Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile
Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile
| 20 September 1961 (USA)
Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile Trailers

Chronicles the rise and fall of the woman who eventually became known as Queen Nefertiti.

Reviews
ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.
SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
clanciai 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.
Kirpianuscus one of many historical theme "B" films from "60. not memorable but correct. a dramatic love story, the beauty of Jeanne Crain, the duty, more important than the love, Vincent Price in a role using his skills for bad guys. and decent atmosphere, funny fight scenes, Edmund Purdom in a role who remains sketch for a Charming Prince. Nefertiti has the virtue to be perfect answer to the nostalgia of films "B" fans. large slices of romanticism, lost historical accuracy, seductive - and unrealistic - end. enough for a nice show.
mark.waltz After "Samson and Delilah" in 1949, Hollywood began a love affair with biblical epics which ultimately lead into other stories of ancient times. Whether "sword and sandal" or tales of real-life Greeks or Egyptians, this genre has never gone away, and it never fails to amaze me how unintentionally camp many of these films turn out to be some fifty years later.With Elizabeth Taylor's "Cleopatra" on the way out from 20th Century Fox (and covering pretty much every day of film-making it had in the press), movie makers turned to rip-offs to get into the mix. Jeanne Crain, the darling of 20th Century Fox in the 1940's and 50's, was still attractive by the time this was made, but probably still a bit long in the tooth to be believable as an innocent young Egyptian maiden who ends up becoming Pharaoh's wife and ultimately one of Egypt's most powerful women outside the late B.C. queen who really found a pain in the asp.Where there's sand, togas and barges, there's bound to be camp, and in "Queen of the Nile", that comes with the presence of Vincent Price as the High Priest who forces his daughter Nefretiti into the court of the pharaoh at the threat of the life of her real love. Price over-chews his dialog and wears so much make-up and beads that I can only compare him with Judith Anderson's Herodias from "Salome". Both characters had desire for power they couldn't have on their own so they utilized others to have it, much to the chagrin of the unfortunate people around them. In retrospect, Price actually seems to be in drag, making me wonder who the real Queen of the Nile was.While the English speaking actors are obviously speaking their native tongue, the Italian actors mouths seem to be speaking English too but the voices are obviously not their own. Amedeo Nazzari is Pharaoh Amenophis IV, an absolute weakling totally dominated by Price's Benakon who would have been home committing evil along side Sian Phillips' Livia from "I Claudius". Livia was much more subtle in her evil, but Price chews every line as if he was still quoting Edgar Allan Poe in those fun-filled horror films he was doing over at American International. Edmund Purdom, not yet recovered from playing "The Egyptian" years ago, does his best with the part of Nefretiti's lover, while Crain doesn't really get much of a chance to chew the scenery up. Yet, she still looks great in period costumes, and for that, this is worth giving a chance. There will be no doubt in the viewer's minds after seeing this that the violet-eyed Taylor was much more in command as Queen than the aging Crain was here.
dbdumonteil Mickael Curtiz did in 1954 an overlooked underrated adaptation of Mika Waltari's mammoth novel "the Egyptian".It already dealt with a monotheism close to Christianity which we find again here.The star was also Edmund Purdom but with a more celebrated supporting cast (Victor Mature,Jean Simmons,Gene Tierney).The slaughter of the new faith followers was much more impressive in "the Egyptian"and its screenplay more complex with a lot of subplots .Here it treads a rather tenuous line:Nefertiti -before she was called so- was in love with a sculptor (the one who made the famous bust ?)but alas her ambitious father,a priest, is busy making other plans for her.So she will go down in history ,but what price glory?It's fairly entertaining,but I would rather recommend Curtiz's work which was ,before "ten commandments" and " land of the pharaohs" the renaissance of the Egyptian sword and sandal.