Nefertiti, a Rainha do Egito

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!

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

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.

Altough much liberty is taken with history (in all fairness, there is still a great deal that is not known about this period) an interesting story has been concocted about the mysterious queen. It seems the sculptor who made the famous bust was enamored of her before she became the royal wife and was a mere High Priest's daughter who was cruelly forced to marry Amenophis IV unconvincingly played by Amadeo Nazzari, who is not in the least like Ahkenaton. But the costumes and sets are gorgeous, and Miss Crain is lovely. Vincent Price is credible as the nasty priest of Amon-Ra.

This is all speculation but an interesting story, showing how the famous and timeless statue of Queen Nefertiti still after so many thousands of years stir imaginations and inspire to invention and creation. The cinematography is outstanding, the music of Carlo Rustichelli couldn't be better, Jeanne Crain is perfect as the Queen, Vincent Price is horribly absurd as the mad and wicked father, Edmund Purdom makes a good job of the sculptor with all his tribulations for his love, but the most interesting actor is Amedeo Nazzori as Amenophis. Mind you, he is never called Ekhnaton, although that was the king of this issue of the conflict between old believers and the new monotheistic religion of the sun, which caused a revolution in its day in ancient Egypt about 3500 years ago. The King was more realistically played by Michael Wilding in "Sinuhe the Egyptian" seven years earlier, and this film has clearly taken one or two hints from that movie, Jeanne Crain being very much like Jean Simmons. Amedeo Nazzori makes a very interesting character as a very convincing king inspiring confidence with his sympathetic character but with the great weakness of oversensitivity, leading to mental breakdowns, transcending into a religion of peace abhorring all bloodshed.

It's not a great movie, but it is interesting enough with some memorable scenes, especially the ones in the workshop, culminating in the famous scene when the Queen is first introduced to her sculptor, the Pharaoh having no idea that they have been lovers, and the lover knowing nothing of her difficult way to the throne. This is great theatre.