LAND OF THE PHARAOHS

 Stick a director at the helm of an epic and he's sure to become a cropper. Of course, that old adage is a fallacy; you just have to look at "Spartacus" or "El Cid" to see what a Kubrick or an Anthony Mann can do for the genre but for every "Spartacus" you've got "The Robe" or "Cleopatra", neither of which represent the best of anyone. Indeed "The Robe" has a lot to answer for; as the first Cinemascope picture it sparked a fondness for Roman, Egyptian and Biblical epics, very few of which are worth remembering and it seemed in the fifties every director worth his salt wanted to have a go. Even Howard Hawks wanted to get in on the act.

"Land of the Pharaohs" came out in 1955 and was both a critical and financial disaster but Hawks isn't easily written off and over the years this has built up something of a reputation. It's no masterpiece but neither is it a turkey and it's certainly strange enough to be of interest. Here was an epic, (and a fairly short one, clocking in at under two hours), about nothing more than the building of a tomb. The tomb in question is that of Khufu, Egyptian Pharaoh, and it's to be a pyramid greater than any other. Of course, if you want an audience you have to throw in a little sex and violence, a lot of spectacle and a few stars. The sex comes in the form of the Pharaoh's scheming wife who's also the instigator of the violence while spectacle there's aplenty. Remember this was long before CGI so every extra up on the screen is a real person costing real money and with two DoP's, Lee Garmes and Russell Harlan, it certainly looks the business.

Unfortunately all the money, (it went way overbudget), went on the spectacle so there was nothing left for 'stars'. Jack Hawkins, (hardly likely to set the box-office on fire), was Khufu while his wife was Joan Collins, who was certainly no Liz Taylor. The supporting cast was made up largely of Brits speaking in plummy voices, a few lesser known Europeans and Dewey Martin in a skirt. However, one of the three credited scriptwriters was none other than William Faulkner, though listening to the fairly banal dialogue you would never know it. This was to be a prestige production and Faulkner's name on the credits was part of that prestige but to the masses that meant nothing and the lack of epic 'action' scuppered the project.

Now, of course, it's a curiosity; a gloriously bizarre folly that might have ended another director's career but Hawks lived to fight another day and to make his late masterpiece "Rio Bravo" and no Hawks aficionado can afford to miss "Land of the Pharaohs". You might wonder what the hell he thought he was doing but you can't say he didn't make the most of what he had been given. A one-off and, if it's not among Hawks masterpieces, it's still an essential part of his canon.