Valley of the Kings (1954)

Not even bad in a good way

A different way of telling a story

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Eleanor Parker, a wonderful actress, just didn't seem right for this part. You needed someone more gritty, say a Susan Hayward, Rita Hayworth, or just someone else. Her costume, most reflective of the period, made me think that any minute she would burst out as Deborah Kerr did in "The King and I." Why not? We could get Marnie Nixon singing for Parker here as she did for Kerr in the latter film.At the beginning of the film, she shows co-star Robert Taylor a statue. It looked more like the coveted Oscar she lost 3 times and Taylor never even being nominated for in his lengthy career.This biblical epic is scored by Miklos Rosza, who had such a talent for fine melodic biblical dramas. This film is no exception.A tale of looking to prove the story of Joseph was a correct one from the bible, falls short because the writing is so very obvious. Parker's husband in the film has his own agenda and of course we know what will become of him so that Taylor and Parker can ensue romance.There is a nice sandstorm here; however, "Lawrence of Arabia," it's not.

This isn't a serious or "meaningful" film. It is pure entertainment, beautifully photographed on location in Egypt. The stars, Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker, had great chemistry both off-screen and on. Taylor manages to be glamorous even when trapped in a sandstorm. The plot is relatively thin with Parker seeking to validate part of the Old Testament by finding the tomb of the Pharaoh who reigned in the time of the Biblical Joseph. She bats her eyelashes at Taylor who comes along happily. Then she introduces her husband, Carlos Thompson. There are horse and carriage chases, murders, the aforementioned sandstorm, a spectacular fight at Abu Simbel, a scorpion attack--all in ninety minutes. Given the slower pace of movies in the 1950s, there is also time for Taylor and Parker to discover each other more thoroughly (over some fermented goat). Egyptian belly dancer Samia Gamal shakes her stuff at the demure Parker. Highly enjoyable.

Eleanor Parker has come to Egypt at the turn of the last century to seek the help of two fisted archaeologist Robert Taylor. Given this man's readiness to duke it out with friend or foe, he might well have been Sean Connery's father and Harrison Ford's grandfather. Maybe on Sean's mother's side accounting for the name change.Parker's mission is to prove a theory of her late father that there is some archaeological proof of the biblical story of Joseph and they've identified a Pharaoh who might have been the one in charge at the time Joseph was doing his prognosticating from his dreams. She convinces Taylor and her husband Carlos Thompson to go to the Valley Of The Kings and seek the proof.Our archaeologists run into a lot of opposition from Tuareg leader Victor Jory, antiquities dealer Kurt Kaszner, and even from Thompson who's in it for whatever loot he can acquire and smuggle. One of the plot weaknesses is that Thompson's villainy is revealed too early. Let's a lot of the suspense out of Valley Of The Kings.Valley Of The Kings is a gorgeously photographed film on location in Egypt in the real Valley Of The Kings. Taylor and Parker were in their second of three films they made together and they were an item while Taylor was in between marriages to Barbara Stanwyck and Ursula Thiess. The attraction is quite obvious. There is also a wonderfully staged climatic fight on top of one of the tombs between Taylor and Thompson. Valley Of The Kings is an entertaining enough film, that could have used a better written story for its cast of talented players.

This movie had everything in it to become the Indiana Jones of the '50's but yet it isn't.The movie its story had potential. The story of the search for holy artifacts supporting that the stories of the bible are true and the biblical Joseph really existed and lived in Egypt, sound fascinating and surely good enough to make a fun adventurous movie around. Yet the movie never becomes are really great and perfectly fun adventurous movie to watch. The story is not imaginative enough and basically there is very little interesting or spectacular happening on the screen. The movie could had really used some more action and better villainous characters, to make the movie more exciting, tense and entertaining to watch.There really isn't much happening in this movie, which seems odd, considering the genre of the movie and its story. The movie makes a redundant and pointless impression because of that. Even though the story sounds like it- this just isn't a fun or adventurous must-see.The movie is a bit clumsy looking at times. Though its production values are good and the actors do their best, the movie just isn't good enough to watch at times. The movie was obviously shot with only one camera, with as a result some silly and ineffective camera positions at times. It especially makes the more fast paced and action sequences look ridicules and ineffective.The movie uses some beautiful locations and is obviously shot really in Egypt itself, for most part. It uplifts the movie and gives it a certain extra sense of feeling of traveling, adventure and mystery. Too bad that the movie doesn't know how to fully exploit and use this feeling and atmosphere. It once again shows why Robert Pirosh wasn't the greatest director around.Considering its potential, it's a disappointing movie that in its core still brings some good entertainment. So not a completely unwatchable movie, even though it probably has more weak than strong points in it.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/