I have this thing - if I start a movie I have to finish it. Only three times in my life have I not seen a movie from start to finish. So when I started 'Land of the Pharaohs' I hoped it would be interesting and it was. A fine CinemaScope picture from the glory days of Warner Brothers.
It starts Jack Hawkins as the Pharaoh Khufu and a young Joan Collins as his second wife Nellifer. The Pharaoh's obsession with gold causes him to be paranoid about securing his treasure after his death. To this end he orders a captured architect (James Robertson Justice) to build him a burial chamber that will not be able to be breached by grave robbers.
The building of the pyramid scenes are spectacular and employ a literal cast of thousands. No CGI to show the grand scale of the endeavour.
Of course since they cast Joan Collins she is up to no good. She plots and schemes to make herself Queen before the old Pharaoh dies of natural causes. She sets up a plan to kill his heir with snake venom.
Now I know many of you were waiting from me to talk about Dewey Martin who plays the son of the architect. I personally never miss a Dewey Martin movie. He has the hair and the look of a young Michael Landon. See, I knew that would get your attention. Along with Dewey (love that name) this movie has some of the best hairstyles this side of Mesopotamia.
Sometimes it is great to cleanse one's pallet with a great and grand camp classic like this one. Just the kind I love to watch on TCM on a Saturday afternoon.
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5 comments:
So, what were the three movies that you did not watch from start to finish?
Some end of the world religious balloon juice that I forget
Space Balls
Maximum Overdrive
I LOVE period epics like this, I'll have to look for this one!!!
But how could you not finish SpaceBalls? *sniffle*
Jack Hawkins is impressive in almost everything he did. He could have played Commander McBragg easily. And Dewey Martin, great too. When I was growing up in the 60s, I always got him mixed up with the Dewey Martin who was the drummer for the Buffalo Springfield. But then again, it was the 60s, you know..nudge, nudge, say no more.
Angie, SPACEBALLS is the devil to me. I just hate it with the intensity of a billion hot suns. It just is too corny and stupid and I usually like corny and stupid.
Dr G - that is too funny. This movie has so many of those little cultural artifacts that one only knows if he lived through the time. Thanks for giving me another Dewey reference.
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