Sphinx (1981)

Réalisateur:

Franklin J. Schaffner

Writers:

John Byrum (screenplay)
Robin Cook (novel)

Release Date:

11 février 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Accroche:

Beyond the sealed door was the last undiscovered treasure in Egypt - And it's all hers - IF SHE CAN GET OUT ALIVE.

Plot:

Egyptologist Erica Baron finds more than she bargained for during her long-planned trip to The Land of the Pharoahs - murder, theft, betrayal, love, and a mummy's curse! |

Plot Keywords:

Archeologist | Chase | Egypt | Female Archaeologist | Investigator

Avis des utilisateurs:

Stand back! I'm an Egyptologist!

Ensemble

Lesley-Anne Down	...	Erica Baron
Frank Langella	...	Akmed Khazzan
Maurice Ronet	...	Yeon
John Gielgud	...	Abdu-Hamdi (as Sir John Gielgud)
Vic Tablian	...	Khalifa
Martin Benson	...	Mohammed
John Rhys-Davies	...	Stephanos Markoulis
Nadim Sawalha	...	Gamal
Tutte Lemkow	...	Tewfik
Saeed Jaffrey	...	Selim
Eileen Way	...	Aida
William Hootkins	...	Don
Mark Kingston	...	Carter
James Cossins	...	Lord Carnaryon
Victoria Tennant	...	Lady Carnaryon

Durée:

UK:118 min | Netherlands:117 min | USA:118 min

Pays:

USA | Netherlands

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Son:

Dolby

Classification:

UK:15 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:12 (f)

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

S & T

Stand back! I'm an Egyptologist!

Some nice scenery, but the story itself--in which a self-proclaimed Egyptologist (Lesley-Anne Down) visits Egypt and, in the course of doing Egyptologist things in the most un-Egyptologistic of ways (e.g., flash photography in the tombs, the handling of old parchment, etc.), uncovers a black market turf war and somehow (in the span of two days, no less!) becomes that war's jumpsuit-wearing epicenter--is more puzzling than any riddle the Sphinx ever posed. Down is simply awful as the visiting British scholar (that she seems to know absolutely nothing about the culture of Egypt and even less about antiquities is the fault of the writers, certainly; but that she's annoying as all get out is her own fault entirely), and the rest of the cast, including Sir John Gielgud and Frank Langella, seem as downright confused by the proceedings as I was. In short, not what you'd expect from Schaffner (Planet of the Apes, Patton) and co.

Worth watching for a laughably dated scene in which Down rails against all male scholars, blaming them for her failure as an academic, while bathed under the softest light Hollywood could muster. To top it off, she spends the next hour of the film shrieking and harried and running into the arms of any dude she can find. Wow, talk about your performative irony!

*Note to would-be Egyptologists: take a year or two of Arabic in grad school. It'll really help out in the long run...