Finally! Howard Hawks's LAND OF THE PHARAOHS will be released, widescreen, on DVD June 26. Part of a 3-disc set of so-called Cult Classics (Vol. IV, Historical Epics), including THE PRODIGAL and THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES. Also available separately, thank God (who wants THE PRODIGAL?).
LOTP is Martin Scorsese's favorite "guilty-pleasure" movie. Good enough for me.
That's great! Where did you get this information?
shareI'd read it rumored around various sites the past 10 days or so but the first site I saw actually listing its release date and being for sale was Movies Unlimited, which I've found usually lists upcoming stuff before anyone else. Hold off till others list it to find the best price. (MSRP on these releases is pretty cheap anyway, $14.99; MU's price I think is $11.99 or so but even better prices will likely come up before too long. But their site will give you good details.)
By the way, when I checked for it on Amazon the other day they hadn't listed it yet, but they did show what looks like a Korean version for sale: the cover half in Korean and half in misspelled English, with a picture of Joan Collins, sprawled in front of a background of the pyramids, wearing a 19th-century ball gown! Hilarious.
Amazon is offering a "pre-order" price of $20.99 for a set called "Cult Camp Classics 4 - Historical Epics" containing this movie with "The Prodigal" and "The Colossus of Rhodes".
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000OHZJI2/ref=ord_cart_shr/002-6529381-9344830?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance
DVD Planet is offering the Cult Camp Classics set for $20.96. As a separate, Deep Discount has LOTP for only $8.28 (vs. DVD Planet's $9.95 and Amazon's non-bargain at $13.49).
shareThe reference to Martin Scorsese's favorite "guilty-pleasure" is
made in the Sept./October 1978 issue of FILM COMMENT. Scorsese
lists his ten favorite cinematic guilty-pleasures in no particular
order EXCEPT that he places LOTP at the top of the list and calls
it his "all-time favorite cinematic guilty-pleasure". When you
consider who this man is in world cinema, and how this touched his
formative years, you begin to reconsider this film's potential.
How a pharaoh spoke is not the issue. There is a deeper subconscious
level to LOTP that Hawks, Faulkner, and company didn't know they
were dwelling in when the crafted the surface melodrama.
I love it when a film neglected or disparaged at its release gets its due years later (and when an overrated picture is taken down a peg or two). Scorsese is at base a guy who loves movies of all kinds and can see worthwhile things in them even if they're not masterpieces. I saw him talk about LOTP in his three-part series on American films a few years back. Do you remember any of his other "guilty pleasure" films from the 1978 article?
(Apropos of nothing, I saw just a few minutes ago that Fox is releasing a box set of five Joan Collins films made in the wake of her star-turn in LOTP, though kind of a mixed bag: The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, Stopover Tokyo, Sea Wife, Rally 'Round the Flag Boys, and Seven Thieves; also available separately, due out 7/10/07.)
Hey, any of you guys: I've always wondered who did the effects of the building of the pyramid and where was it done? Very spectacular flick, indeed.
Nothing exists more beautifully than nothing.
Alexandre Trauner, the art director, and Don Steward, the special effects man, were apparently the people primarily responsible for the fx on LOTP. Trauner and second unit director Noel Howard found the remains of an actual, unfinished pyramid outside Cairo and dressed that up for some of the building shots. The photgraphic effects of the new, finished pyramid were done at two small studios the company rented in Rome, where the picture was completed.
shareThank you so much; they did a splendid job recreating it.
Nothing exists more beautifully than nothing.
I may buy this. I've been interested in seeing Land of the Pharaohs for a while now.
"Dry your eyes baby, it's out of character."
For $8.98 (Deep Discount) or even $9.95 (DVD Planet), you can't go wrong. Never seen it? I think you'll find it interesting, entertaining certainly. Joan Collins's sexiest role for years. And let's not forget the great Jack Hawkins and Dimitri Tiomkin's fabulous, rousing music.
shareI got the DVD (4-7-16) and my player bit the dust. I ordered another player and was able to finally after 50 years watch this movie in CinemaScope. What a treat and what a spectacle. My big screen high def TV helped.
You may as well go to perdition in ermine; you're sure to come back in rags. Katharine Hepburn
Nice to see someone on this thread after eight years!
I finally saw LOTP in widescreen on AMC back in the 90s, when it was a good channel. It took another decade before it finally came to home video in its proper format, but it was worth it.