Colonel William A. Phillips

This article is about the 1981 film. For other films, see Sphinx (disambiguation) § Film and television.

Sphinx is a 1981 American adventure film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring Lesley-Anne Down and Frank Langella. The screenplay by John Byrum is based on the 1979 novel of the same name by Robin Cook.

Plot

Dedicated Egyptologist Erica Baron is researching a paper about the chief architect to Pharaoh Seti. Soon after her arrival in Cairo, she witnesses the brutal murder of unscrupulous art dealer Abdu-Hamdi, meets Yvon Mageot, a French journalist, and is befriended by Akmed Khazzan, who heads the antiquities division of the United Nations. When she journeys to the Valley of the Kings in Luxor to search a tomb reportedly filled with treasures, she finds herself the target of black marketeers determined to keep the riches for themselves.

Cast

Production

Film rights were purchased by Orion Pictures for $1 million.[3]

Schaffner said in 1981, "I've never done this kind of film before, this mixture of mystery and adventure and romance. Two years ago, when I considered taking on the project, it seemed to me that audiences would look for this kind of escapist entertainment when it was released. I sincerely hope I'm right."[4]

Interiors were filmed in Budapest. Egypt locations include the Cairo bazaars, Giza, the Winter Palace Hotel in Luxor, and Thebes. The tomb set cost $1 million.[5]

Lesley-Anne Down got married during the filming.[6]

Critical reception

Vincent Canby of The New York Times said the film "never stops talking and never does it make a bit of sense. It's unhinged. If it were a person, and you were trying to be nice, you might say it wasn't itself." He continued, "Mr. Schaffner and Mr. Byrum have effectively demolished what could have possibly been a decently absurd archeological-adventure film. The locations . . . are so badly and tackily used that the movie could have been shot more economically in Queens . . . The performers are terrible, none more so than Mr. Langella, who is supposed to be mysterious and romantic but behaves with all of the charm of a room clerk at the Nile Hilton." In conclusion, he called the film "total, absolute, utter confusion."[7]

Variety described the film as a contemporary version of The Perils of Pauline and called it "an embarrassment," adding "Franklin J. Schaffner's steady and sober style is helpless in the face of the mounting implausibilities."[8]

Time Out New York thought the film made "striking use of locations" but criticized the "lousy script, uneasy heroine, and weak material." It called it a "clear case of a lame project that only a best selling (ie. heavily pre-sold) novel could have financed" and warned audiences to "avoid" it.[9]

References

  1. ^ "The Unstoppables". Spy. November 1988. p. 90.
  2. ^ MOVIES: LANGELLA SHEDS CLOAK FOR 'SPHINX' Mann, Roderick. Los Angeles Times 9 Mar 1980: l29.
  3. ^ Orion: A Humanistic Production Kilday, Gregg. Los Angeles Times 5 Jan 1979: f13.
  4. ^ New film, Sphinx, may depart from the spectacular Schaffner refuses to think small Godfrey, Stephen. The Globe and Mail5 Feb 1981: P.19.
  5. ^ FILM MAKING IN PHARAOH LAND: TUT, TUT: FILM MAKING IN PHARAOH LAND Hall, William. Los Angeles Times 11 May 1980: u6.
  6. ^ MOVIES: LESLEY-ANNE DOWN: WAITING FOR THE RIGHT ROLE... Mann, Roderick. Los Angeles Times 28 Dec 1980: o33.
  7. ^ Canby, Vincent (February 11, 1981). "SCHAFFNER'S SPHINX". The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  8. ^ "Review: Sphinx". Variety. December 31, 1980. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  9. ^ "Sphinx". Time Out London. Retrieved February 22, 2017.

External links

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx_(film)