Night of the Hunchback
About Night of the Hunchback
Asghar Ghuzi, a hunchbacked actor in a traditional troupe, is given a list of smugglers after a private show in a rich house in Tehran. At dinner a friend forces food into his mouth and he chokes to death. Through the night the body is passed from person to person, each one trying to be rid of it, until the police find the corpse. Farrokh Ghaffari directed. The Persian title is شب قوزی.
Cast & crew
More about Night of the Hunchback
Ghaffari produced it and wrote it with Jalal Moghadam, from a story in the Thousand and One Nights. The censor made them set it in modern Tehran instead of the medieval tale. George Lichensky, the cinematographer, and Moghadam pushed him to make it. His third feature, after South of the City and Which One Is the Bride. Ashena Company distributed it. The listed length is 91 minutes. It opened in Tehran in the winter of 1965. Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz, Pari Saberi, and Zackaria Hashemi are billed. Ghaffari acts in it.
Themes
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- The death is a forced mouthful at dinner, not a murder plotted in advance.
- The list of smugglers is what the hostess hands him before he leaves.
- It was shown at Cannes, Karlovy Vary, and Brussels. The article says the public at home did not take to it.
- The medieval version was written first. The censor required the Tehran setting.
Scenes
- A friend pushes food into Asghar's mouth and he dies.
- The body moves from house to house until the police take it.
Influenced by
- A story from One Thousand and One Nights