Land of the Pharaohs
| Land of the Pharaohs | |
|---|---|
1955 theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Howard Hawks |
| Produced by | Howard Hawks |
| Written by |
Harold Jack Bloom William Faulkner Harry Kurnitz |
| Starring |
Jack Hawkins Joan Collins James Robertson Justice |
| Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| Cinematography |
Lee Garmes Russell Harlan |
| Edited by | Vladimir Sagovsky |
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Production
company |
Continental Company
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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106m (US), 104m (UK) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2.9 million (estimated) |
| Box office | $2.7 million (US) |
Land of the Pharaohs is a 1955 American epic film in Cinemascope, directed and produced by Howard Hawks and starring Jack Hawkins as Pharaoh Khufu (also known as Cheops) and Joan Collins as his second wife Nellifer, in a fictional account of the building of the Great Pyramid. Novelist William Faulkner was one of the three screenwriters.
The film literally had a cast of thousands (Warner Bros. press office claimed there were 9,787 extras in one scene) 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.
In ancient Egypt, Pharaoh Khufu (Jack Hawkins) is obsessed with preparing his tomb for the "second life". Dissatisfied with his own architects' offerings, he enlists Vashtar (James Robertson Justice), an ingenious man whose devices nearly saved his own people from being conquered and enslaved by Khufu. Khufu offers to free Vashtar's people if he will build Khufu a robber-proof tomb - although Vashtar will have to die when the pyramid-tomb is completed, to guard its secrets. During the years that the pyramid is being built, Pharaoh demands tribute and labor from all his territories, amassing gold and treasures to be interred with him.
Princess Nellifer (Joan Collins) comes as the ambassador of the tributary province of Cyprus. Claiming her province is poor and cannot afford to pay the assigned tribute, she offers herself to Pharaoh instead. She becomes Khufu's second wife.
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Wikipedia