Ancient Egypt, III millennium BC. The pharaoh Khufu or Cheops (Jack Hawkins), after years of victories in the battlefield, he created a big pyramid to be buried here along with their riches.
splendid and underrated historical film is the most successful Hollywood approach to the Egyptian civilization. Only the extraordinary Pharaoh (Faraon , 1966) by Jerzy Kawalerowicz is over.
Hawks, an author that few American filmmakers can match it, tells this story with admirable mastery epic about power, obsession, desire, ambition and deception.
luxurious Filmed in CinemaScope, the film-balanced alternating sequences in which they appear monumental thousands of extras (see the extraction of stones from the quarry or the transfer of the same through the desert ), with other more intimate where well-defined characters, express their emotions and put their desires.
His impeccable narrative rhythm does not decline at any time, showing strong from the beginning, with the pompous arrival of Pharaoh in the city, before emptying into the claustrophobic and hardly forgettable final.
The setting of the film is well achieved, highlighting the scenery of the winding and labyrinthine interior of the pyramid. Also interesting is the score by Dimitri Tiomkin, based in choirs military processions and marches.
Jack Hawkins plays with credit to his character, a king obsessed with prolonging his earthly power in the afterlife. The only concern is to ensure that no one will snatch their treasures after his death, hence the morbid determination to build a pyramid that is inaccessible from outside. But the movie belongs undoubtedly to the fierce and captivating presence of Joan Collins, a wicked and sexy villain that will become a victim of its own greed.
Land of the Pharaohs is a film that will delight fans of historical films. A notable example of the versatility of an author who dared all and always emerged victorious.
Rating: very good .
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