Movie Review: Pharaoh's Curse (1957)

Synopsis: After a riot breaks out in Cairo, Egypt in 1902, a team of British soldiers led by Captain Storm is tasked with retrieving a group of archaeologists from the Valley of the Kings while being accompanied by the American wife of one of the men they are to rescue. They meet a strange woman, Simira, in the middle of the desert. She claims her brother is helping the archaeological team and as she follows them to the dig site, she warns them of the urgency of getting there before a sarcophagus is opened. Storm ignores her and when they arrive at the dig site too late, find their lives in danger from a reincarnated mummy.

Who's in it? The movie stars Mark Dana, Ziva Rodann, Diane Brewster, George N. Neise and Alvaro Guillot.

Review: I was flipping through movies on Amazon Prime Video last night and when I came across Pharaoh's Curse, decided to add it to my list. I wound up watching it early this morning and while I normally enjoy movies from this genre, it wasn't one of my favorites.

The action scenes themselves are interesting. Once the sarcophagus is opened, many in the expedition are killed and drained of their blood and the culprit is Numar (Guillet), the possessed brother of Simira (Rodann). There is also quite a bit of mystery about Simira herself since it is clear she isn't exactly who she claims to be, though I suspected she had something to do with the cat tracks that suddenly began to appear.

The way Numar started aging with each death was also surprisingly creepy, at least for a movie from this time period. It added a bit more of a mystery to the movie as well because it was unclear if he was also cursed or if something else was going on.

My biggest complaint about this movie is, for a film that was only about an hour in length (66 minutes), it sure did take long enough for something to happen. There was way too much time spent on their journey to the dig site and the film felt there was even time for an argument between husband and wife and create a bit of a love triangle. There were plenty of ways the filmmakers could have sped things up in the beginning without affecting the plot, giving more time for the killing.

Even the ending didn't do much to make this movie live up to expectations. There's no real final battle scene and the film just sort of ends with the survivors out of harm's way but with a whole lot of explaining to do when they get back. It felt as though they were trying to set up a sequel, though as far as I know, there isn't one. It's also possible the limited budget and 6-day filming schedule was a big part of the reason for ending the movie like that. Either way, it was a bit of a disappointment.

Final Opinion: The premise is a good one, especially with the troubles that possible love triangle could have caused. I think the movie's short runtime, however, ultimately prevented it from living up to the potential. It's not a bad movie. It just doesn't have any sort of "wow" factor to it.

My Grade: C