Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9786300271760 Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Import, NTSC ISBN: 6300271765 Label: Warner Home Video Manufacturer: Warner Home Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Warner Home Video Release Date: July 07, 1994 Running Time: 118 minutes Sales Rank: 5729 Studio: Warner Home Video Theatrical Release Date: February 11, 1981
Description: An archaeologist travels to the Egyptian pyramids to search for treasure and finds herself embroiled in a murder mystery.
Amazon.com: A sudsy second cousin to exotic-locale thrillers like Charade, Franklin J. Schaffner's Sphinx offers a pleasant popcorn blend of old-school serial excitement and paperback-novel romance. Lesley-Anne Down (looking lovely as always) is top-billed as an archaeologist searching for the lost (and cursed, naturally) tomb of a king in Egypt. After witnessing the murder of a local expert (John Gielgud), Down becomes the target of assassins; Frank Langella is on hand as a handsome stranger who generates sparks with the good doctor as he attempts to help her locate the tomb. The Egyptian locations provide a picturesque backdrop for this film adaptation of the serviceable novel by Robin Cook; the cast (which includes John Rhys-Davies, who returned to the region that same year in Raiders of the Lost Ark) is also attractive and definitely game to navigate the story's pulpy machinery. --Paul Gaita
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Just as Good as I Remembered.
Saw this movie when it first came out ages ago and it always stuck in my mind. I confess that a couple of the main resons it stayed with me was because of the stunning images of the Egyptian countryside and monuments, the equally stunningly gorgeous Frank Langella, and finally, it was a good story about black market buying of ancient artifacts. Erica Bane, played by Lesley-Ann Down, comes to Egypt to prove a hypothosis she has regarding Pharoh Seti the First. There she meets a shop owner, played by Sir John Gielgud, and witnesses his murder, but not before he has shown her a golden statue of ... Read More
Rating: - Great quality download & no problems with playback
I wanted to review this movie mainly to review Unbox. There are a lot of nasty reviews of Unbox on the Internet, most of which are a year old. It appears that Amazon has improved the software since its release, since I could turn off its running in the system tray at startup (one of the biggest complaints out there) and the player worked fine for me. I installed it on one of my XP Media Center PCs and the best way I found to play it was by running Media Center and going to the My Videos section, where it was immediately available for playback (this was after I had downloaded it). All I needed ... Read More
Rating: - Definately Interesting and thought provoking film.
I watched this movie several times as a kid growing up and it's always stuck in my memory. Finally I located this movie and was able to get it and see it again. Still makes me wanna do some digging in egypt!
Rating: - Decent story, great scenary, good acting, a little dated
This movie was made in the 70s or 80s (I forget). Some of the acting is rather dated, but the overall story was engrossing and interesting enough as a rental. Definitely different than today's standard fare. And great views of Egypt.
Lesley-Anne Down was actually fairly good in the role, as was Frank Langella. John Gielgud as a Muslim just didn't get the job done for me, and was somewhat laughable. This was his last role before he passed away.
Rating: - a marvelous travelog and mediocre mystery
As a long-time Egypt-o-phile, this movie held my attention mainly because of its rich portrayal of daily life in Cairo, Karnak, Luxor, Sakkara, Giza, the Cairo Museum, and scenes many tourists don't see. I visited this area as a tourist some years ago, and the movie was a vivid reminder of many things I saw (and didn't).
The plot is stereotypic of the "Egyptian mummy's curse" genre, tho well illustrated by interesting portrayals of past and present Egyptian tomb builders and robbers; greedy, violent antiquity-smuggling crooks and dedicated government officials; and the standard beautiful ... Read More
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