This film is fascinating for a number of reasons including its flaws. It is a story full of ideas, and has an intriguing cast, especially if you know a little of their history.Sinuhe (Edmund Purdom), a physician in Ancient Egypt searches for meaning to his life, but he lives in turbulent times. Pharaoh Akhnaton (Michael Wilding) is introducing the Egyptians to the concept of one God, and they don't like it. They prefer to stick to their gods with the crocodile, hippopotamus and chicken heads as well as their mummified cats.Along the way Sinuhe buddies up with the fearless Horemheb played by Victor Mature and inadvertently finds himself with a servant, Kaptah, played by Peter Ustinov who brings a light touch to the film.Sinuhe also learns the meaning of true love through a number of painful experiences. However, this element of the story allows for the casting of three stunning woman; Jean Simmons, Gene Tierney and Bella Darvi.When it was first released, critics attacked the film; Edmund Purdom and Victor Mature were squarely in their sights. However, when Peter Ustinov also derided the film, Bill Collins, Australia's much-loved film presenter, summed up the situation well when he said, "It seems to me sometimes, that actors get so embarrassed when critics in their stupidity revile their work, that they go along with it rather than admit that they actually love their contribution".Bill Collins admires "The Egyptian" and praised Victor Mature's role as perfect casting. However he felt that although she tries hard, Bella Darvi as Nefer wasn't quite right for the part, coming to the film with meagre dramatic talent. And that's where I disagree with him. If anyone was underrated in the film it's her. She plays a scheming Babylonian seductress who ensnares the naive Sinuhe, stripping him of his wealth and dignity before dumping him.Darvi was an unusual beauty who according to some was more beautiful in real life than on film. She also led a life, after much tragedy, which was not that different to the role she played here. Eventually everything caught up with her as it did with Nefer; she committed suicide aged 42. I feel her strangeness with that thick accent was perfect for the role. I can't think of too many actresses who could have projected that same unemotional, calculating and cat-like quality. Marilyn Monroe desperately wanted the role, but I just don't see it.Although the palace interiors are sumptuous, the exteriors of "The Egyptian" don't have the scope of "Land of the Pharaohs" made around the same time, however both have brilliant music scores, the like of which you rarely hear today.Beyond the technical details, "The Egyptian" is a film where the often moving story and the characters rise above deficiencies of set design and historical inaccuracies.Judging by most of the comments on IMDb, it has finally found an appreciative audience.

I tried watching this film several years ago on television, and the print was so bad I simply turned it off. Thankfully, the print being used on TCM now is quite good, particularly important in this film which is filmed quite beautifully with impressive sets and great natural scenery.Movies about Egypt can be rather fickle. Sometimes they do well, other times not. This film made money, and rightfully so...it's a fairly impressive production.One criticism I have of the film is a need for tighter editing in some scenes. This is one reason the film lasts for 139 minutes! It's a good cast. Edmund Purdom plays the physician, around whom the plot turns. Many of Purdom's films were made overseas, so he is not well known to American audiences, but he seems like quite a good actor, and has the looks for it. Victor Mature is here, and essentially plays Victor Mature; I have never been impressed with him. Jean Simmons is here, at a period that was near peak for her career. Gene Tierney is also here as the pharaoh's sister -- a role that seems odd for her, but it works. Michael Wilding is very interesting as the pharaoh. It is interesting to see Peter Ustinov as an aide to the physician. John Carradine makes an appearance as a grave robber. Tommy Rettig ("Lassie") makes an appearance.There is one aspect of the plot, however, that seems very questionable to me. The physician's love affair that brings him to near ruin. It's just not logical. He supposed to be a man of extreme intelligence, advanced almost beyond his time. That he would sell out his parent's chance to live eternally in the Valley Of The Kings, that he would sell his parent's home, resulting in their suicide, seems totally illogical for the character. And all for a woman who was simply base. I just don't buy it.Aside from that, it's a good story. A young physician treats the pharaoh for seizures (epilepsy?). This is a forward thinking ruler who believes in one god (God?). The physician becomes close with a warrior, who eventually wants to murder the pharaoh. In between, he falls in love with 2 women, one of whom, as I indicated, leads him to ruin. The pharaoh's mother dies when the physician is unavailable, and so the physician is sentenced to death, and flees the country. He wanders around that part of the world with Ustinov for a while, eventually discovering the new iron weapons developed by the Hittites. This brings him back to pharaoh, who has forgiven him. The pharaoh is mentally ill and the physician, the royal sister, and the soldier plot to hill pharaoh with the soldier becoming the new leader of Egypt.And that leads to the one thing that I truly dislike about this film. Just before dying, the pharaoh has a soliloquy that sounds very, very Christian. And then, as if to prove that the film is suggesting Christianity, words appear on the screen that prove it. Shame, shame, shame...and pretty poor history.It's worth watching, despite its transgressions.

