Just watched my brand new DVD of "The Egyptian" (1954) tonight.
What fun! I remembered the movie from like, a brazillion years ago, and one day I just got a notion to find out if a DVD was available. Well, it was. Cost a pretty penny, but since I had gotten a couple of Amazon gift cards for Christmas, I decided to splurge and order it.
Came in the mail last Tuesday, but I waited until I could get together with one of sisters and my dad to watch it - more fun to watch it in company than alone. And both my dad and my sister also remembered seeing it decades ago, so it was a real trip into the past for all three of us.
It was originally released in technicolor and the then brand new "CinemaScope" - real wide screen - and it is an amazing feast for the eyes. When the movie was made they had Egyptologists overseeing the whole production design, and watching it was like seeing every tomb painting and reconstruction of ancient Egyptian architecture you've ever encountered in illustrated books about ancient Egypt come alive. Absolutely visually fascinating.
Acting and dialogue - well, there are definitely weaknesses, although Micheal Wilding as the Pharaoh Akhenaten was superb, as was Peter Ustinov as the theiving manservant. The cast also included Jean Simmons - playing the typical Jean Simmons role of earnestly devoted "good woman" - along with Gene Tierney who was quite wonderful as the scheming and cynical sister of the Pharaoh but didn't get anywhere near enough screen time, and John Carradine in a brief but delightful appearance as a tomb robber.
Victor Mature was, well, Victor Mature, but he did a reasonably decent job as Horemheb - the army commander who became Pharaoh upon the death of Akhenaten.
The history behind getting this movie made is almost as interesting as the story itself, and explains why an mostly unknown British contract player ended up with the lead role of Sinhue. He did not impress, a rather wooden performance. The starlet who got the juicy role of the Babylonian courtesan who brings about Sinhue's downfall was a major source of controversy and conflict in getting this movie made, and was widely panned for her performance, although I thought she actually did just fine.
The last bit of the movie, regrettably, sort of devolves into a rather heavy-handed and preachy religious polemic, but after all the fun and spectacle of the preceding 2+ hours, I found I could forgive it and stop rolling my eyes long enough to make it through to the final scene.
Anyway, for anyone who happens to remember seeing this movie in their younger days, I just wanted to report that it actually is a lot of fun to see again, and I don't regret in the least cashing in my Christmas gift cards to get myself a copy. I'm going to watch it again soon.
