Valley of the Kings (film)

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Valley of the Kings
Original French film poster
Directed by	Robert Pirosh
Written by	Robert Pirosh Karl Tunberg C. W. Ceram (book)
Starring	Robert Taylor Eleanor Parker Carlos Thompson Kurt Kasznar Victor Jory Samia Gamal.
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography	Robert Surtees
Editing by	Harold F. Kress
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	21 July 1954
Running time	86 min
Country	USA
Language	English

Valley of the Kings is a 1954 adventure film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was written and directed by Robert Pirosh from a screenplay by Robert Pirosh and Karl Tunberg, "suggested by historical data" in the book Gods, Graves, and Scholars by C. W. Ceram. The music was by Miklós Rózsa and the cinematography by Robert Surtees.

The film stars Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker with Carlos Thompson, Kurt Kasznar, Victor Jory and Samia Gamal.

[edit] Background

The title of the film, Valley of the Kings, refers to the valley on the west bank of the Nile, in Egypt, where the tombs of the Ancient Egyptian kings are located.

MGM bought the rights to the archaeology text Gods, Graves and Scholars for "protection purposes," as it contained a chapter titled "Robbers in the Valley of the Kings" which might have been seen as having influenced the film's script.

The film was shot on location in Cairo, Luxor, Faiyûm, Suez, the Libyan desert and at the Pyramids of Giza Egypt. Additional filming took place in El Segundo, CA.

The role of Mark Brandon, played in the film by Robert Taylor was originally given to Vittorio Gassman.

The film's world premiere took place simultaneously on 21 July 1954 in Cairo and Alexandria (as well as New York City) and marked the first time an American film had a world premiere in Egypt.