The Egyptian

The Egyptian (1954)

To Nefer, shameless temptress of Babylon, he surrendered his parents' hope of immortality!

In eighteenth-dynasty Egypt, Sinuhe, a poor orphan, becomes a brilliant physician and with his friend Horemheb is appointed to the service of the new Pharoah. Sinuhe's personal triumphs and tragedies are played against the larger canvas of the turbulent events of the 18th dynasty. As Sinuhe is drawn into court intrigues he learns the answers to the questions he has sought since his birth.

Date of release
1954-08-25
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (114)
Runtime
2h 19m
Genres
History, Drama
Director
Michael Curtiz

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $3.9M
  • Based on: The Egyptian
  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

The Egyptian is a 1954 American epic historical drama film made by 20th Century-Fox. Filmed in CinemaScope with color by DeLuxe, it was directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on Mika Waltari's 1945 novel of the same name and the screenplay was adapted by Philip Dunne and Casey Robinson. Leading roles were played by Edmund Purdom, Bella Darvi, Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Gene Tierney, Peter Ustinov, and Michael Wilding. Cinematographer Leon Shamroy was nominated for an Oscar in 1955.

Production

Some of the sets, costumes, and props from this film were bought and re-used by Cecil B. DeMille for The Ten Commandments (1956). As the events in that story take place seventy years after those in The Egyptian, this re-use creates an unintended sense of continuity. The commentary track on the Ten Commandments DVD points out many of these re-uses.

Dunne recalls during filming "Darryl was so besotten [with Darvi] he decided to go around to our film stills department and see how she looked in her costumes. He'd been running the lot for 25 years, but didn't know where it was and flew into a rage. It was right next door to his private dining room."

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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