Valley of the Kings (1954)

What a beautiful movie!

One of my all time favorites.

Just so...so bad

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

I think this is an underrated film.To begin with, how many films of the general era...about Egypt...were actually filmed in Egypt? Bingo. The photography here is quite good, and you see many of the greatest Egyptian archaeological sites as they were over 60 years ago.Second, while there is a hint of romance between stars Eleanor Parker and Robert Taylor, the writers didn't let that fester to the point where it ruined the mystery story...which is what this really is.But, of course, we have to remember that this is fiction, and as it is presented it's a pretty fair mystery story.Robert Taylor is believable here as the grave robber turned serious archaeologist, and he is well-paired with Eleanor Parker as the daughter of a famous archaeologist, and an archaeologist herself. Carlos Thompson, with whom I was not familiar, was "okay" as Parker's husband...and the primary villain of the story. Kurt Kasznar was pretty good as the crooked dealer in antiquities; later in his career he was sort of stereotyped into a lot of roles somewhat reminiscent of this. Many have missed that it was Victor Jory as one of the nomads, although the voice and the eyes gave it away.The on thing that really detracted from this film is the lack of a good restoration. Some scenes were apparently not restored at all, and others were restored until transitions, which seem to have been ignored during the restoration process.I liked it. Certainly far better than most such Egyptian stories put to film!

Archaeologist Mark Brandon (Robert Taylor) is recruited by Ann Mercedes (Eleanor Parker) to help search for proof of the existence of the biblical Joseph in Egypt. Mark agrees, in part because he was a former student of Ann's father and in part because he finds her attractive. After they start their journey, however, they are joined by Ann's husband (Carlos Thompson). Anyone familiar with movies like this knows right away Ann's husband will turn out to be a villain. Why? Because Taylor and Parker are stars and Thompson is very much a nobody. So it was always inevitable that somehow the two stars would end up together at the end. The only way to make this palatable would be to make the husband a villain before killing him off. Which is what they do.Anyway it's a fairly dull adventure film. Taylor is supposed to be the exciting one but he's pretty stiff to me. The rest of the cast is unremarkable. The best thing about it is the nice Miklos Rosza score.

This isn't a serious or "meaningful" film. It is pure entertainment, beautifully photographed on location in Egypt. The stars, Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker, had great chemistry both off-screen and on. Taylor manages to be glamorous even when trapped in a sandstorm. The plot is relatively thin with Parker seeking to validate part of the Old Testament by finding the tomb of the Pharaoh who reigned in the time of the Biblical Joseph. She bats her eyelashes at Taylor who comes along happily. Then she introduces her husband, Carlos Thompson. There are horse and carriage chases, murders, the aforementioned sandstorm, a spectacular fight at Abu Simbel, a scorpion attack--all in ninety minutes. Given the slower pace of movies in the 1950s, there is also time for Taylor and Parker to discover each other more thoroughly (over some fermented goat). Egyptian belly dancer Samia Gamal shakes her stuff at the demure Parker. Highly enjoyable.

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.