The Robe had been one of the most popular films of all time so Daryl F Zanuck tried to make lightning strike twice with this tale of religion in Ancient Egypt. The result was a famous flop, although it has many of the cast from the earlier film – particularly Victor Mature as the soldier friend of the hero and Jean Simmons as a pretty girl who can’t help loving the hero; as in the Robe he uses a handsome British newcomer in the lead, Edmond Purdom. He also throws in some terrific actors: Peter Ustinov (from Quo Vadis), Gene Tierney, John Carradine – plus his mistress at the time, Bella Darvi. The script was by some gun writers, Casey Robinson and Philip Dunne, and Michael Curtiz was the director - and Zanuck produced personally. The result was a big flop.
The crux of the blame fell on Purdom and Darvi, who are admittedly bland, but I’ve seen worse actors in popular epics. I think critics have been influenced by the fact that Marlon Brando was originally going to play Purdom’s part – it’s fascinating to imagine what that would have been like. (Surely the end result could have been no worse than Desiree?)
Philip Dunne also expressed regret that his choices for Wilding and Darvi’s roles – John Cassavetes and Diana Wynyard – weren’t used, and I think he’s spot on. Apparently Marilyn Monroe wanted Darvi’s part – something else intriguing to think about although Maz in an Ancient world epic… Darvi can’t act but she is very sexy.
The script has received praise in some quarters – I think it was the screenwriting history expert Tom Stempel – and indeed it gets points for tackling something different, to wit the rise of monotheism. But it’s flawed – Purdom’s character is a pussywhipped fool (Darvi is very upfront about being an independent courtesan who has to do what she does for money but the idiot falls for her anyway). We don’t meet Purdom’s parents so their suicide means little. Purdom’s hard luck is due to his own idiocy – it wasn’t Ben Hur’s fault he wound up in a galley but it is Purdom’s here. Then once he does he treats rich people only instead of helping out the poor. Actually the guy is a real drip all the way through – he gives up on a decent job, ethics, true love, his son, a career… It’s a shame the script couldn’t have Hollywood-ised it a bit more, made him more sympathetic.
I also think part of the problem is Ancient Egypt was a bit too “foreign” for American audiences at the time; they were familiar with Cleopatra, but she dealt with Romans, who are very familiar. Ancient Rome involves early Christianity and has parallels with the British Empire and all that stuff – but old Egypt is just weird. So I think they were up against it anyway. But credit to 20th Century Fox for drawing attention to a lesser known period of history.
Jean Simmons is pretty in a nothing role – she’d later play a variation on the part in Spartacus. (In none of these “true love” parts did she wind up with the guy at the end.) Tierney is wasted, Mature is okay in a not-much part. Ustinov is good as always and John Carradine impresses as a grave robber. There's some amusement from seeing the very American Tommy Rettig (from Lassie) as Purdom's son. Perhaps the best performance is from Michael Wilding, as the vagued-out pharaoh - he ends the film with a long monologue about God, which is different, at least.
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