The Egyptian (film)

''The Egyptian'' is a 1954 American epic historical drama film made by 20th Century Fox. Filmed in CinemaScope with color by DeLuxe, it was directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on Mika Waltari's 1945 novel of the same name and the screenplay was adapted by Philip Dunne and Casey Robinson. Leading roles were played by Edmund Purdom, Bella Darvi, Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Gene Tierney, Peter Ustinov, and Michael Wilding. Cinematographer Leon Shamroy was nominated for an Oscar in 1955.

Plot

Sinuhe ( Edmund Purdom), a struggling physician in 18th dynasty Egypt (14th century BC), is thrown by chance into contact with the pharaoh Akhnaton ( Michael Wilding). He rises to and falls from great prosperity, wanders the world, and becomes increasingly drawn towards a new religion spreading throughout Egypt. His companions throughout are his lover, a shy tavern maid named Merit (Jean Simmons); and his corrupt but likable servant, Kaptah (Peter Ustinov).

While out lion hunting with his sturdy friend Horemheb (Victor Mature), Sinuhe discovers Egypt's newly ascendant pharaoh Akhnaton, who has sought the solitude of the desert in the midst of a religious epiphany. While praying, the ruler is stricken with an epileptic seizure, with which Sinuhe is able to help him. The grateful Akhnaton makes his savior court physician and gives Horemheb a post in the Royal Guard, a career previously denied to him by low birth. His new eminence gives Sinuhe an inside look at Akhnaton's reign, which is made extraordinary by the ruler's devotion to a new religion that he feels has been divinely revealed to him. This faith rejects Egypt's traditional gods in favor of monolatristic worship of the sun, referred to as Aten. Akhnaton intends to promote Atenism throughout Egypt, which earns him the hatred of the country's corrupt and politically active traditional priesthood.

Life in court does not prove to be good for Sinuhe; it drags him away from his previous ambition of helping the poor and he falls obsessively in love with a Babylonian courtesan named Nefer (Bella Darvi). He squanders all of his and his parents' property in order to buy her gifts, only to have her reject him nonetheless. Returning dejectedly home, Sinuhe learns that his parents have committed suicide over his shameful behavior. He has their bodies embalmed so that they can pass on to the afterlife, and, having no way to pay for the service, works off his debts in the embalming house.

Lacking a tomb in which to put his parents' mummies, Sinuhe buries them in the sand amid the lavish funerary complexes of the Valley of the Kings. Merit finds him there and warns him that Akhnaton has condemned him to death; one of the pharaoh's daughters fell ill and died while Sinuhe was working as an embalmer, and the tragedy is being blamed on his desertion of the court. Merit urges Sinuhe to flee Egypt and rebuild his career elsewhere, and the two of them share one night of passion before he takes ship out of the country.

For the next ten years, Sinuhe and Kaptah wander the known world, where Sinuhe's superior Egyptian medical training gives him an excellent reputation as a healer. Sinuhe finally saves enough money from his fees to return home; he buys his way back into the favor of the court with a precious piece of military intelligence he learned abroad, informing Horemheb (now commander of the Egyptian army) that the barbarian Hittites plan to attack the country with superior iron weapons.

Akhnaton is in any case ready to forgive Sinuhe, according to his religion's doctrine of mercy and pacifism. These qualities have made Aten-worship extremely popular amid the common people, including Merit, with whom Sinuhe is reunited. He finds that she bore him a son named Thoth ( Tommy Rettig), a result of their night together many years ago, who shares his father's interest in medicine.

Meanwhile, the priests of the old gods have been fomenting hate crimes against the Aten's devotees, and now urge Sinuhe to help them kill Akhnaton and put Horemheb on the throne instead. The physician is privately given extra inducement by the princess Baketamun ( Gene Tierney); she reveals that he is actually the son of the previous pharaoh by a concubine, discarded at birth because of the jealousy of the old queen and raised by foster parents. The princess now suggests that Sinuhe could poison both Akhnaton and Horemheb and rule Egypt himself (with her at his side).

