The Storm of Life | Toofane zendegi (1948)

Synopsis

Nahid and Farhad met each other at one of the night parties of the National Music Association and soon fell in love. Nahid's father is a wealthy businessman who opposes his daughter's marriage to Farhad and gives her to a rich man.

Despondent, Farhad focuses all his efforts on his career and soon gains status and wealth. Nahid's husband, who is fun-loving and lustful, finally loses her with his perversions. During some incidents, Nahid and Farhad face each other again..



Cast: Farhad Motamedi, Ina Ooshid, Mehr-Aghdas Khajenouri, Reza Kiai, Nasser Taefi, Niktkaj Sabri, Zinat Moaddab, Zhaleh Olov, Rogheyeh Chehreh-Azad, Hosein Amirfazli, Assad Amoozesh

Produced by: Esmail Koushan
Cinematography by: Esmail Koushan
Music by: Ruhollah Khaleghi, Abolhassan Saba, Gholamhossein Banan, Lotfollah Majd
Editing by: Esmail Koushan

The Storm of Life was filmed in Arbab Jamshid's house in a large garden in Javadiyeh, Tehran, and Gholamhossein Banan and Lotfollah Majd also sang in it. The only version of this film, all negative and positive copies of it, was destroyed in the Mitra Film fire in 1952. But Dr. Koushan soon founded a new office called "Pars Film" that engaged in filmmaking, an activity that continued for nearly 30 years.

To make this film, Koushan used all the famous and skilled people of the time. Nezam Vafa, a famous poet of the era, a group of experienced and famous artists of Iranian theater (who studied at the German State Theater School and, according to a news published in the Etelaat newspaper, year 11, issue 2938, dated Sunday, October 18, 1936, established a theater class in Tehran in May of the same year and by the time the film was made, had brought famous plays such as "The Tragedy of Ramadan" and "Michel Strogoff" to the stage of the Tehran Theater), four famous masters of Iranian music, the voices of two singers of the day, and finally, a story that can perhaps be considered the first Iranian cinema's real melodrama, which was formed based on the eternal stereotype of the conflicts between poverty and wealth. A model that was repeatedly used in Iranian cinema in later years (the love and affection of a poor boy with a kind heart and a rich girl).

There are also other factors such as “singing and dancing,” which later became one of the main requirements of “the fiery and melting melodramas of Iranian cinema.” According to Dr. Koushan (in Javanan magazine, No. 438, Monday, April 7, 1975): “We had invested one hundred thousand tomans to produce this film and establish a studio, … The filming of The Storm of Life took about ten months, because in the middle of the film the sound machine broke down and I had to go to Egypt to bring a specialist! Our maximum salary in this film for the actors was 2 thousand tomans.

It is of great value because it is the first film that was entirely produced by Iranians. We brought new faces to the screen in this film, and we will try to introduce new cinematic characters in future films. (Ali Daryabeigi, Weekly Information, No. 343, 5 February 1958).

… For this reason, rawness and inexperience are evident throughout the film’s scenes. … The “Mitra Film” studio, with its meager resources and insufficient capital, was unable to procure the necessary equipment. In this regard, one can overlook the major mistakes and errors evident in the film due to the lack of equipment and machinery, but an issue that is by no means worthy of being overlooked is the carelessness in setting up the scenes and, to some extent, the incompetence of the actors, and more importantly, the banality and mundanity of the film’s subject matter. … Considering that the photography in some simple mountain scenes or inside a room or individual photos is somewhat good, it can be seen that the lack of interest in the photos is not the camera's fault, but that there was not enough care and taste in photographing the landscapes and choosing a suitable place for the camera in terms of adjusting the light and shadow and highlights. The voices of the actors are not understandable at all because the film is dubbed in terms of sound, meaning that the sound was added after the film was finished. Often the sounds do not match the movements of the actors' mouths. This defect results from a lack of sufficient practice. In addition, it is not clear why the sound is so muffled and noisy, so that the meaning and meaning of the words can often be recognized from the behavior of the people, not from hearing their voices... Nevertheless, the voices of the singers and in some scenes the sound of the music can be heard relatively well. The scenes are generally dark and dim, and the screen is cheap and stained, tiring the eyes. The reason for this may also be the lack of equipment and props. The makeup is relatively good, especially at the end of the film. It is natural and skillful. Among the female actors, Ina Ooshid in the role of Nahid and Niktaj Sabri play well, but among the men, Nahid's father Ghaffar, who almost has the first role, plays the best of all, especially at the end of the film. (Fakhri Nazemi, Jahan Nou, May 1958).

The first Persian film (Film Farsi) to be shown on 39 nights was “The Storm of Life.” This film was produced by Dr. Koushan at Mitra Film Studio, but his inexperience and lack of equipment made it so bad that even the most optimistic people, upon seeing it, said: “It is still too early for us to be able to make a film.” The only person who did not despair and did not deviate from the path he had taken was Koushan himself. (Weekly Information, No. 648, 29 January 1954).

And… after Sepanta, a heavy silence fell in Iranian cinema. Our cinema took on a better form after  “The Storm of Life.” (Farrokh Ghaffari, Tamasha Magazine, Year 1, No. 5, 22 April 1971).

Read about this film

Country: Iran
Language: Farsi
Color: Black and White
Runtime: 155 min.