An engrossing historical drama, "The Egyptian" is the book-ended story of an elderly Egyptian physician, Sinuhe, who sets out to record his event-filled life for posterity. Like Moses, he begins his story as a newborn infant in a tiny reed boat tied with fowlers' knots adrift on the Nile. The abandoned child is found, adopted, and grows into a young man. In the desert, he and his carousing buddy, Horemheb, have a chance encounter with Pharaoh Akhnaton that changes their lives and leads the pair into palace intrigue and power plays among royals and priests. Based on a best-selling novel by Mika Waltari, "The Egyptian" has lofty ambitions that are not quite met. While definitely not high art, the film is not camp or guilty pleasure either. Directed by veteran Michael Curtiz, "The Egyptian" is more than competent, and the multiple plot lines and devious characters will hold most viewers' interest.The cast is stellar for the mid-1950's, although the lead, Edmund Purdom, is probably the least well known and remembered of them. The film boasts Victor Mature, Gene Tierney, Jean Simmons, Michael Wilding, and Peter Ustinov among the usual sandal-clad cast of thousands. While Purdom can only be described as an adequate Sinuhe, seasoned performers like Ustinov, Simmons, and Henry Daniell hold their own. Even Victor Mature seems less wooden than usual as the soldier Horemheb. The film's one acquired taste is Bella Darvi, who likely won the role of the seductive man-eating Nefer on the producer's casting couch. While her Babylonian allure drew the men of ancient Thebes to ruin and despair, her Polish accent, thick features, and transparent motives are the film's weak point. Up against such legendary Hollywood beauties as Jean Simmons and Gene Tierney, Darvi's appeal is as mysterious as the pyramids. Where was Elizabeth Taylor when the role of Nefer was cast?Filmed in Cinemascope by Leon Shamroy, who won the film's only Oscar nomination and would later film another Egyptian epic, "Cleopatra," the art direction is handsome, glossy, and of dubious authenticity. Two legendary composers, Bernard Herrmann and Alfred Newman, contributed the fine musical score, although the simplistic devotional chant to Aton is annoying and repetitious. At 140 minutes, the movie is not unduly long and only goes off course in attempts to suggest Akhnaton's monotheistic devotion to the sun god was a precursor to the Judeo-Christian religion. Wielding the Egyptian ankh as a quasi-crucifix and stating that the film's events occurred centuries before Christ may make some viewers uncomfortable. However, "The Egyptian" is generally well crafted, decently written and acted, and excellent, if undemanding, entertainment for rainy afternoons when only a sand-and-sandals epic will do.

For many of the more highbrow producers, the holy grail of the 50s big picture was the so-called "intimate epic". Daryl F. Zanuck's production of The Egyptian opens with a spiel about the people of this ancient time being ordinary men and women, making this one of the earliest examples of a picture openly setting itself up for that lofty task.The human story of this epic is however unusually pessimistic, with its hero being ruined by his obsession for an evil woman, becoming a bitter rival to his best friend and losing the only woman who really loved him. This being the age of film noir, it's tempting to make parallels with pictures like Scarlet Street and Out of the Past. Of course, the femme fatale plot device is as old as Adam and Eve or Pandora's Box, but it is true that in the 50s there was a tendency for those cynical story lines to creep into the most unsuspecting of genres. There was also a convention in these ancient world epics of bringing Christian or Judeo-Christian philosophy into the picture (God not being a major figure in your typical film noir), although unusually The Egyptian is not a bible story. Instead it uses as its backdrop the rule of Akhenaton, a genuine historical figure who instated a brief period of monotheism in ancient Egypt. And oddly enough the conflation of Aton the sun deity with the Abrahamic God comes across as far more genuine and intelligent than, say, the rather dubious Easter story spin-off of The Robe, and its sermonising is far gentler than that of The Ten Commandments or Ben Hur.In the director's chair we have the highly-respected Michael Curtiz. Curtiz was in many ways a great choice because he was so adept at handling crowds and visual complexity, although old-timers like Curtiz (who made his debut in 1912) tended not to get on well with the cinemascope ratio. But while Curtiz continually makes the mistake of framing his actors from around the knees up as if they were in fullscreen, he balances out the extra width by keeping a lot of depth in his shots, occasionally highlighting the distant focal points for greater definition – such as the dancer in yellow in the bathhouse scene. Often he will place the deepest part of the shot to one side or another to give emphasis to that half of the screen. There's also some of his distinctive use of movement to drive the narrative forward smoothly. When we hear Edmund Purdom's voice-over telling us about the Jean Simmons character, the camera follows her, all the background business disappearing, with the exception of a single extra in one corner. This extra then gets to his feet, drawing our eyes to that corner, upon which the camera pans back to the right to reveal the procession announcing the pharaoh's death. This elaborate yet inconspicuous arrangement segues us neatly from one part of the story to the next.Unfortunately, that very mechanical nature of Curtiz's direction is not ideal for highlighting the acting performances. Then again, perhaps there is not much here to highlight. Lead man Purdom is by no means bad but he is astonishingly dull. This is a major failing with the picture because it becomes difficult to sympathise with him or believe in his actions. In contrast Jean Simmons and Victor Mature while not outstanding players at least had some character and intrigue about them. Thank goodness for Peter Ustinov, whose delightful and immaculate comic delivery here and there allows the movie to break free from its depressing austerity. There's also a colourful yet sadly short appearance by John Carradine as a grave robber. But while Ustinov and Carradine provide entertaining diversions, the only really strong dramatic performance is that of Gene Tierney, who gives a bit of realism to Baketamon, and actually manages to draw that line between folks ancient and modern as mentioned in the opening lines.The Egyptian is admittedly a noble effort to come up with an original and engaging spin on the ancient world epic. The trouble is it's not really enough of one thing or the other. The dramatic human story is simply not well-executed either by cast or crew, and while the whole production may be steeped in a look of authenticity, there is just not enough scope or spectacle to make this a satisfying epic either. The champions of the intimate big picture may have had high-minded intentions, but in truth the genre flourished most with the shameless splendour of Zimbalist and DeMille.