Land of the Pharaohs (1955) on Netflix
Approved19551h 46mAdventureDramaHistory
Pharaoh Khufu wants a tomb no robber can enter, and offers the captured architect Vashtar freedom for his people in exchange for a design. Vashtar's son Senta learns its secrets.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb6.6/105,427 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes80%
Trailer
Plot summary
Pharaoh Khufu has won treasure across many lands and means to carry all of it into the second life. A tomb that grave robbers cannot crack is what he demands, and his architects keep disappointing him. Vashtar, an architect taken captive in the conquest, is offered a bargain: his conquered people go free if he designs a pyramid no one can enter. Khufu adds that Vashtar will be killed when the work is finished, so the secret dies with him. Vashtar accepts and settles on jars of sand that will drop great stones and seal the passages. The years of building wear down his people's patience, and taxes are pressed on the provinces. Cyprus sends Princess Nellifer in place of its tribute. She becomes Khufu's second wife.
Cast
- Piero Giagnonias Xenon
Show all 19 cast
- Valérie Camilleas Dancer at the Party (uncredited)
- Diego Carlisias Priest (uncredited)
- David Mussas Dancer at the Party (uncredited)
- Bud Thompsonas Dancer at the Party (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Howard Hawks kept between 3,000 and 10,000 extras on set every day of the fifty-plus-day shoot. The Egyptian government supplied them, and half of them were soldiers in the Egyptian Army.
- Egypt banned Land of the Pharaohs, the authorities there citing the film's "distortion of historical facts" as the reason.
- Land of the Pharaohs was Howard Hawks's first commercial failure; it drove him to take a break from directing and travel through Europe for several years. His next film, Rio Bravo, came four years later, the longest gap between features in his career.
- For the pyramid-under-construction scenes, the crew cleared sand from a 90 ft shaft that was part of the unfinished pyramid of Baka, and built a ramp and foundation the size of the real pyramid; 9,787 actors were filmed in a single scene at the Tourah and Aswan quarries.
- The film drew more interest over the years: Martin Scorsese and French critics supporting the auteur theory defended it, and Danny Peary picked it as a cult classic in his 1981 book Cult Movies.
