Review of Land of the Pharaohs (1955) by Stella D — 29 Dec 2011

Director Howard Hawks freely admited two things with this camp epic,one was he didnt like widescreen all that much and second that he didnt know how a Phrahaoh talked ,which is why he called on celebrated writer William Faulkner to lend his pen to the script.

Hawks seems to have his tongue firmly in his cheek as some of the dialogue and acting simply reeks of camp.

Thats not to say its a terrible film,the one thing you can always rely on Hawks to do is to keep ypu interested and despite all the camp you really get a idea how pyramids were constructed al those years ago.

Jack Hawkins makes a great Pharoh dying a noble death ,James Robertson Justice gets a serious role to get his teeth into for a change and Joan Collins gets to play and Uber biitch queen who gets her just deserts in the end.

Of course its all a bit silly,but the film left me feeling that I was in the hands of one of the greatest Hollywood directors of the studio system.