The Egyptian (1954)

[first lines]
Sinuhe: [Older Sinuhe voiceover] I, Sinuhe the Egyptian, write this. In my place of exile on the shores of the Red Sea. There is no more desolate spot on earth. Soon the jackals and the vultures will make a poor meal of what is left of me. No monument will mark my resting place. I will leave only this, the story of my life. I have lived fully and deeply. I have tasted passion, crime and even murder. It is for you to judge me. You must weigh the good against the evil, the passion against the tenderness, the crime against the charity, the pleasure against the pain. I began life as I am ending it, alone. I rode alone on the bosom of the Nile in a boat of reeds dawbed with pitch and tied with fowler's knots. Thus the city of Thebes was accustomed to dispose of its unwanted children. I grew up on the waterfront of the city in the house of my foster parents who had saved me from the river. My foster father lived there by choice because he was also, by choice, physician to the poor of the city. From the rich he could have commanded princely fees, for he alone, in Thebes, was master of the ancient art of opening skulls. From the beginning I kept to myself. I used to wander alone on the banks of the Nile. Until the day came when I was ready to enter the School of Life. In the School of Life were trained the chosen young men of Egypt. The future scientists, philosophers, statesmen and generals. All the learning of Egypt lay in the keeping of the gods. For ten years I served them in the school that I might earn the right to call myself a physician. I learned to bend my body to them, but that was all. My mind still asked a question. Why?

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[Horemheb is praticing his archery when a stranger's arrow hits his target. He spins around and sees Princess Baketamon]
Horemheb: Your Highness shoots well for a woman.
Baketamon: A child's game. I see one promotion.
Horemheb: Why not? A real soldier here is like a falcon among sparrows.

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Baketamon: I wish a word with you. Over here.
Horemheb: May I say I've long dreamed of a word with you.
Baketamon: We will discuss your dreams. I wish to speak with your friend, the physician.
Horemheb: Why are you so interested in him?
Baketamon: My brother's been asking for him. He hasn't yet presented himself at court.
Horemheb: Sinuhe has left the city. He's gone to... Memphis I think.
Baketamon: If you hope for further promotions don't lie to me.
Horemheb: I love my friend enough to lie for him, even to a royal princess. What do you want?
Baketamon: I want him saved from this creature who's stolen his wits.
Horemheb: That's easy, she's a Babylonian, have her banished or killed.
Baketamon: He'd follow her into exile or mourn over her grave the rest of his life. No. He must be made to see that she's worthless.
Horemheb: And how to you expect to accomplish that?
Baketamon: By letting him find out that she's betrayed him with his best friend. You shouldn't find that too difficult. Such women like to be assaulted as if they were fortresses.
Horemheb: Your Highness flatters me.
Baketamon: I value you in the same way that you value yourself.
[He sees a gold serpent bracelet coiled around her lower arm]
Horemheb: Give me that bracelet.
Baketamon: You want a reward for helping the friend you love so much?
Horemheb: I want it for the Babylonian.
Baketamon: Oh? Then you're afraid that your manly charms won't be enough?
Horemheb: Not for her.
[he notices his friends looking their way]
Horemheb: My friends are watching us. They think you're awarding me an honor.
Baketamon: Let them think what they will.
Horemheb: Some day you'll strip your arms of honors

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After shooting was completed, Fox made back some of the film's immense cost by selling many of the set pieces, props, and costumes to Paramount, which then employed them in an even bigger epic, Cecil B. DeMille's remake of The Ten Commandments.
Dirk Bogarde turned down the lead role after Brando bowed out.
The voices of the characters played by Mike Mazurki and Leo Gordon were dubbed by other actors for a more classical - and less American-street - quality.
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