Land of the Pharaohs
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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". It had a cast of thousands (9,787 extras) [1] and was one of Hollywood's largest scale, ancient world epics, in the spirit of The Robe, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur and others. Female lead Joan Collins, just 22 during production, played the role of a beautiful greedy woman, something she would continue to do over a very long film career.
The film was shot on location in Egypt and in Rome's Titanus studios.
[edit] 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 prevent Khufu from taking his treasure with him when he dies, as well as helping him make the journey early.
[edit] See also
- List of epic films
[edit] External links
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