV stations eager for content to fill their 24/7 broadcasting schedules. Numerous forgotten titles have thus suddenly become available once more for the first time in decades (quite literally, in some cases). Of course, there are a number of titles which are still eluding me after years of hunting... including the 'holy grail' of the quest, seemingly the earliest Egyptian old dark house horror-comedy, GHOST AT MIDNIGHT (1947, orig. title SHABAH NISF IL-LAYL, a.k.a. SHABAH NUSS IL-LAYL), directed by Abd al-Fattah Hasan. So far, the image below is the lone piece of visual material I've turned up for the film... As for wanting to see some of these films, feel free to drop me a message if there's anything you're after in particular.
haraldg		#28	[-]
Jul 31 11 5:00 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Amazing stuff, Doctor Kiss! Thank you! One might add A PARTY IN HELL/Shab-neshini dar jahannam (Iran 1956) to the list, a fantasy comedy with a prolonged hell sequence including both Hitler and a rock'n'roll number.
MYST0		#29	[-]
Jul 31 11 3:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I have just found this! Dr. Kiss should get a Rondo! I can't beileve it, but he has vastly outdone his Romanian thread. There really needs to be be a book on this stuff by our own Dr. Kiss!!! I can't believe the work that was put into this! I am speechless! Thank you. Thank You. Thank You.
Tufu		#30	[-]
Jul 31 11 10:40 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wow. Amazing. I will check this out. Out of curiosity, as anyone done an India cinema thread? Or fried the brain trying? I would suppose there might be a difference between what Muslim and Hindu audiences would like.
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MBarnum		#31	[-]
Aug 1 11 12:32 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tufu, my many attempts to get a thread going about Indian horror and science fiction films has usually been met with the sounds of silence...however, that has not stopped me from beginning work on a book about the subject. So, look towards the near future, as the wonderful world of Hindi horror (from the 1930s to current) will be presented, chock full of fun facts, bios, plots, recollections for those who made the movies, and a TON of movie posters from my personal collection. I am also working on follow-up book pertaining to Hindi Trash Films (the really, really, really so-good-it's bad stuff) and one all about Mythologicals, which have been a staple of Hindi film making since the very beginning. My blog: http://pedrotheapebomb.wordpress.com/
doctor kiss		#32	[-]
Aug 1 11 2:36 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	MBarnum wrote: Tufu, my many attempts to get a thread going about Indian horror and science fiction films has usually been met with the sounds of silence...however, that has not stopped me from beginning work on a book about the subject. So, look towards the near future, as the wonderful world of Hindi horror (from the 1930s to current) will be presented, chock full of fun facts, bios, plots, recollections for those who made the movies, and a TON of movie posters from my personal collection. I am also working on follow-up book pertaining to Hindi Trash Films (the really, really, really so-good-it's bad stuff) and one all about Mythologicals, which have been a staple of Hindi film making since the very beginning. Hopefully it goes without saying that whatever books you bring out, I'll definitely be buying a copy! There are just SO many Hindi genre movies that it's often hard to know precisely where to start with them all, and I think any book would be useful for many people just on the level of 'mapping out the territory'. Fun facts and killer visuals are just a (very welcome) bonus! MYST0 wrote: There really needs to be be a book on this stuff by our own Dr. Kiss!!! Well, there's definitely going to be at least one article in a 'forthcoming quality publication' within the coming months... more on that when it happens. As for a book, I'm not so sure at the moment, although I may well put up an illustrated .pdf document at some time which tries to list every relevant work with full credits and a more detailed write-up; covering not just the better productions as mentioned in this thread, but also the unfindable/lost stuff, and the mediocre and terrible stuff as well, right down to the worst I've ever seen, director Hasan Rida's THE ACCURSED CASTLE (Al-qasr ul-malun, 1963), a movie so cheap (and sadly, dull) that it doesn't even feature a castle as promised in its title. See, I'm sellin' the idea really well with a promise of mediocrity and awfulness like that!! A notable difference between Hindi horrors and Arabic-language horrors certainly concerns their 'movie paper'; while Indian horror films often come with spectacularly psychedelic, monster-filled posters, the posters and lobby cards for many of the Arabic-language movies are just downright bland. Meaning one has to rely on screen-captures for visual images, which are somewhat better suited to online presentation than physical publication. haraldg wrote: One might add A PARTY IN HELL/Shab-neshini dar jahannam (Iran 1956) to the list, a fantasy comedy with a prolonged hell sequence including both Hitler and a rock'n'roll number. I suspect this may well be the opening for another list/thread, dealing with Persian genre films. It's not an area I've delved into deeply, but just enough to know that, once again, there are definitely tens of relevant titles to consider. Last Edited By: doctor kiss Aug 1 11 2:40 PM. Edited 2 times.
todmichel		#33	[-]
Aug 1 11 2:39 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I will be one of the first to buy your book on Indian and SF films, you can be sure. I was always fascinated by their movies, and generally loves their musics and songs as well. We tried to show an Indian movie once in a festival in Paris and after one hour, at least half of the audience has "disappeared". When the film - "FLYING MAN" - was finished, we were maybe 80 or 100 people still seated in the theater (1,700 seats). But I loved the experience. The musician, Naushaad, also wrote the classic scores of AAN (known in France as MANGALA, FILLE DES INDES) and MOTHER INDIA... A study of fantasy/horror/SF Indian movies (or any kind of Indian movie in fact) is difficult as so many of them were made in 2,3, or more "language" versions, with different casts and in the same studio... and of course under different titles! So, I just can tell you "Bon courage!".
