Are you looking for a historical film with an intriguing storyline? Then we recommend you watch Land of the Pharaohs. Follow this article to know more about this epic film, and also find out where was Land of the Pharaohs filmed.
Land of the Pharaohs is a historical drama film that was released in the final week of June 1955. Howard Hawks directed this action-adventure film, while William Faulkner and Harry Kurtniz wrote the screenplay.
The basic premise of Land of the Pharaohs revolves around Khufu, an eccentric and superstitious Egyptian King. The story gets interesting when the Pharaoh orders his army to build a safe, guarded, mysterious tomb for his burial.
In simple words, the commercial performance of Land of the Pharaohs was pretty bad. This vintage film didn’t even manage to surpass $2.7 million at the box office. Plus, Land of the Pharaohs also didn’t bag a single award for its weak storyline.
But the most interesting thing about this movie is the astounding filming locations that were used, and that’s what we will discuss today. So, follow this article till the end and find out where was Land of the Pharaohs filmed.
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Where Was Land Of The Pharaohs Filmed? Let’s Know This Historical Drama Flick Closely!
The story of Land of the Pharaohs is set in and around Egypt. However, you’d be amazed to know that not all outdoor scenes of this film were shot in the same country.
Even though Hawks decided to film a large portion of Land of the Pharaohs in Egypt, he also thought it would be good to shoot some extra scenes elsewhere. So, during the starting stages of production, the director sat with other creative heads and discussed potential filming locations other than Egypt.
Hawks was convinced that he wasn’t going to shoot the interior scenes in Egypt due to the unavailability of proper film studios. The next best option for the director was to film the remaining portion of the movie in America.
Surprisingly enough, the director discarded the idea of filming the interior scenes in America too and asked his team members to get in touch with the film studio in Italy.
Shortly after, the production members arranged a special meeting between the director and owners of a leading Italian film studio. Soon, the contract papers were inked, and then the director asked the crew to commence shooting.
The principal photography of Land of the Pharaohs commenced in the first week of April and continued until the end of August of the same year. During the 4 months of the shooting process, Hawks shot a number of mesmerizing scenes in and around the beautiful country of Egypt.
The second phase of shooting was done in Italy. This time around, the production members were only asked to capture the interior scenes of the film, as all the outdoor scenes were already shot in and around Egypt.
Even though the filming crew had to shoot only a handful of interior scenes in Italy, this task, in fact, took the most amount of time to complete. Since the production members had to build the make-believe sets from scratch, a lot of time and money was spent in achieving the same.
Let us now take a closer look at where was Land of the Pharaohs filmed. Later, I’ll also give you an overview of this historical movie.
Egypt
The shooting process of Land of the Pharaohs commenced in the city of Cairo. The opening scene of the movie, where we see the pyramid of Giza at the backdrop, was actually filmed in Cairo, Egypt.
The production member also traveled to the outskirts of Cairo to film some important outdoor scenes of the bank of the river Nile. Interestingly enough, while the production members were capturing the outdoor scenes near a sparsely populated area in Cairo, another team went to shoot exterior shots of the Sphinx.
Other pivotal scenes of the film were captured in and around the city of Aswan, which is located in the southern part of Egypt. This Egyptian city has a number of archaeological sites, which were actually used during the shooting of Land of the Pharaohs.
However, the production members had to take special shooting permission from the archaeological department before filming near the Philae temple. The ending shot of the movie was shot near The Unfinished Pyramid of Pharaoh Baka. These were mainly captured to depict Khufu’s pyramid in the movie.
After all these scenes were filmed, the production members traveled overseas to Italy. The remaining portion of the movie was then filmed inside Titanus Appia Studios, Rome.
Guys, these were the most important filming locations, which were used to capture the outdoor scenes of Land of the Pharaohs. Now, allow me to give you an overview of the Land of the Pharaohs too. Meanwhile, you can read Kicking and Screaming, Air, and White Men Can’t Jump.
Land Of The Pharaohs | What’s It About
The basic premise of Land of the Pharaohs revolves around Khufu, the eccentric king of Egypt. At the very beginning of the movie, the Pharaoh appears to be distressed about a nightmare. Soon, Khufu asks the priest of his temple to meet him.
As the story progresses further, the king gets advised by the priest to build a special tomb, which will secure his afterlife. Shortly after, the king summons his Vashtar and two other senior architects to his court.
Watch Land of the Pharaohs and find out how Khufu built his pyramid while treating his slaves ruthlessly.
Final Words
Friends, we’ve reached the final segment of this piece. I hope now you finally know where was Land of the Pharaohs filmed. But if you still have any questions, feel free to add them in the comments. We’d gladly resolve any query you may have.
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