''Night of the Hunchback'' () is a 1965

Iranian film The cinema of Iran (), or of Name of Iran, Persia, refers to the film industry in Iran. In particular, Iranian art films have garnered international recognition. Iranian films are usually written and spoken in the Persian language. Iran has bee ...

comedy, directed and produced by Farrokh Ghaffari. The film script was based on a story from

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition ( ...

, but arranged for modern city life in Tehran. This was Ghaffari's third film after ''Jonub-e Shahr'' (The South of the City) and ''Arous Kodumeh?'' (Which One is Bride) which both didn't have a good grossing.

Jalal Moghadam Jalal Moghadam (‎; 30 April 1929 – 18 April 1996) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, film critic, and actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. ...

(another intellectual film director) and George Lichensky (an Iranian-Assyrian cinematographer) encouraged Ghaffari to make this film. At first the story was set in the medieval times as in the ancient stories of

occurred. However, the censorship office forced Ghaffari to turn the story of the film to a modern setting.

Plot

Asghar Ghuzi (The Hunchback) is a member of a Persian traditional comedy troupe who perform in theatres or rich people’s houses. One night after the end of a private performance at the residence of a wealthy couple, the landlady (the hostess) gives Asghar a piece of paper, on which is a list of smugglers, to deliver to someone. Asghar goes to the suburbs of the city to have dinner with his friends, but accidentally dies when one of his friends tries to put some food in his mouth by force. His friends, shocked by his sudden death, get rid of his corpse by dumping it next to a barbershop. The owners of the barbershop, who are smugglers and intend to go on a trip, put Asghar's body in the yard of a house where there happens to be a wedding reception. Yet, when they leave the shop, they are suspected by the police. The bride's father finds the dead body and takes it out of town. The hostess is informed of Asghar’s death and goes after a drunken man who found the list of names in Asghar’s pocket by chance. They are tailed and found in a bakery. The police arrive and arrest the woman, the man, and his collaborators.{{cite web, last=Jahed, first=Parviz, title=The Night of the Hunchback, url=http://worldcinemadirectory.co.uk/component/film/?id=1011, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505200049/http://worldcinemadirectory.co.uk/component/film/?id=1011, url-status=usurped, archive-date=May 5, 2016, publisher=World Cinema Directory

Cast

* Pari Saberi as The hostess * Paria Hatami * Khosrow Sahami as Ahmad the hunchback * Mohammad Ali Keshavarz as Jamal, The smuggler * Zakaria Hashemi as Police officer * Farrokh Ghaffari as Manuch, Smuggler's assistant * Reza Hushmand * Farrokhlagha Houshmand * Farhang Amiri

Reception

Critics like

Georges Sadoul Georges Sadoul (; 4 February 1904 – 13 October 1967) was a French film critic, journalist and cinema writer. He is known for writing encyclopedias of film and filmmakers, many of which have been translated into English. Biography Sadoul w ...

and Hajir Dariush admired the film. Film was also screened at the 1964/65

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

and

Locarno Locarno (; ; Ticinese dialect, Ticinese: ; formerly in ) is a southern Switzerland, Swiss List of towns in Switzerland, town and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district Locarno (district), Locarno (of which it is the capita ...

festivals.

References

External links

Shabe Ghuzi
in

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

1965 films Films directed by Farrokh Ghaffari Iranian comedy films Films set in Tehran Films based on One Thousand and One Nights 1960s Persian-language films