Das Tal der Könige

Eleanor Parker has come to Egypt at the turn of the last century to seek the help of two fisted archaeologist Robert Taylor. Given this man's readiness to duke it out with friend or foe, he might well have been Sean Connery's father and Harrison Ford's grandfather. Maybe on Sean's mother's side accounting for the name change.

Parker's mission is to prove a theory of her late father that there is some archaeological proof of the biblical story of Joseph and they've identified a Pharaoh who might have been the one in charge at the time Joseph was doing his prognosticating from his dreams. She convinces Taylor and her husband Carlos Thompson to go to the Valley Of The Kings and seek the proof.

Our archaeologists run into a lot of opposition from Tuareg leader Victor Jory, antiquities dealer Kurt Kaszner, and even from Thompson who's in it for whatever loot he can acquire and smuggle. One of the plot weaknesses is that Thompson's villainy is revealed too early. Let's a lot of the suspense out of Valley Of The Kings.

Valley Of The Kings is a gorgeously photographed film on location in Egypt in the real Valley Of The Kings. Taylor and Parker were in their second of three films they made together and they were an item while Taylor was in between marriages to Barbara Stanwyck and Ursula Thiess. The attraction is quite obvious.

There is also a wonderfully staged climatic fight on top of one of the tombs between Taylor and Thompson. Valley Of The Kings is an entertaining enough film, that could have used a better written story for its cast of talented players.