Valley of the Kings (1954)

The result is pretty much the same with the exception of Americans Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker (with flaming red hair) in place of Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr (with flaming red hair). Trite clichés dominate the story of the search for proof of the existence of the biblical Joseph (of Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat fame) and proof of the existence of the first pharaoh to worship just one God. Once again, there's the secondary character of the heroine's husband (Carlos Thompson), here an illegal trader of stolen artifacts in cahoots with a sinister Egyptian (Kurt Kasznar).Wind storms, scorpions, fights over the artifacts and the rivalry for the heroine, as well as non-Arabs playing the Egyptians spouting philosophical dialog, are just some of the clichés which make this obvious and extremely predictable. It's alright in its provincial sort of way, giving gullible audiences a good thrill, yet lacking the camp that made Universal's 1940's similar adventures so much fun. Leon Askin, later the cranky German general of TV's "Hogan's Heroes", adds the only humor as a sleazy salesman of antiques. The use of the biblical story of Joseph makes an interesting premise that gives this a nice collusion between biblical history and the science of Archeology.

Valley of the Kings is directed by Robert Pirosh who also co-writes the screenplay with Karl Tunberg. It is suggested by historical data garnered from the book "Gods, Graves and Scholars" written by C. W. Ceram. It stars Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, Carlos Thompson, Kurt Kasznar and Victor Jory. Music is scored by Miklós Rózsa and cinematography by Robert Surtees.The earth holds few treasures which have stimulated man's imagination - - and his greed - - - as much as the tombs of the rulers of ancient Egypt, the Pharaohs. This is the story of the search for the most fabulous tomb of them all. It begins near Cairo in 1900...A tour of the marvellous sights of Egypt, with a tomb hunt and love triangle in the middle! That's how Valley of the Kings has often been likened too over the years, which while that has some semblance of truth, because Surtess and Pirosh's location work is that good, it detracts from the good human drama forming the narrative. There's some dastardly goings on in the mix, smouldering passions and a determination from Miss Parker's character to prove right her deceased father's notion that biblical Joseph was in Egypt at Ra-Hotep's reign. Action is not in short supply and the journey under taken by the principals is wrought with dangers of the human and nature kind. Cue sandstorm, scorpion, duel in the sand, horse drawn buggy chase, rooms of skulls, catacombs, knuckle fight on top of a statue, hieroglyphics and clues etched onto stone tablets! Everything you want for a sand swept adventure really.Some back story.It certainly should have been better, but there were many issues behind the scenes that didn't help. Pirosh himself felt that had he been allowed to develop the story how he saw fit then a better film would have been born out. He was being badgered by MGM chief Dore Schary, who along with his right hand man, Charles Schnee, were demanding script changes. Didn't help that there were frictions in the cast as well. Taylor and Parker had had an affair previously when making Above and Beyond in 1952, here in 54 Taylor was involved with actress Ursula Thiess, sure enough Taylor and Parker resumed their affair (one only has to see an amazing kiss scene to know this!). Thiess went off and made Taylor jealous elsewhere, which worked as Taylor left a crestfallen Parker to marry Thiess just as Valley of the Kings was being released. Amazingly, Parker would re-team with Taylor the following year for Many Rivers to Cross! Actors eh! Pirosh quit directing in 57, citing a distaste for behind the scenes power struggles as his primary reason for quitting.Those in search of a high energy treasure hunt type picture will be disappointed here. Thought to be one of the 1954 films to influence Lucas/Spielberg for Indiana Jones, this is not frenetically paced stuff. Characters are afforded time to tell the story, the high energy points are placed selectively as the plot unfolds. But with enough twists and sub-plots along the way, the film thankfully is never dull. And of course there's the fabulous work of Surtees and Parker's beauty to marvel at as well! 7/10

The Egyptology in this picture is strictly Hollywood nonsense, so don't even remotely expect a storyline with accurate historical details. Also, don't expect Robert Taylor learned how to act by 1954. His performance in this is as bland and stiff as anything he ever did. Eleanor Parker is eye candy, but her role leaves a lot to be desired. The plot is flimsy and routine, the story clunky and too often melodramatic, and the villains 2 dimensional at best. The film runs only 86 minutes, which indicates the writers had no real ideas how to make this the kind of exciting, exotic two fisted adventure it should have been.That all said, there is some good stuff in this, and though disappointing overall, it is still a fairly entertaining hour and a half if you like these kind of adventure yarns. Taylor, as mentioned, is a drag, but he does manage to get into a couple of nifty scrapes ala Indiana Jones. The Egyptian locales are stunning and used to maximum effect in Technicolor. The classic adventure elements - camel rides in the desert, exotic temples, pitfalls and puzzles - are all served up and this film was surely one of the templates Spielberg/Lucas/Kasdan used for Raiders of the Lost Ark.For the adventure aspect alone this film is worth a look. It promises much more than it delivers in most areas but there are thousands of worse films you could spend an hour and a half on.

In 1900 Egypt, an American archaeologist (Taylor) has a race with a rival exploitive British adventurer-explorer (Thompson) to find the fabulous [fictional] lost tomb of King Rahotep, a Pharaoh who may have known the Israelite Joseph, in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. Matters are complicated by unscrupulous Egyptian Arab black market antiquities dealers (in fine performances by character actors Victor Jory, Kurt Kasznar, Leon Askin) and the romance of a beautiful British Egyptologist (Parker) who arrives on the scene. The plot and story are contrived and melodramatic, but the production values, locations, acting, dialog, music score by the master Miklos Rozsa, and visual effects are superb. In other words, it makes up in style what it loses in content. Filmed partly on location in Egypt, in Cairo, the Giza Pyramids, Sakkara, Karnak and Luxor (the Great Temple of Amenhotep III), and the Valley of the Kings. Of particular interest is a fight scene staged atop one of the four colossi of King Ramoses II the Great at the Temple of Abu Simbel: part of it was filmed on location; part of it was replicated in the MGM studio soundstages with clever matte photography and grandiose sets. Climactic scene is the discovery of the splendiferous tomb of King Rahotep – full of art objects replicated from the artifacts found in the actual tomb of King TutankhAmen – in the Valley of the Kings. [Special note: there actually was a Pharaoh named Rahotep, who lived during the 17th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, circa 1750 B.C. and could have known sephardic Israelites like Joseph, who most likely lived circa 1850 B.C.] The Technicolor is beautiful. Highly enjoyable action romance. Great fun for fans, Egyptologists, and film addicts who just want to enjoy a good old fashioned yarn.