MBarnum		#34	[-]
Aug 1 11 4:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Oh Todmichel, FLYING MAN (both the 1940s and 1960s versions) is one I would love to see! Many Hindi sci-fi and horror films have been released on DVD, but they only account for the tip of the iceberg. Add to those the assorted fantasty, sword and sandal, James Bondish adventures, and "Tarzan"-like jungle pictures and you have several hundred more...plus all the Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, and other regional Indian thrillers that are out there! And it is nice to know that I will be able to sell at least 2 copies. LOL! Thanks guys! My blog: http://pedrotheapebomb.wordpress.com/
Rick		#35	[-]
Aug 1 11 4:47 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yet another buyer for your book on India's fantastic film output. Can't wait. I LOVE this stuff!
Dave Sindelar		#36	[-]
Aug 9 11 10:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	An amazing and useful thread. I'm seriously thinking of a way to incorporating movies that aren't listed in any of the reference guides into my viewing system, because that's probably the only way any of these are going to end up on my hunt lists. ********************************************************* Let the puppy go!
BENBENBOGGINS		#37	[-]
Aug 22 11 5:10 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	What a great and interesting thread. Never knew there were so many Arabic horror films out there. It has got me searching all over the place for the buggers now. If anyone wants to check out ANYAB / FANGS (1981) and watch online, you can here http://horror-cult-classi...iewtopic.php?f=64&t=8794
raycastile		#38	[-]
Aug 25 11 12:20 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	What a thread! Thank you for your scholarship. I'm half Egyptian on my mother's side. I remember seeing another Egyptian film about a Jekyll/Hyde character. It used music from the Rite of Spring whenever he turned into the monster. I remember the makeup being pretty scary and fun. My apologies if it is already on your list and I passed over it. Do you know what film I am talking about? On a different matter, you seem like you might be the person to help me with something. My mother was in an Egyptian movie called ZIZET, or ZIZIT. She played a nurse. It was made in the early 1960s, or perhaps late 50s. Omar Sharif was in it, but I don't see it listed on IMDB. I've searched online and asked around, but no one seems to know this film. I am told it was popular in its day. My mom's name was Fawzia, but friends called her Zi Zi because of this film. I would sure like to see it. Can you help me locate this film?
todmichel		#39	[-]
Aug 25 11 3:47 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Could it be this movie?: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370092/ According to Google this movie is also called ZEZT. Unfortunately the informations on IMDb are minimal.
doctor kiss		#40	[-]
Aug 25 11 8:28 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Ray, I have to confess that I've got no idea what the Jekyll-&-Hyde movie might be; while there are a few split-personality horror-thrillers that use classical or pseudo-classical music to underline the 'change' in their protagonist (most famously Yusif Wahbi's noir-styled RAGUL LA YANAM/MAN WITHOUT SLEEP/UN HOMME SANS SOMMEIL [1948]), none of these features any kind of make-up, memorable or otherwise; their transformations are all based around performance and lighting. Do you know what period this film could be from, and if it was black-and-white or color? As for ZIZIT/ZIZETTE, todmichel's suggestion above certainly seems the most likely candidate, even though it doesn't feature Omar Sharif (who really made nothing that might obviously fit the bill at that period in time). It did, however, star Yahiy Shahin, whose name might sound a bit like Omar Sharif under the right circumstances!! Dated as a 1961 release in Egyptian sources, ZIZIT/ZIZETTE certainly has the potential to contain a rôle as a nurse; a large part of its conclusion focused on the police duping a counterfeiting gang into believing that a man being treated in hospital for injuries caused by the gang had died. The bad news is that this movie hasn't been seen in some considerable time, doesn't show up in any cable or satellite tv schedule for the past twenty years, and only has a bare-bones entry even in the elcinema.com online database (which reproduces a trade ad and names only one cast and crew member, Yahiy Shahin; link, in Arabic only). So this could really be a tricky movie to locate, if a print could still even be located in the (extrememly haphazard) archival holdings of the Egyptian National Film Center, itself only founded in the year that the film was released, 1961. 1960s sources name the following 11 cast members for ZIZIT/ZIZETTE, which correspond to those named on the one-sheet poster below: Yahiy Shahin, Barlinty Abd il-Hamid, Mahmud ul-Maligi, Zuzu Madi, Adly Kasib, Muhammad Tawfiq, Abd ul-Ghani Qamr, Aziza Hilmy, Said Khalil, Rafia ush-Shal, Abd ul-Ghani in-Nagdi. Of course, without a print, there's no easy way to check out the names of other cast and crew who worked on the movie. Last Edited By: doctor kiss Aug 25 11 8:52 AM. Edited 2 times.
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The surprise-filled world of vintage EGYPTIAN and ARABIC-LANGUAGE horror, sci-fi and fantasy movies (with LOTS of screencaps!)