Tuesday, March 13, 2012

"Frank Agrama - a member of that select group of directors who currently have three separate IMDb entries"

Female Gang aka Essabet el Nissae (Lebanon/Turkey/Egypt, 1968)

I know nothing about Frank Agrama (aka Farouk Ajrama aka Seyfettin Tiryaki) other than he directed DAWN OF THE MUMMY which I've seen. But I stumbled over the above poster at an Lebanese eBay store and thought I'd better check out if there were any DVD releases of the film. I didn't find a DVD but what I did find was a pile of posts about this director and his films, all posted by one fanatical film fan ("Doctor Kiss") on the Classic Horror Film Board (of which I'm not a member).

If you've seen DAWN you might think, "meh" but check out this YouTube collection of clips from Agrama's 1960s films were apparently were much better, or at least more fresh/energetic/youthful (and one of the posts provided a link to a DVD so that was cool. Unfortunately it seems it's un-subbed). And do check out the original posts on the Classic Horror Film Board here.




Kudos to Doctor Kiss for the thorough and detailed work he's provided in that thread.

22 comments:

  1. Hi Bill,

    Haven't we had this conversation already? Haha. I'm also the guy behind the "Backyard Asia" blog (and "When the Vietnam War Raged... in the Philippines" blog for that matter) so yes I'm seen you moved and I've already signed up again. Thanks for the heads-up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Cuneyt Arkin one looks too cool and so do the rest for that matter. The Turkish version's called Five Fiery Women and I think it's a horror/comedy romp. The buxom Lebanese babe called Taroub or Tarup (in Turkish) is said to have a Turkish background and was onced rumoured to be engaged to Cuneyt Arkin. I think they made several Turkish and Arabic co-production films together. Taruob also released a few 45rpm records in Turkiye sung in Turkish. She sings spot on Turkish with a slight accent, so I think those rumours of her being of Turkish ancestry might be true. She sings mainly in Arabic and i think apart from Turkish she might sing in the Greek language too. Also Tarup is in one of the Golden Boy movies!! Cheers Matey from Australia and tell JD to keep his racist remarks off the Onar Films blog. I read them and I was apalled and insulted. There's no need to drag a whole country through the mud because you don't like it's leader. Joe Mizuki.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Check out Tarup's Turkish Filmography on Sinematurk :- http://www.sinematurk.com/kisi/2295/Tarup

    Joe Mizuki

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well i checked Tarup's filmography and she only made that one film with Cuneyt Arkin and that being Five Fiery Women aka 5 Atesli Kadin.:)))

    joe

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey Joe!

    Are you off FB again? o_O

    Needless to say I hate racist bullshit as much as you do but (unfortunately) I don't know anything about the political and social situation in Turkey to go into a discussion with anybody about what's what and what's not.

    Thanks for the info! I ordered "Five Fiery Women" a few days ago from an Arabic store somewhere (I'm not even sure where they're located!). I reckon the DVD is probably not subbed in English but it was the only version I could get hold of. The guy who wrote that post mentioned he has a TV print but I don't know him personally (and not a member of that forum).

    Maybe Tarup did make more films with Cüneyt but they're just not listed. Who knows.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks!! Matey For replying, I've been reading more about Taroub aka Taroop aka Tarup. Despite what some have said on various sites and on replies to her you-tube clips, she is of Turkish ancestry and her real name is Emel Cerkes . She is more well known for her singing in Lebanon than for being an actress. One of her Turkish 45s has a cool beat group sound coupled with her exotic vocals. I'll find the other tidbits about her and post them here!!! cheers. You don't need to know about turkish politics but he did drag his adopted country's name thru the mud. He's lost a friend in me,that's for sure!!Joe Mizuki

    ReplyDelete
  7. Here's some more stuff I've found in English about the female star of Five Fiery Women...... I can tell you that Taroub (or as seen here, Tarup), along with her sister Mayada, were from Lebanon and were of Turkish descent. They had recording careers both in Lebanon and Turkey, where this single is from. Her real name is Emel Cerkes from Turkish roots, as you mentioned. From time to time she used to go to Turkey for making records, or films, or to fall in love. In 1968 [could be the time around when she made that single] she was in Istanbul taking a part in Lebanese-Turkish co-production film titled Gang of Women, with Sabah as the film star and a Turkish actor. His name is Jonette Arkin. He pretty much looks like Alan Delon [likely that's what drove him to acting]. The film ended with Arkin and Taroub romancing reached the limit of marriage concept, but eventually it appears to be have been a crush.....joe mizuki

