The Egyptian

I'll start off right at the beginning by saying "I like this movie." It's sweeping, it's grand, it's gripping and it's fun. Sinhue the physician,sits in front of his small stone hut writing his memoirs. And what a story it is! Taken from a river and reared by an elderly couple who doted on him, he becomes a physician to the poor. He befriends Horemheb who sees glory while Sinhue sees healing. And both run into the future pharaoh Anknaten (forgive my spellings), who endures an epileptic fit.

And this pharaoh has another "flaw": He believes in one god instead of a pantheon of gods. Back then, this was totally revolutionary. Sinhue and Horemheb grow up. One night, Sinhue sees a woman who makes him lose his senses. He gives up his practice, sells his parents' home and even their tombs just to spend a night with her. Does he? I won't tell. Meanwhile, Merit, a tavern maid played with sweet simplicity belying strength by Jean Simmons, falls in love with Sinhue. She falls under his spell and under the spell of the belief in one god.

Victor Mature overacts perfectly as Horemheb. Edmond Purdom is sincere as Sinhue the lost physician (does he find redemption? Stay tuned). Even Bela Darvi, the woman who steals Sinhue's heart isn't as bad as everyone has said. The fact that she was Daryl F. Zanuck's mistress had nothing to do with the casting - right? Yeah, right...still, she wasn't that bad _ I've seen worse. I think she did better in "The Egyptian" than many of today's young actresses have done in anything. I said it before and I'll say it again -- I like this movie. I recommend it. It makes you think despite some hammy acting. Have fun with this movie; it's worth it.

Maybe it's just a personal affection for this screen version of the Mika Waltari novel, or a fondness for things Egyptian (I grew up loving to visit the mummies in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts) but I think this is a rather good film. The production values are great regarding color and cinematography, and it appears some effort went into historical authenticity (much of it from the novel, I'm sure).

Purdom is admittedly a bit stiff in the lead role, but one can accept this as part of Sinuhe's character. Victor Mature is, well, Victor Mature. Peter Ustinov is a delight to watch here , in the type of role which he always did so well and so wittily. Bella Darvi's performance as Nefer is classically camp, and I find even Michael Wilding's rather dry portrayal of Akhenaten to have its own appeal.

The historical oddity of Akhenaten's monotheism, a brief detour in ancient Egypt's history, is interesting, as is Akhenaten himself, and well worth reading about; the religious wars portrayed here have a basis in fact.

An interesting footnote regarding Darvi, whose birth name was Bayla Wegier: she was a Polish émigré who producer Darryl Zanuck and his wife Virginia took under their wing (I believe they may even have adopted her). Her screen name Darvi is formed from Zannuck's and his wife's first names. She continued her acting career in France, but never achieved great success and, after a rather unhappy life, died at her own hand in 1971.

Altogether this is an interesting film and enjoyable to watch both for the visual values and for the history. Turner Classic Movies shows this in letterbox, which is essential to capturing the scope and sweep of the story.

"The Egyptian" has several pluses that make up for a rather slow pace. There is plenty to the story, which involves a lot of action as well as some interesting themes, and there is a lot of good scenery and cinematography. Most of the cast is pretty good, and there is an assortment of interesting characters.

The setting in ancient Egypt works well and is used to good effect. It makes for many interesting sights, which are filmed nicely and used well in the story. The plot does a good job of weaving the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten, who tried to bring monotheism to Egypt, into the lives of the main characters. As the central character, Edmund Purdom is all right, but some of the other characters often command more attention. Victor Mature is particularly convincing as the no-nonsense Horemheb, and Peter Ustinov steals more than one scene as Purdom's assistant.

The only real flaw is the length. While there is plenty to the story, there are times when it moves quite slowly, and it doesn't seem as if it would have been all that hard to shorten some of the scenes. In particular, some of the speeches that summarize the conflict of ideas among the characters would have been more effective if they had not been quite so wordy.

