Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1933
Haji Agha, the Cinema Actor
Buy Haji Agha, the Cinema Actor now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Haji Agha, the Cinema Actor' (in Persian: ; transliterated as 'Haji Agha Aktor-e Cinema') is a 1933 Iranian comedy film directed by Iranian-Armenian director, Ovannes Oganian and one of a few remaining Iranian silent films. This was Ohaninan's second film in Iran after the success of 'Abi and Rabi', his first silent film. The film reflects the clash between tradition and modernity in Iranian society in the early 1930s. While 'Abi and Rabi' did well commercially, 'Haji Agha Aktor-e Cinema' did not succeed at the box office due to its technical shortcomings and the fact that its release coincided with the first Persian talkie, 'Dokhtar-e Lor'.
The film tells the story of a director (played by Ohanian) is searching for a subject for his film, when he receives a suggestion to film Haji Agha, a wealthy conservative man. Hajis daughter, son-in-law, and servant help the director orchestrate a series of events that enable the director to film Haji in action. When the film is finished and Haji views it, he sees his own image on the screen and, enthralled by it, begins to appreciate the merits of cinema.
Plot
A director (Ovanes Ohanian) looks for a subject for his movie and someone suggests that he secretly film Haji Agha. Haji is very rich and frowns upon cinema. Haji's daughter, son-in-law, and servant help the director with the film. Haji's watch gets lost, and he suspects his servant. Haji and his son-in-law start chasing him. At first, they tail him to the dentist's, and then they meet a fakir who claims he can find the lost watch. He does some strange things. The director photographs Haji all the time. Then Haji watches the film and becomes aware of the true merits of cinema.
Cast
*Abbas-Gholi Edalatpour as Puri
*Asia Ghostantin as Parvin
*Habibollah Morad as Haji Agha
*Ovanes Ohanian as The director
*Zema Ohanian as Pari
*Gholam-Hossein Sohrabi-Fard as Monsieur Abi
*Abbas-Kahn Tahbaz as Parviz
Production
Shooting started in June 1932 and the camera used was a "Pathe" camera which was more than 20 years old.
References
Buy Haji Agha, the Cinema Actor now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1933