Howard Hawks'

Land of the Pharaohs

1955

 

Land of the Pharaohs was an independent production co-financed and released by Warner Brothers in 1955.  Along with A Star is Born, East of Eden, Rebel without a Cause, and Helen of Troy, it was one of the studio's first films in widescreen. It was made largely on location in Egypt, with interiors shot at Titanus Studios in Rome. The co-financing arrangement with Continental Productions resulted in the production company going bankrupt, but largely shielding Warners.  The story has very little historical basis, but is essentially an extravagant melodrama, which is especially well-written, designed, produced, and acted.

 

Hamar, the high priest of Egypt (Alexis Minotis), is discovered in the first shot beginning a chronicle of the reign of Pharaoh Khufu (Jack Hawkins), who is called Cheops in Greek.  The King returns victorious from war, bringing plundered gold and many captives, including the architect Bashta (James Robertson Justice) and his son Senta (Dewey Martin). Often, the high priests of Amon served as chancellors or grand viziers to the Pharaoh. Khufu is also greeted by his devoted and perhaps indulgent Queen.  Khufu has decided to commemorate his reign by building the largest pyramid in history. Dressed stone construction was introduced by Imhotep, high priest and chancellor to the third-dynasty Pharaoh Djoser (ca. 2667-2648 B.C.). Djoser's step pyramid was the first dressed stone structure ever built, and remains the oldest in existence.  It is about 200 feet tall, comparable in height to Notre Dame Cathedral. Fourth-dynasty Pharaoh Khufu (ca. 2589-2566 B.C.) reigned about sixty years later, and no pyramids were built by later dynasties.  The Great Pyramid was originally about 480 feet tall.  Imhotep was eventually deified, and for millennia was venerated as the patron god of architecture, medicine, and learning in general.

 

Bashta is first invited to see how Egypt honors the dead who were killed in battle, and then how it punishes cowards and deserters. In a pan-theistic temple, where hidden priests speak for Anubis, Osirus, and Horus, Khufu climaxes the ceremony by announcing his intention to build a pyramid. Egyptian architects prove inadequate to the task of designing a sufficiently theft-proof structure.  One of the models is very similar to the Great Pyramid as built, with the distinctive three burial chambers, unique ascending passages, so-called "air shafts," the inclined grand gallery, and stress-relieving chambers over the king's chamber.  Bashta is next offered the job, which he accepts to guarantee better treatment for his captive countrymen.  The catch is that Bashta will be put to death when the pyramid is finished, to ensure the secret dies with him.

 

Bashta devises a scheme to support the ceilings of various internal passages with sand.  The sand is trapped by ceramic plugs, but will run out when the delicate and vulnerable plugs are smashed, allowing the ceiling to lower gradually, until each passage is completely blocked with solid stone temporarily held higher in the pyramid.  With no remaining passages, the burial chamber would be impossible to find, much less to penetrate.

 

 

The film's conception of the pyramid's construction is unsupported by historical or archeological evidence.  But it's fun to watch in action and makes for a lively climax.  The so-called "air shafts," which do not penetrate to the outside air, are shown as functioning as part of this self-sealing sand-removal system.  Construction begins on the pyramid, but slows as limestone has to be quarried from increasingly remote sites and lifted ever higher as the pyramid rises.  To ensure completion is not further delayed, Khufu levies additional taxes.  Princess Nellifer (Joan Collins), ambassadress of the tributary province of Cypress, has been sent by her father as a bribe to spare his impoverished domain having to pay the tax, which would result in starvation.  Khufu is eventually taken with her, and eventually marries her as his secondary consort.  His first wife's position seems secure, since she has borne Khufu an heir, Prince Zanin (Piero Gagnoni), but Nellifer has other plans.

 

Khufu impresses Nellifer with his treasure chamber, which is supervised by the otherwise loyal Captain of the Guard Trennah (Sidney Chaplin—Charlie's son).  Khufu and Nellifer are two of a kind, and share the same obsessive love of gold.  An accident in the half-completed pyramid injures Khufu and kills some of Basha's priestly assistants, but Senta saves the king's life.  Unfortunately, in so doing, he has to reveal that Basha has shared the secret of the pyramid with him, which marks him for death. Khufu delays the death sentence and promises Senta comfort and riches while the pyramid is built.  To protect the girl from being beaten savagely, Senta requests Nellifer's slave Kira (Kerima, the Phillipina author Kerima Polotan Tuvera).

 

Nellifer appears devoted to Khufu, the Queen, and Zanin, but Hamar sees through her.  She conspires with Trennah, first to remove the Queen, whom she kills with a cobra, and then to send Khufu on a wild goose chase after gold in the desert. She sends a slave to assassinate the king, who is only wounded.  Khufu dies dueling Trennah before he can bring Nellifer to justice.  Queen Nellifer becomes regent for the child Prince Zanin while Hamar devises a plan to avenge his master and save Egypt from Nellifer, both while intending to be entombed with Khufu.

 

One spectacular scene of a limestone quarry is actually a process shot combining two different images taken minutes apart.  As the camera pans left-to-right, it moves from one image of the left side of the quarry with thousands of extras, to a different image shot later, of the right side with the same thousands of extras, who had been moved to make it appear that twice as many actors were involved. Another shot of the sarcophagus being lowered below grade by thousands of workers was filmed in an actual quarry. It suggests that Khufu would be interred in the subterranean chamber rather than the "king's chamber."  The actual purpose of the three chambers within the pyramid remains a mystery—they may have been designed to decoy or mislead grave robbers.  The so-called "queen's chamber" may have held a cult image of Khufu which symbolically held the king's ka.

 

Jack Hawkins [Pharaoh Khufu] was a British actor who starred in Henry Koster's No Highway in the Sky, from the novel by Nevil Shute Norway, as Dr. Scott the aeronautical engineer, with Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart.  In Ben Hur he played the Roman consul who adopts Judah, and in Nicholas and Alexandra, he played the Tsar's Chamberlain and confidante.

 

Joan Collins [Princess Nellifer of Cypress, later Queen of Egypt] had a very long career before becoming the bad girl on TV's Dynasty.

 

Dewey Martin [Senta] mainly acted in Westerns. He was Humphry Bogart's kid brother in The Desperate Hours with Frederic March.  He played doctors for years on TV soaps.

 

Alexis Minotis [Hamar the High Priest] was a distinguished Greek actor who produced, directed, and starred in numerous Greek and English productions of Shakespeare, Shaw, Ibsen, etc., not to mention the Greek drama.

 

James Robertson Justice [Bashta the Architect] plays Quint the Bosun in Captain Horatio Hornblower with Gregory Peck, and the Captain of the Samuel Enderby in John Huston's Moby Dick.

 

Sydney Chaplin [Trenneh] was a gifted dancer, son of Charlie Chaplain.

 

Kerima Polotan Tuevera [Nyah] was one of the Phillipine's most distinguished and honored authors. She wrote numerous highly-regarded short-stories, including "The Virgin," the novel The Hand of the Enemy, and Imelda Marcos's official biography.