Land of the Pharaohs

Infobox Film
name = Land of the Pharaohs


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director = Howard Hawks
producer = Howard Hawks
writer = Harold Jack Bloom
William Faulkner
Harry Kurnitz
narrator =
starring = Jack Hawkins
Joan Collins
music = Dimitri Tiomkin
cinematography = Lee Garmes
Russell Harlan
editing = Vladimir Sagovsky
distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
released = June 24, 1955
runtime = 144 minutes
country = USA
language = English
budget = $2,900,000 (estimated)
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website =
amg_id = 1:28183
imdb_id = 0048283

"Land of the Pharaohs" is a 1955 Cinemascope epic film made by the Continental Company, Ltd and presented by Warner Bros. It was directed and produced by Howard Hawks from a screenplay by Harold Jack Bloom, Harry Kurnitz and the novelist William Faulkner. The film score was by Dimitri Tiomkin.

The film starred Jack Hawkins and Joan Collins, with Dewey Martin, James Robertson Justice, Kerima and Alexis Minotis. It is a fictional account of the building of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, remembered in Greek as "Cheops". Collins, just 22 during production, played a beautiful greedy woman, a role she would repeat many times over a very long film and television career.

It literally had a cast of thousands (Warner Bros. claimed there were 9,787 extras in one scene [cite web |url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9805E2DB103AE53BBC4F51DFB166838E649EDE&oref=slogin |title='Land of the Pharaohs' Is Standard Saga |author=A. H. Weiler |publisher="New York Times" |date=July 27, 1955 |accessdate=2007-12-19] ) and was one of Hollywood's largest-scale, ancient world epics, in the spirit of "The Robe", "The Ten Commandments", "Ben Hur" and others. The film was shot on location in Egypt and in Rome's Titanus studios.

Existing prints such as the U.S. Warners DVD run 104 minutes but there are unsubstantiated reports of a 144 minute version.

Plot

In ancient Egypt the Pharaoh Khufu (Jack Hawkins) 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 (James Robertson Justice), an architect whose people are enslaved in Egypt. The agreement is to build a robber-proof tomb in exchange for the slaves' release. During the years that the pyramid is being built, the pharaoh demands tribute from all the territories. Nellifer (Joan Collins) is the princess and ambassador of the tributary province of Cyprus. Nellifer says that her province is poor and cannot afford to pay the tribute of grain-- so she offers herself to the pharaoh instead. Nellifer becomes the pharaoh's second wife. Later she plots to kill Khufu and take the treasure for herself.

In the meantime she accidentally wears a robe which is generally worn by the queen who will accompany the Pharaoh after his death in his tomb. However she is unaware that being the queen herself she will also have to go in & there is no coming back.

When the Pharaoh dies he is taken with all his treasures, Nellifer & his Chief Minister to the tomb. Once inside she feels that now she will rule Egypt with all the wealth. The Chief Minister closes the doors of the pyramid; thus locking them off. Finally all succumb to death in it.

ee also

* List of epic films

References

External links

*imdb title|0048283