La vallée des rois

Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker make a handsome couple in this story about an archaeologist agreeing to search for holy relics in an Egyptian tomb, lured by the beautiful Parker. She's married to Carlos Thompson who goes along on the desert adventure and it's easy to guess what the outcome will be as the plot develops.

The story ingredients are promising, but the picture takes a long time to get to its most suspenseful moments, including a climactic fistfight between Taylor and Thompson at the top of ancient ruins that is artfully staged for maximum effect. Too bad more time wasn't spent developing the slow-paced script which hardly matches the effectiveness of the location photography in Egypt and the striking score by Miklos Rozsa.

Fans of Taylor and Parker will enjoy seeing them together, both at their physical peak and demonstrating some good chemistry as romantic leads. He's ruggedly convincing as the Alpha-male archaeologist but the story isn't up to the level of a similar yarn Metro did previously, "King Solomon's Mines." Summing up: A weak script is the real problem.

I first saw this film when it was released in the UK. I was thirteen at the time. It will always be a favourite because it sparked off what was to become one of my greatest passions: anything and everything to do with Ancient Egypt and its remarkable impact on the imagination, ambition and sometimes greed of every civilisation that succeeded it. Yep, Robert Taylor was perhaps out of place but Eleanor Parker made up for the weaknesses and foibles of the plot. It's just a good, old-fashioned romp.

This Classic film from 1954 was created by MGM and lots of money was put into its production. The photography in Egypt and the many historic sites are outstanding and this was done mainly because Television had taken hold of many families and they were staying home and watching their TV Screens in 1954 instead of going to the movies. Robert Taylor, (Mark Brandon) was an archaeologist in Egypt and was a rough and tough man who loved adventure. Eleanor Parker,(Ann Barclay Mercedes) meets up with Mark in order to hire him to explore some ruins which will confirm that the Bible story about Joseph were true. There is plenty of romance and dangerous sand storms and plenty of riding on camels backs through out the desert and secret tombs and secret doors.

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.

Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker as turn-of-the-century archaeologists in Egypt make a handsome couple in this beautifully-photographed MGM production. Their hunt for a pharaoh's lost tomb and their growing attraction to each other provide a number of good moments but the real stars here are the monuments of Egypt -- including a visit to St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai. The rousing fist-fight between Robert Taylor and Carlos Thompson on the crown of one of the Abu Simbel statues is a glorious moment.