Land of the Pharaohs (1955)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Howard Hawks

Writers:

William Faulkner (written by) &
Harry Kurnitz (written by) ...

Release Date:

24 June 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

HER BLOOD STAINED EVERY STONE OF THE PYRAMID

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Pharaoh | Egypt | Tomb | Architect | Ancient Egypt

Cast

Jack Hawkins	...	Pharaoh Khufu
Joan Collins	...	Princess Nellifer
Dewey Martin	...	Senta
Alex Minotis	...	Hamar (as Alexis Minotis)
James Robertson Justice	...	Vashtar
Luisella Boni	...	Kyra (as Luisa Boni)
Sydney Chaplin	...	Treneh
James Hayter	...	Mikka, Vashtar's servant
Kerima	...	Nailla
Piero Giagnoni	...	Xenon (Pharaoh's Son)

Also Known As:

Howard Hawks' Land of the Pharaohs (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

Canada:144 min | UK:105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

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

Certification:

UK:U (cut) | Australia:G | West Germany:12 | USA:Approved (certificate #16995) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Egypt

Company:

Continental Company

Trivia:

Although the ancient Egyptians did indeed have a close relationship with the Nile Crocodile (which is believed to have included sacrifices and mummification), the reptiles in the film are actually American Alligators.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the opening scene the pharaoh is described as a descendant of the sun god Amon / Amun. But during the Old Kingdom the the sun god was Ra. Amun only rose to prominence, and merged with Ra, as Amun-Ra, during the Middle Kingdom, some thousand years later.

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.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Cineastes en acció (2005)

Actually better than most desert sands of ancient Egypt sagas.

While this may be a somewhat Readers Digest-level glimpse of 'pharaonic' Egypt - at the height of pyramid building, it has both high production values (-for the 50s-) as well as making an earnest attempt at accurately depicting what we then knew of ancient Egyptian life. Jack Hawkins - as Pharaoh, gives a better than journeyman's portrayal of a kindly autocratic leader, his beliefs, strivings and motivations - all conveyed believably. A youthful (very) Joan Collins - and maybe a bit on the chubby side, does rather well with a weakly written and somewhat soap-opera'ish part as the conniving #2 queen. James Robertson Justice is superb as the captured and enslaved architect-engineer; the one whom designs and then oversees for Pharaoh the building of his funerary pyramid; a structure replete with multiple self-sealing stone doors ingeniously powered by the "hydraulics" of sand. The cinematography, pacing and continuity are at the very least good. Director Howard Hawks does masterfully as a story teller with something worth saying. For its genre and vintage this is both a story and movie worthy of a view - especially by those inclined to also be somewhat interested in the 'how' of those ancient times as well as the 'who' and 'why.' It would be nice if this was soon available on DVD.