    ReplyDelete
  8. That's true, Joe, you don't have to know about a country's politics to recognise racism but I don't know what it is you're referring to. Although I post on the Onar page I don't actually pay much attention to that page and I read 50% of the posts at best. Was it the comments about violence to women haven risen lately? And he mentioned religious fanatics, was that it? Or maybe comments I didn't read. @_@
    Maybe he doesn't realise what he said, maybe if you told him he'd be sorry about it. Would be better than cutting off a friend. Oh what do I know. :/

    Thanks again for the info, please keep it coming when you find out more.

    ReplyDelete
  9. ps. one last thing... did that store accept paypal. i'm thinking of getting it too!! don't worry about it i'm thru with most of the regulars there on facebook for one reason or another, time to move on i say.lol.
    joe.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for that new extra info!! Great. xD

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yes, they accept PayPal (which I paid with).

    Yeah, sometimes it's time to get the hell outta dodge. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Check out this clip where Tarup sings in 3 languages Arabic, Turkish and Greek, all in the same song...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khOtJOQycRE

    Lebanese singer Taroub sings her songs Ahla we Sahla in 3 languages: Arabic, Greek and Turkish, in an old movie with Doreid Laham

    ReplyDelete
  13. I just watched it. Cool! Of course it's slightly surreal to talk about an actress when you've never seen one single movie she's done. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Here's the filmography for Hulya Darcan, The Turkish starlet from 5 Fiery Women :-

    http://www.sinematurk.com/kisi/1533/Hulya-Darcan

    ReplyDelete
  15. Btw, when you call it "Five Fiery Women" is that a "real" English title or just your translation of the Turkish title? It's not on that guy's list of aka titles.

    ReplyDelete
  16. It's the translated title. I think I saw 'Five Hot Women' listed somewhere on that link. That's kind of right but 'Atesli' means fiery where as hot would've been 'Sicak'... joe

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yeah, here's the aka titles he posted:

    ISABAT UN-NISA (1968 Lebanon/Turkey/Egypt) aka
    ESSABET EL NISSAE (alternate transliteration of Arabic title) aka
    ESSABET EL NISSA (alternate transliteration of Arabic title for French release) aka
    BEŞ ATEŞLİ KADIN (Turkish title) aka
    5 ATEŞLİ KADIN (alternate rendering of Turkish title) aka
    ATEŞLİ DELİKANLI (Turkish vhs retitling) aka
    LE GANG DES FEMMES (French subtitled release title) aka
    FLOGEROS NEAROS (Greek subtitled vhs title) aka
    WOMEN GANG (international sales title) aka
    FIVE HOT WOMEN (literal English translation of Turkish title)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I had seen that title FIVE HOT WOMEN in various lists of Turkish movies (maybe even of boot of it somewhere?) but had no idead it was directed by Adgrama. Fascinating stuff! Thanks guys!

    ReplyDelete
  19. It says there somewhere on that link that one of the films was recut and turned into a filiz akin movie to meet a quota! That version would be great to have, from memory I think it was called Ask Oyunu-The Game Of Love. Btw Jack if you are remotely interested i've got a new blog that i wont deactivate this time round.Hahaha!!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Haha, I'll believe that when I see it. Next you'll be telling me you'll never leave FB again. Haha.

    Yeah, that Filiz Akin version would be fun to watch! Btw, check this out, Jared (the above poster) sent me a link to WOMEN GANG on YouTube - and it's the Turkish version! (thanks, Jared!):

    http://youtu.be/-zMzJhJvVXM

    The full film is on there. However, it seems to be a lot shorter as it only runs 1h24m. According to Doktor Kiss in that thread the restored TV print runs 106 minutes. But I guess it's not so much a matter of being cut as it is a different edit.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thanks Jared & Jack, I watched the Women Gang Film by skimming thru it. Looks like a swinging 60s comedy euro spy flick with a bit of slapstick horror. The quality isn't very good but not as bad as the vhs tapes we use to hire at the Turkish video rental stores here in Sydney.lol. It's titled Atesli Delikanli(Fiery Wild Blooded Youngster) with credit given to only the Turkish stars of the film namely Cuneyt Arkin & Hulya Darcan....Joe

    ReplyDelete