Princess Of The Nile is set in the 13th century AD and I always thought that the religion of ancient Egypt had died out by that time. But what we have here is that the city that Debra Paget is princess of on the Nile is still worshiping Isis while their Moslem conquerors are behaving pretty much as conquerors do.The city's salvation just might be Jeffrey Hunter son of the Caliph of Bagdad making an inspection tour of the empire. The real rulers of the city are vizier Michael Rennie and shaman Edgar Barrier with a gang of assorted hooligans enjoying the spoils of conquest. Therein lies the plot of this desert potboiler.The whole cast deserves a round of applause for mouthing this drivel dialog somewhat convincingly. You have a few players here like Rennie and Barrier who have classical backgrounds.What they must have thought.

This is one of my favorite films for many reasons. To begin, there are standout performances from lovely Debra Paget as a princess/dancing girl, from Michael Rennie as the villain, handsome young Jeffrey Hunter investigating crime in her city/state and others. The film is an unusually colorful adventure, and we even see the princess rehearsing the dance she later performs (for once). She manages to skewer Hunter before she learns he is on her side; also the photography, the costumes by Travilla, Lionel Newman's music and the film's style are unusually fine. Add to this rousing action, intelligent characterization and fine direction by veteran Harmon Jones of a Gerald Drayson Adams' script set in 1249 AD, and you have the ingredients of an enjoyable Grecianized Near-Eastern. But there is much to praise about the unusual and well--developed storyline here, as there is much more to praise other than the film's swift pace, well-managed physical action sequences and superior technical aspects. Classically-trained actors such as Michael Ansara, Edgar Barrier, Wally Cassell, Jack Elam and Dona Drake are not commonly found in one "B" film together; nor are there fascinating sets, a variety of locales and a mystery of the quality that is supplied here. One way of assessing a film is, "If I were guaranteed to live through the experience, would I choose to undergo these events and perform these actions?" Since my answer is a resounding "yes" in this case, this film remains one of my choices as a favorite and very-underrated cinematic work. Could it be that US critics' all-too-frequent disdain for females as warriors and thinkers that as in so many other cases has caused closed minds to misprize this estimable film's obvious anti-tyranny and pro-entertainment qualities?

Two of the best looking stars in Hollywood, Debra Paget and Jeffrey Hunter burn up the screen in "Princess of the Nile." It's not much of a movie, but if you love looking at God's most gorgeous, feast your eyes on these two! Technicolor never had it so good.Miss Paget should have had a longer career. She appeared in some landmark films like "The Ten Commandments," "Love Me Tender," "White Feather," "Demetrius and the Gladiators," etc. Her ultra lewd dance in "Princess...Nile" is the most erotic in the history of films! At the same time, Jane Russell was also getting censored for her hip-shaking dance in "The French Line."

I first saw this movie as a SaturdayMatinee, at the Crest Theater in Portland,OR. I adored it -- it had theincomparable Debra Paget doing herpatented hip-wiggling Exotic Maiden role,evil villains, secret passages, secretidentities, 50's-style exotic scenery andcostumes -- the works. I'd love to haveit on video, but as a hootch-cootchyadventure flick it's not likely to beavailable soon, if at all. What a shame!