Cult Camp Classics 4 - Historical Epics (1961)

Could have been better

The best film in this pack is Colossus of Rhodes, which has many memorable moments but it's wildly uneven. It's still worth seeing for any fan of old Italian Sword & Sandal films.

Of the two other films (which are American made) Land of Pharaohs and The Prodigal, Pharaohs is the best but the script is not good. It starts off brilliantly and then it becomes the Joan Collins show. Joan Collins in blackface no-less. The score is amazing though.

The Prodigal is the worse of the bunch. I watched it once and won't be watching again. Aside from the miscast Lana Turner, there's almost nothing to recommend, even the much vaunted sets are tacky looking.

As camp value, only Joan Collins in Land of Pharaohs fits the bill. The Prodigal is too leaden and serious to be camp (unfortunately, Lana basically has a supporting role) and Colossus of Rhodes, even with a miscast Rory Calhoun, is not really camp per se.

For Ancient History camp, nothing in this pack is as campy as Anne Baxter as Nefertiti in The Ten Commandments. May 14, 2008

Do you like gladiator movies?

Some movie genres have definitely died over the years. The Western used to dominate but has petered out to maybe a movie or two per year of any note. Musicals are doing similarly, with the occasional success just showing how sparse the offerings are nowadays. The so-called sword-and-sandal flicks have, if anything, done even worse, with just a few significant offerings in the past decade, most notably Gladiator (others include Troy and Alexander).

Volume 4 of Warner Brothers Cult Camp Classics takes up back to the golden era of sword-and-sandal films (and their close cousins, Bible films). This set, titled Historical Epics, feature three entertaining if not particularly good examples of the genre.

First up is The Prodigal, very loosely based on the parable of the prodigal son. Edmund Purdom plays the title character, the son of a successful Jewish farmer in 70 B.C. who falls for a pagan high priestess and forsakes his family and fiancee to pursue her. Lana Turner plays the priestess who is essentially a high-priced call girl, and the price Purdom will be dear indeed, but if you're familiar with the prodigal son story, you know how it will all turn out in the end.

Next is The Colossus of Rhodes, most notable for being Sergio Leone's first credited directorial effort. If you're expecting the same stylistic film as with his Spaghetti Westerns, you're in for a disappointment: the direction is almost all by-the-book. The story has Rory Calhoun as an Athenian soldier on vacation in Rhodes during a time of intrigue with Phoenicia. Straddling the harbor is the Colossus, not merely a giant statue (far bigger than the historical version), but also an elaborate machine filled with traps for unwanted visitors to the island.

Finally, there is Land of the Pharaohs, directed by Howard Hawks in a movie that is one of the great director's weakest, even with screenwriting assistance from William Faulkner. Jack Hawkins plays the pharaoh obsessed with preserving his wealth after his death; he oversees the construction of the pyramid to serve as his tomb and has a clever method designed to make sure his treasure will not be stolen. As an absolute ruler, he does not have to deal with a love triangle when he falls for Joan Collins though he is already married; instead he just takes her on as a second wife. She, however, has greedier ambitions in mind. Though this lacks the wonderful dialogue common to Hawks movies, Land of the Pharaohs does conclude with a brilliantly ironic finale.

All three movies have commentary tracks and theatrical trailers. Are they truly campy? At times, although Colossus comes closed to pure camp. These are not great films, but with the DVD extras, the collection does merit four stars overall. Among the four Warner Brothers sets, I would rate this second best, behind the Sci-Fi Thriller set but ahead of Terrorized Travelers and Women in Peril.
November 25, 2007

A hoot

What a great way to waste a few hours, they just don't make 'em like this anymore, great color photography, serious scene chewing and, actually, excellent music scores, in at least two of them by well-known composers of the Golden Age...this is great fun...I especially love the Joan Collins bad girl turn in Land of the Pharoahs! September 21, 2007

Epic in all ways

There is nothing more fabulous than Joan Collins trapped in a pyramid, screaming "I don't want to die - I don't want to die". The Land of the Pharoahs is worth the price alone; an excellent angle on the building of the pyramids and Egyptian society.

Lana Turner is all hot and steamy and hammy in The Prodigal.

Colussus is colossal.

Get this for a winter weekend and have plenty of popcorn on hand. August 15, 2007

Better than the title suggests

Though these movies can be viewed as campy sword 'n sandle flicks, two of the three are actually pretty good. All three are in color and anamorphic 'scope, and two even have multi-track sound. The images are crisp and clear, with no sign of fading.
The Colossus of Rhodes was directed by Sergio Leone, with impressive visuals and a huge cast of extras. The weakest (and most laughable) part of the film is Rory Calhoun's leading character, but the rest of the cast is fine - though the plot is overly-complex. Rory, a visiting hero from Athens, leads a slave revolt, amid treacherous plots to enslave peaceful Rhodes.
Land of the Pharaohs was produced and directed by Howard Hawks and written by no less than William Faulkner. The leads are played by Jack Hawkins and Joan Collins. Hawkins portrays a king obsessed with accumulating wealth for the afterlife, along with building a tomb to house himself and the gold. Collins plays a scheming princess who wants the gold for herself. Joan Collins is far from the stereotype she became in later years, and her acting ability leaves no doubt as to why Hawkins' Pharaoh falls for her.
The Prodigal, retelling the Biblical story of the prodigal son, is the only truly campy film among the three. There are lots of processions, ponderous dialog, pagan temples, and a beautiful pagan priestess to tempt the hero. Lana Turner may be beautiful, but she needs to take tempting-the-hero lessons from Joan Collins. Speaking of camp, at one point we see a long wall where various slaves are lined up for sale, with descriptions and prices written on the wall next to each slave - written in english of course. Now that's camp! August 10, 2007

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