Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Notes on Translation and Transliteration xvii
1 Togo Mizrahi, Agent of Exchange 1
Preview 1
Egyptian Jews: Between Nationality and Nationalisms 5
What Is Egyptian Cinema? 10
National Cinema without Nationality 12
Togo Mizrahi: A Case Study of National Cinema without Nationality 20
2 Togo Mizrahi, Work over Words 27
Togo Mizrahi, a Jewish Son of Egypt 28
The Making of the "Togo Cinema Family": Alexandria, 1929-1939 30
"The Director Who Does the Egyptian Film Industry Proud": Cairo, 1939-1946 39
From Director to Producer: Cairo, 1944-1946 43
The End of Studio Togo Mizrahi 44
Reevaluating Togo Mizrahi's Legacy 49
3 Crimes of Mistaken Identity 50
The Subversive Potential of Levantine Farce 51
Chalom: A Jewish Ibn al-Balad 56
Language of Belonging, Language of Disguise: The Two Delegates (1934) 58
Masquerade and the Levantine Carnivalesque: The Neighborhood Watchman (1936) 64
Coda: Levantine Masquerade and Subversive Sexuality 70
4 Queering the Levantine 73
In Bed Together 73
Queerness and the Levantine 74
Suitors in Swimsuits: Doctor Farahat (1935) 75
A Parting Kiss: Mistreated by Affluence (1937) 83
Coda: "The Story of a Woman Who Was Transformed into a Man" 88
5 Journeys of Assumed Identity: Seven O'Clock (1937) 91
Movement I Cycling in Alexandria 93
Movement II Nubian Whiteface and Borscht Belt Minstrelsy 96
Movement III Queer Levantine Mobility 102
Coda: Journey of the Living Dead 105
6 Traveling Anxieties 107
Itinerary I, Egypt-Italy: A Rainy Night (1939) 109
Itinerary II, Egypt-Sudan: A Rainy Night (1939) 112
Itinerary III, Egypt-Palestine-Lebanon: The Straight Road (1943) 117
Coda: Layla, Bint al-Balad 122
7 Courtesan and Concubine 125
Love Matches and Marriage Plots 125
Abolition of Slavery and Legal Prostitution in Egypt 127
Courtesan/Queen: Layla (1942) 130
A Modern Qayna: Sallama (1945) 141
A Success Rumored to Be a Failure 155
8 Frames of Influence 158
Frame 1 Hasan and Marika (Egypt, 1959) 160
Frame 2 Cinema Egypt (Israel, 1998) 161
Frame 3 Passion (Syria, 2005) 163
Frame 4 YouTube 164
Writing Togo Mizrahi into the History of Egyptian Cinema 166
Appendix: Togo Mizrahi Filmography 169
Notes 179
Works Cited 211
Index 225