Valley of the Kings

1954

1 hr. 26 min.

Adventure

List

0%

5 Reviews

Tomatometer

24%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Mark Brandon (Robert Taylor) is an archaeologist heading to Egypt for an expedition. After meeting Ann Mercedes (Eleanor Parker), the daughter of his late mentor, he is persuaded to help her uncover the tomb of the pharaoh Ra-Hotep, with the aim of confirming Ann's father's hypotheses about the burial site. Aided by Ann's husband, Philip (Carlos Thompson), the adventurous crew embark on their quest, but a mysterious villain named Hamed (Kurt Kasznar) may have other plans in mind.

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CodyZamboni

Fun old school adventure, with nice on location in Egypt photography. Empathetic charismatic leads, including Eleanor Parker, who is very attractive and appealing I like that the plot involves deciphering clues and ancient maps, that lead to other clues, secret locations, additional mysteries, which is all Indiana Jones' like, which culminates in a satisfying ending.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/27/23

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Audience Member

Very old fashioned movie filmed in egypt which alone makes it very worthwhile to sit thru. Robert Taylor is fine here but Ms Parker is way to stiff but that is how many of the female leads were made to look back then. The baddies do the best acting jobs. Again I would watch it again to see the scenery and the music is sublime. The natural beauty of the landscape and the ancient sites are filmed better than ever seen before and the fight on top of the temple was a stroke of genius. Worth watching on a slow day

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

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Audience Member

I'm surprised by all the bad reviews. The film quality could have been a little better, but it's an interesting adventure tale and the location footage is cool.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

A solid enough adventure that takes in an many of the major archeological sites in Egypt as possible, so there's some excellent visuals here, but its pace is a little slow.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

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Audience Member

An early progenitor of Indiana Jones, but nowhere as good as the Spielberg films (including Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). Robert Taylor is a globe trotting archeologist and adventurer in search of lost Egyptian treasure. Eleanor Parker joins him on the adventure, playing the daughter of his mentor. Sound familiar? However, compared to Spielberg?s fast paced films, this film is pretty slow and not exactly filled with much adventure or action.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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Audience Member

Egypt is like a man without a woman, hot by day and cold by night. Mark Brandon is an archeologist and ladies man in the early 1900s. A beautiful young lady, Ann Mercedes, approaches him with a rare artifact and tales of a secret tomb in the Valley of the Kings with treasures and adventures beyond his belief. He takes on the mission to find the tomb as long as the young lady accompanies him. "May you be the first man in history to give his bride a tomb for a present." Robert Pirosh, director of Hell is for Spring Reunion, Washington Story, Go for Broke, and The Girl Rush, delivers Valley of the Kings. The storyline for this picture is a classic adventure tale with interesting characters and subplots. I was pleasantly surprised by the action and the acting was above average for the genre. The cast includes Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, Carlos Thompson, Victor Jory, Leon Askin, and Kurt Kasznar. "This is the first time a woman ever came up here to conversate." Valley of the Kings is the original Indiana Jones film. It has clever lines, great interactions between characters, fantastic tomb raiding scenes, and a main character with wit and charm. I did thoroughly enjoy this picture. It is fairly predictable but the conclusion was very good. I do recommend catching this film if you're a fan of the action genre. "You don't like me much, do you?" "Not much." Grade: B-

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

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Robert Pirosh

Director

Robert Taylor

Mark Brandon

Eleanor Parker

Ann Barclay Mercedes

Kurt Kasznar

Hamed Backhour

Carlos Thompson

Philip Mercedes

Victor Jory

Tuareg Chief

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A.H. Weiler

New York Times

The modern romantic adventure displayed here is hardly as impressive as the monuments of the ancient civilization against which it is played.

Apr 5, 2016

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Variety Staff

Variety

The backgrounds offer more freshness to the film than does the routine story.

Apr 5, 2016

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Vacuous excavation yarn set in 1900 Egypt.

Rated: C+

Aug 15, 2017

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Tom Hutchinson

Radio Times

Apart from the majestic musical score by Miklos Rozsa, there's not much to recommend this archaeological adventure.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 5, 2016

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TV Guide

Little works in this tired production.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 5, 2016

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Synopsis

Mark Brandon (Robert Taylor) is an archaeologist heading to Egypt for an expedition. After meeting Ann Mercedes (Eleanor Parker), the daughter of his late mentor, he is persuaded to help her uncover the tomb of the pharaoh Ra-Hotep, with the aim of confirming Ann's father's hypotheses about the burial site. Aided by Ann's husband, Philip (Carlos Thompson), the adventurous crew embark on their quest, but a mysterious villain named Hamed (Kurt Kasznar) may have other plans in mind.

Director: Robert Pirosh
Screenwriter: Robert Pirosh, Karl Tunberg
Production Co: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre: Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Apr 11, 2016