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LAND OF THE PHARAOHS – Dimitri Tiomkin
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Director Howard Hawks had long been fascinated by the magnitude of one of the architectural wonders of the world, the Great Pyramid of Giza, as well as its mastermind, the great Pharaoh Khufu. He pitched his idea of filming a grand, and lavish epic that explored this great feat of engineering and secured support from MGM. For Hawks this was a passion project and he decided to personally manage production with a massive $3.15 million budget, which included on site filming in Egypt using Cinemascope and Warner Color. Novelist William Faulkner, Harold Jack Bloom and Harry Kurnitz were hired to write the screenplay, and Hawks would also personally direct. Hawks made the audacious decision to not utilize a top tier star for the film, a decision which most critics believe contributed to the film’s poor reception. The cast would include; Jack Hawkins as Pharaoh Khufu, Joan Collins as Princess Nellifer, Dewey Martin as Senta, and Alex Minotis as Hamar. Read more…

