Land of the Pharaohs (1955)

A captured architect designs an ingenious plan to ensure the impregnability of tomb of a self-absorbed Pharaoh, obsessed with the security of his next life.

Director:

Howard Hawks

Writers:

William Faulkner, Harry Kurnitz

Stars:

Jack Hawkins, Joan Collins, Dewey Martin

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jack Hawkins	...	Pharaoh Khufu
Joan Collins	...	Princess Nellifer
Dewey Martin	...	Senta, Vashtar's Son
Alexis Minotis	...	Hamar, the High Priest (as Alex Minotis)
James Robertson Justice	...	Vashtar, the Master Architect
Luisella Boni	...	Kyra (as Luisa Boni)
Sydney Chaplin	...	Treneh, The Captain of the Guard
James Hayter	...	Mikka, Vashtar's Servant
Kerima	...	Queen Nailla
Piero Giagnoni	...	Xenon

Storyline

In ancient Egypt the Pharaoh Khu-fu is obsessed with acquiring gold and plans to take it all with him into the "second life." To this end he enlists the aid of Vashtar, an architect whose people are enslaved in Egypt. The deal: build a robbery-proof tomb and the enslaved people will be freed. During the years that the pyramid is being built a Cyprian princess becomes the pharaoh's second wife, and she plots to prevent Khufu from taking his treasure with him when he dies .. as well as helping him make the journey early.

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Plot Keywords:

ancient egypt | pharaoh | architect | tomb | trumphal procession | 

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Taglines:

The barbarous love that left Egypt's great pyramid as its wondrous landmark!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | History

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 June 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

Howard Hawks' Land of the Pharaohs

Filming Locations:

The Unfinished Obelisk, Aswan, Egypt

Box Office

Budget:

$2,900,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$1,500,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Continental Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (optical prints) 4-Track Stereo (RCA Sound Recording) (magnetic prints)

Color:

Color (WarnerColor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was Howard Hawks's first commercial failure. It caused Hawks to take a break from directing and travel through Europe for a number of years. He made his next movie, Rio Bravo (1959), four years later - the longest break between two movies in his career.

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Goofs

Although the Egyptians did practice ritual sacrifice in the manner shown at the end of the film (in which Nellifer joins her husband's guards in his tomb so she can be with him in the afterlife), they had stopped this practice long before the building of the Great Pyramid.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Hamar: I, Hamar, Lord High Priest of Egypt, am preparing a chronicle of the reign of Khufu, ruler of Egypt. Word has come that again he has been victorious in the war against our enemies and now Egypt has taken its place as the greatest of all nations in the world! Today, Pharaoh and his armies return.

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Connections

Referenced in The Jungle Book (1994)

User Reviews

Spectacular in an expensive sort of way

"Land of the Pharaohs" is on many Guilty Pleasure lists and deservedly so. You know it is only for entertainment purposes. Joan Collins as well as the character she portrays are over the top campy and not to be taken seriously. Her cruel, selfish Queen is utterly devoid of any redeeming qualities, utterly ruthless and wicked- in other words, delicious fun to watch.

Most of the acting is high-quality, especially the legendary Jack Hawkins who is magnificent as usual although Yul Brynner or Charleton Heston probably would have fit the role better.

Beautifully filmed with a very expensive look it is a movie with an obviously lavish budget. Despite the extravagance, I can fully understand why it didn't do well at the box-office. Focused on death and monuments it can be seen as somewhat depressing and has a grim, doomed aspect overall amid the splendor.

Unless maybe written by Edgar Allan Poe, how is a film about a tomb going to attract a great public to the theater? The answer is: it didn't. It is not an adventure about getting to a tomb such as Indiana Jones-type films, it is basically only a film about a tomb itself.

Death, murder, slavery, a tomb. If not handled just right these subjects can't succeed alone. Here they do, but just barely.