Nefertiti, reine du Nil

A Sword and Sandal epic movie centers about Amenhotep IV (Amadeo Nazzari) son of Amenophis III who reigned Egypt . Amenhotep IV was crowned in Thebes and there he started a building program and a new religion , taking on the traditional priests (Vincent Price in one of his most unknown movies) . He married Nefertiti (Jeanne Crain) who loved Tutmes (Edmund Purdom) , sculptor who made the famous bust from her . Amenhotep IV-Akhenaten tried to bring about a departure from traditional religion, yet in the end it would not be accepted . After his death, traditional religious practice was gradually restored .

It's a slice of ancient history set in 1300 B.C. : Amenophis IV is known as Akhenaten or Akhenaton , he was proclaimed maximum priest imposing a sole and , only one , great God : ¨Aton¨ or God Sun , pitting the priests (Vincent Price) followers to ¨Amon Ra¨ . Marriage between Amenophis and Nefertiti would born Tutankhamon . Amenophis created a new city called Ajetaton or Amarna . This is a Peplum style movie with impressive images but including factual errors , as Amenhopis IV changed his name to Akhenaten after converting to the worship of the Aton , and his capital was Akhet-Aton , not Thebes . Jeanne Crain is beautiful , Vincent Price , as always , plays very well a villain person . There are several secondaries and good Italian actors seen in Peplum or Sword and Sandals genre , Musclemen movies and Spaghetti Westerns : Alberto Farnese , Liana Orfei , Umberto Raho, Ralph Baldasarre , among others . Spellbound color cinematography by Massimo Dallamano ensure the glowing spectacle . Set design is breathtaking and Carlo Rustichelli's musical score is excellent . The picture was professionally directed by Fernando Cerchio . The movie gets likeness to 'Sinuhe the Egyptian' but lack luster and budget . Rating: 6 points/10

This one, I guess, constitutes what passes for a star-studded peplum, what with 3 Hollywood names (Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price and Edmund Purdom – though, by this point, the latter was already well into his European phase) and a local one (Amedeo Nazzari, whom I recently-viewed in L'ATLANTIDE from the same year); incidentally, I opted to start my tribute to Price's centennial with his two epic Italian efforts (the other being RAGE OF THE BUCCANEERS, also from 1961) so as to segue from April's month-long marathon of such fare.

To be honest, I was not expecting much from it, being more or less a low-brow mix of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956), in which the titular royal had also featured (as did Price himself in a smallish role!), and Purdom's own earlier vehicle THE Egyptian (1954); however, the result is not only eminently watchable but surprisingly decent (so that Price's reputation is none the worse for its being on his resume'!). Crain, of course, is the protagonist – with Price as the High Priest (and, it is later revealed, Nefertite's father!), Purdom a sculptor in love with her when she had not yet ascended the throne and even boasted a different name (later, he is forced to make a statue of the new Queen and chastises her for what he believes to be her opportunism!), while Nazzari is the heir to the realm who intends helping his pal Purdom when Price tries to keep the latter and Crain apart but then, unbeknownst of her true identity, is persuaded by the High Priest to take Nefertite for a wife!

Also involved in the proceedings are lovely Liana Orfei (who would have a similar, albeit even more central, role in RAGE OF THE BUCCANEERS itself) as Purdom's devoted assistant/lover (at one point, her sultry dancing in the desert distracts the guards at the hero's prison-tent so as to enable him to escape) and Umberto Raho (complementing Price's position in the temple as well as the film's villainous stakes). Incidentally, Nazzari's character is interestingly developed: he not only befriends a holy man and supports his reverence for one god over Egypt's several (which does not sit well with the tradition-bound Price) but he eventually goes mad and, finding himself besieged by his own soldiers (under the High Priest's command), commits suicide just instances before Purdom (sent by Crain to mobilize the loyal desert troops to their defence) arrives on the scene! In the end, the film's rich look manages to transcend budgetary limitations…even if the audio levels fluctuated intermittently throughout the copy I acquired, at one time even lapsing (very briefly) into Spanish!

This is an unpretentious Italian Historical Epic film based on the figure of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti. The story is acceptable -don't look for historical accuracy- and deals with the romance of the queen to be with a poor sculptor and the dilemma she has to face when forced to choose between her love or duty. Locations, settings, colour and gowns are acceptable too.

Italians were fully dedicated to this kind of "B" epic productions in the early 60's and they often hired well known American or British performers -usually after their best years- in order to raise the level of these films and make them more suitable for international markets (Orson Welles, Broderick Crawford, Victor Mature and Basil Rathbone were among them).

Jeanne Crain was always a just correct actress, but she looks beautiful here as Nefertiti and you prefer to feast your eyes on her than to analyze her performance. Vincent Price -just before his deservedly successful association with Roger Corman in Poe's based horror stories- plays without effort a villainous high priest. The love interest of the queen is Edmund Purdom in his usual dull and wooden acting; I can't recall another actor that was given so many chances to reach stardom with -if not great- rather expensive products and failed ("The Egyptian", "The Prodigal", "The King's Thief" or later "The Yellow Rolls Royce"). He ended up in "B" European films and no more than that.

All in all, this is a movie to see if you like historical Epics but it surely won't make history in the genre.

Queen of the Nile is the story of the the making of Queen Nefertiti of ancient Egypt. Its a loose story without details or specifics, but the sets and costumes and overall performances come together to make this slight picture actually kind of entertaining. The script is week and like I said it doesn't really feel in the least bit historical, but visually I find these type of films interesting and uniquely fun. Jeanne Crain and Edmund Purdom both give strong performances, and while Vincent Price is an underutilized secondary character, he is also good and together these three elevate this production to one worth checking out if you're curious.

Nefertiti Queen of the Nile is not without its redeeming qualities. The sets are richly coloured and reasonably lavish, there are a few gems in the script, my favourite being "the Nile itself cannot wash away my sins", and there are three good performances; Jeanne Crain, who is the epitome of radiance; Edmund Perdum while not a great performance still has a likability to it; and Vincent Price who is diabolical personified. On the other hand, the costumes did have a weird and somewhat cheap feel, I never did get the sense that I was being transported to ancient Egypt, and the music has some nice moments but forgettable within minutes after the film ending. Apart from a couple of gems, the dialogue is embarrassingly banal, the story lacks any kind of lustre and bite and was sort of ridiculous too and of the characters only the three main ones were defined well, everyone else was stock and just there for the sake of it. In conclusion, neither good or bad, fairly entertaining if you are in a good mood but at the end of the day little more than that, for me that is. 5/10 Bethany Cox