The Seventh Scroll (1999)
In the year 3000 BC an illegitimate son is born to Queen Lostris and the brave warrior Tanus. Her devoted eunuch Taita, a loyal servant, takes the baby boy and places him in a basket on the Nile. Five thousand years later, during our time, famous archaeologist Duraid al Simma and his wife Royan discover Queen Lostris's grave at the same spot, with ten scrolls inside it resembling a form of diary. The seventh scroll, which contains directions to Mamose's magnificent tomb with the legendary treasure, disappears without trace. Soon afterwards the couple adopt an unusual boy who displays an almost magical urge to be close to the Nile, so they name him after the river god Hapi. It is only ten years later that Taita's secret is almost solved. Fanatical art thief Schiller is also very curious about the information, and tries to track down more with the aid of his sidekick Boris.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Reviews
It is a truism that it takes a lot of effort to make a bad movie - this one is no exception.I am no lover of yanks but their amazingly simplistic view of the world and their ability to reduce everything to black and white as well as make events (even fictional ones in novels) fit an agenda that bears little or no relationship to complexity of any kind is irritating in the extreme.Wilbur Smith is descriptively verbose but weaves intricate tales that deserve more than has been delivered by this awful mishmash of a movie.Sad really for those who will never read Smith. They will be left with a less than decent portrayal of his Egyptian series, which has to be said is gigantic in its exposition.The Indiana Jones movies were snappy. To attempt to replicate that by manipulating Smith's novels into this production misses out by a country mile.Pathetic except for the photography and Art Malik.
Well, I've read the book first and thought: wow would this be cool to see in a movie, than I started searching and found there was already a movie made of it... I bought the movie a week ago on DVD and watched it.. they did it awfully wrong! at first this kid Hapi,who isn't any character in the book, then the mix between the two books ('the river god' and 'the seventh scroll') than Nicolas needing funds while in the book he himself is actually the funder, the whole thing about the Hyksos is wrong also.. Taila is supposed to have invented the lightweight-chariot.. the whole thing about the tomb is also very wrong.. there is supposed to be a channel that has some kind of vacuum-suction around it.. the tomb itself was made in a maze with only a possibility to pass if one knows the rules of the ancient boa-game. There was nothing in the movie about Nicolas being English and Royan was a Coptic-Christian in the book, not a Muslim..This list is endless.. There were only a few things good about the movie, the actors which played Royan, Nahood, Taita, Boris, Mick and Tessay were well-chosen, the rest were just parodies of the characters in the book, Rasfer was the worst, it didn't get even close to the character that was in my head while I wrote the book.. It is such a shame that such a great book is mutilated in such a bad reproduction... I wonder why Wilbur Smith ever gave his permission for this..
This one looks great! Great costumes, great photography, especially the Ancient Egypt shots are great. But that's it... The actors are really bad... The kid is maybe the worst. The criminals in the opening scenes with the car are from Police Academy or a Bud Spencer movie or something. They look like they don't fit this story at all. Or is it a comedy? And even if it was it is not a good one! Roy Schneider (Blue Thunder!) is the only one here who can act and that tells everything. I bought the DVD without knowing what I would get, it just looked great on the cover. But this is not worth the money.
Greatest and best movie I have seen for years. Excellent and exciting story, never for a second boring. Wonderful acting, Art Malik as Taita, as the scribe from ancient Egypt being the best. The film is full of emotions and happenings, the parallel way of plots in modern age plus in ancient times was done without disturbing the flow of events. Great credibility all through the film. When can I buy it on video?