Sinuhe is still reluctant to perform this evil deed until the Egyptian army mounts a full attack on worshipers of the Aten. Kaptah manages to smuggle Thoth out of the country, but Merit is killed while seeking refuge at the new god's altar. In his grief, Sinuhe blames Akhnaton for the whole mess and administers poison to him at their next meeting. The pharaoh realizes what has been done, but accepts his fate. He still believes his faith is true, but that he has understood it imperfectly; future generations will be able to spread the same faith better than he. Enlightened by Akhnaton's dying words, Sinuhe warns Horemheb that his wine is also poisoned, thus allowing him to marry the Princess and become Pharaoh.

Later, Sinuhe is brought before his old friend for preaching the same ideals Akhnaton believed in, and is sentenced to be exiled to the shores of the Red Sea, where he spends his remaining days writing down his life story, in the hope that it may be found by Thoth or his descendants. Ultimately it is revealed that "These things happened thirteen centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ".

Cast

* Edmund Purdom as Sinuhe
* Victor Mature as Horemheb
* Jean Simmons as Merit
* Bella Darvi as Nefer
* Gene Tierney as Baketamon
* Michael Wilding as Akhenaten
* Peter Ustinov as Kaptah
* Judith Evelyn as Taia
* Henry Daniell as Mekere
* John Carradine as Grave robber
* Carl Benton Reid as Senmut
* Tommy Rettig as Thoth
* Anitra Stevens as Queen Nefertiti
* Michael Ansara as Hittite Commander

Original novel

The script was based on the Waltari novel of the same name. It is elaborated in the book, but not the film, that Sinuhe was named by his mother from the '' Story of Sinuhe'', which does include references to Aten but was written many centuries before the 18th dynasty. The use of the "Cross of Life" ankh to represent Akhnaton's "new" religion reflects a popular and esoteric belief in the 1950s that monolatristic Atenism was a sort of proto-Christianity. Historically the ankh is not the iconographic ancestor of the Christian cross, and the principal symbol of Aten was not an ankh but a solar disk emitting rays, though the rays usually ended with a hand holding out an ankh to the worshipers. The sun-disk is seen only twice; when we first meet Akhnaton in the desert, he has painted it on a rock, and Sinuhe says "Look! He worships the face of the sun." It appears again as part of the wall painting above Akhnaton's throne. With that said, the ankh was used in the original novel. Likewise, Akhnaton's dying revelation that God is much more than the face of the sun is actually found among Waltari's best-known writings.

The best-selling novel was also well-received critically, with the ''New York Times'' describing it as "fine and panoramic".

Development

Darryl F. Zanuck of 20th Century Fox bought the film rights in 1952. He announced the film would be his only personal production in 1953. Marlon Brando was going to play the lead and Casey Robinson would write the script. Robinson finished his script in March 1953. In April, Fox announced the film would be shot in its new wide-screen technology, CinemaScope. Zanuck borrowed Michael Curtiz from Paramount to direct. In November 1953 Victor Mature joined the cast along with Jean Peters and Kirk Douglas. In January 1954, Fox said the cast would also include Betta St. John, Peter Ustinov, and Bella Darvi.

It was the film debut of Darvi, who was a protege of Zanuck and his wife Virginia ("Darvi" was a combination of "Darryl" and "Virginia"). She eventually became Darryl Zanuck's mistress. By January, Peters was out and replaced by Jean Simmons, so only the right half of publicity materials had to be changed. In October 1953, Philip Dunne signed a new three-year contract with Fox and joined the film. Dunne said Robinson had done "a pretty good script" which was ultimately done in by "casting". Dunne says he worked on the film as an "unofficial producer".

There were a number of Egyptian-themed films made around this time, including ''Valley of the Kings'' and '' Land of the Pharaohs''.

Marlon Brando quits

In February 1954, a week before filming was to start, Brando took part in a reading of the script. Dunne says Brando read the part "absolutely beautifully" but then Curtiz said "How can I with all my genius make you play this man who is one minute hero the next moment villain?" Dunne says he went home to write a memo for Curtiz then got a call saying Brando had quit the film. Brando said he was unable to play his part due to mental strain and had his psychiatrist support him. As location filming in Egypt had already started, Fox sued Brando for $2 million.

Filming was postponed. Fox tried to borrow Dirk Bogarde from J. Arthur Rank in Britain. Hedda Hopper suggested John Cassavetes. Cameron Mitchell, then a Fox contract star tested for the role of the Pharaoh. Farley Granger was the next choice and considered the role, but then decided he was not interested after having just moved to New York. Other contenders for the role had been John Derek

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