But overall, this is a good movie, and it works pretty well both as a period piece and as a story.

Zanuck had high hopes for this extravagant production, including a major casting coup when Brando signed on for the lead. Alas, Brando dropped out of the project and was replaced by Edmund Purdom, whose acting is the antithesis of "the method". The completed production is more a tribute to the state-of-the-art in mid-century production values and presentation than a high-quality example of epic filmmaking. The script quality ranges from the sublime (the bordello sequences) to the ridiculous (the royal palace scenes); while the performances, even the best of them (Ustinov, Darvi, Tierney), are mundane at best. That's not to say this picture, like most epics of it's kind, isn't a worthy indulgence. It is, if only for the overbearing production design, magnificently intrusive music score (co-written by two legendary screen composers), and sheer extravagance of it all. It's all relative though, since only the largest TV screens and loudest high-end sound systems can provide anything close to the experience of the 2:55-to-1 CinemaScope ratio employed, featuring dialogue-panning, multi-track stereo. An expensive Fox laserdisc is currently the only available option for viewing this picture as closely as originally intended. It must have been quite a big deal when the movie palace curtains opened on this one in 1956!

The Eighteenth Dynasty of the monotheistic pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti has always held a fascination for Egyptologists and the monumental, best-selling novel by Finnish Mika Waltari, written in a burst of inspiration over a three and a half month period was a vehicle which Hollywood simply could not resist. The novel was praised for its authenticity and although this viewer blushes to disclose that he has not yet read the original, the synopsis confirms that this screen adaptation by Philip Dunne and Casey Robinson is far from being so but of course audiences at the time expected neither historical accuracy nor deep characterisations in sword and sandal epics but paid to see spectacle and attractive actors on display which this Twentieth Century Fox production certainly delivers in spades.

Typically for producer Darryl F. Zanuck no expense has been spared here in terms of sets, costumes and props, many of which were leant to Paramount for 'The Ten Commandments'. Whereas de Mille's film was a resounding success, 'The Egyptian' opened to mixed reviews and acquired the stigma of being the first flop in Cinemascope.

One's view of a film is often influenced by its reputation but this one, under the direction of Michael Curtiz, is not nearly as bad as some would have us believe and has a great deal to recommend it.

It marks an unique musical collaboration between Alfred Newman and Bernard Herrmann whilst masterful cinematographer Leon Shamroy received one of his eighteen Oscar nominations, a record matched only by Charles Lang. As for the cast, it is the female of the species that dominates with a wonderfully butch Gene Tierney as Baketamon, a beautiful performance by Jean Simmons as Merit, an entertainingly bibulous cameo by Judith Evelyn as Taia and not forgetting the exotic but ill-fated Bella Darvi as Babylonian temptress Nefer. She might not have been the greatest of actresses but one can fully understand Zanuck's obsession with her.

Inveterate scene-stealer Peter Ustinov as one-eyed servant Kaptah provides comic relief whilst remaing 'real' which he was again to do as Lentulus in 'Spartacus'. The dramatic contrast between warlike Horemheb and pacifist Akhenaten is provided by Victor Mature and Michael Wilding. Although as different as chalk and cheese both actors were refreshingly honest regarding their acting abilities with Mature's strong presence and Wilding's immense charm compensating to a degree for their undoubted limitations. Edmund Purdom, borrowed from MGM following the success of 'The Student Prince', grows into the difficult role of physician Sinuhe and is sufficiently earnest. Like Ms. Darvi he was hailed as an 'exciting new talent' but Hollywood is an unforgiving place and a succession of flops scuppered both their careers. Purdom is here replacing Marlon Brando and one cannot help but wonder how the film's dynamic would have changed with Brando in the role.

The theme of Waltari's novel regarding unchanging human nature is timeless and struck a chord in the aftermath of WWII whilst calling to mind that there is indeed nothing new under the sun. I really must get around to reading it.