Princess of the Nile
Tags: intrigue

Plot synopsis:
Egypt, 1249: The father of Princess Shalimar has fallen under the spell of the sinister Shaman, who drugs him and tries to keep daughter Shalimar a prisoner. She knows a secret passage, however, and slips away at night to entertain the oppressed villagers of Hanwan by disguising herself as Taura, a popular dancer in the Tambourine Tavern.
Prince Haidi, the son of the caliph of Bagdad, rides into town accompanied by Captain Hussein, his close friend. At the same time, the menacing Rama Khan and his powerful army arrive. Rama Khan is conspiring with the Shaman to overthrow the Hanwan rulers.
Hussein is killed by Khan, and in the confusion, Taura the dancing girl stabs Prince Haidi with a dagger, unaware he is a potential ally. Haidi's wounds are not fatal. As he consults Princess Shalimar's father about how to conquer the invading horde, he inquires about the dancer Taura who stabbed him, unaware she and Shalimar are one and the same.
Rama Khan wants the princess for himself. He threatens to kill villagers unless she gives herself to him. A battle ensues, in which Haidi, who now realizes her true identity, overcomes Khan, while the Shaman also endures a well-deserved death.

Review: She plays a sultry-innocent 13th-century princess who rouses her people to save Egypt from the ambitions of a powerful Beduin (Michael Rennie) and joins her forces with the son of the Caliph of Baghdad (Jeffrey Hunter) to save her trembling throne...
She also finds time to fulfill a great deal of exotic dancing...
Her luscious legs make her hard to forget!The emphasis is not on the plot, but on the visual pleasure of a great number of beautiful girls in sensual Technicolored costumes....
For the most part, I only enjoy the kind of movie that allows one to escape the current time into the future or past.
The dancing starts almost immediately, and Debra Paget in her "purple harem" bikini dress simply has no equal in film in my opinion.
Her dancing, while sultry, is surpassed by her dance in Fritz Lang's Tiger of Eschnapur, available on DVD, where she played the temple dancer Seetha.One problem with the movie is the closed setting.
Debra even wields a sabre and holds 2 enemy soldiers at bay on a staircase, she could do it all.What does work is Debra Paget as a princess.
This movie, when hopefully it becomes available on DVD, will be a must buy.
Debra Paget and Jeffery Hunter: Just Beautiful!.
Two of the best looking stars in Hollywood, Debra Paget and Jeffrey Hunter burn up the screen in "Princess of the Nile."  It's not much of a movie, but if you love looking at God's most gorgeous, feast your eyes on these two!
She appeared in some landmark films like "The Ten Commandments," "Love Me Tender," "White Feather," "Demetrius and the Gladiators," etc.
Her ultra lewd dance in "Princess...Nile" is the most erotic in the history of films!
To begin, there are standout performances from lovely Debra Paget as a princess/dancing girl, from Michael Rennie as the villain, handsome young Jeffrey Hunter investigating crime in her city/state and others.
The film is an unusually colorful adventure, and we even see the princess rehearsing the dance she later performs (for once).
She manages to skewer Hunter before she learns he is on her side; also the photography, the costumes by Travilla, Lionel Newman's music and the film's style are unusually fine.
Add to this rousing action, intelligent characterization and fine direction by veteran Harmon Jones of a Gerald Drayson Adams' script set in 1249 AD, and you have the ingredients of an enjoyable Grecianized Near-Eastern.
Classically-trained actors such as Michael Ansara, Edgar Barrier, Wally Cassell, Jack Elam and Dona Drake are not commonly found in one "B" film together; nor are there fascinating sets, a variety of locales and a mystery of the quality that is supplied here.
One way of assessing a film is, "If I were guaranteed to live through the experience, would I choose to undergo these events and perform these actions?" Since my answer is a resounding "yes" in this case, this film remains one of my choices as a favorite and very-underrated cinematic work.
Ravishing Debra Paget shakes and shimmies and brings the house (not to mention the pyramids) down..
Even the Maria Montez/Jon Hall technicolored baubles of the '40s are eclipsed by "Princess of the Nile," Fox's entry in Hollywood's mid-'50s obsession with things Egyptian (see "Land of the Pharoahs," "Valley of the Kings," etc.) Pure, unadulterated, mindless hokum, lavishly produced (low-budgeted, actually, but using sets and costumes left over from "The Robe," this Technicolored spectacle looks like it cost millions).
71 minutes of eye-candy (the plot, having something to do with nefarious derrings-do in ancient Egypt, is beside the point) offers the cinematographer and audiences the delectable sight of Debra Paget wearing an assortment of see-thru veils, most of which hit the ground when she shakes and shimmies thru a slave-girl production number unparalleled in film history.
Female moviegoers were not shortchanged: Fox's handsomest young contract player, Jeffrey Hunter, is as photogenic as Ms. Paget, while Michael Rennie lurks around in the background, stirring up evil doings in the land of the pyramids.
For those who might think Paget & Hunter can't act and were only hired for their physical attributes, check out their subtle, overlooked, heartbreaking work together a few years later in "White Feather" (another Fox production that has sadly vanished into the realm of "lost films").
"Princess of the Nile" still stands in a class by itself as a cheerfully mindless, breathlessly fast-paced, dazzling testament to the glories of 3-strip Technicolor--and the seductive charms of Ms. Paget (all of 20 at the time).
A pretty film with lead actors so beautiful, it almost hurts to look at them.
Young Jeffrey Hunter and Debra Paget dazzle in this fun faux- Egyptian adventure/romance.
Whether you are straight or gay, male or female, you should appreciate looking at them both.This would be a great date movie (and I wish I could return to this time for just an evening to have a date to see it during its first run)- -it has adventure, romance, a quick-moving plot, and some comic relief.
What's not to like?As another reviewer said, one of the problems with the the movie is the over-reliance on sets; it'd look even better with more outdoor scenes.
In this way, it is of its time, and one of the few ways movies have improved is in use of outdoor and international settings.Recommended.
I adored it -- it had theincomparable Debra Paget doing herpatented hip-wiggling Exotic Maiden role,evil villains, secret passages, secretidentities, 50's-style exotic scenery andcostumes -- the works.
I watched Princess of the Nile for the first time when I was about 10 years old.
I have searched the internet trying to buy the movie, but have not been able to locate it.
It makes me wonder if this is one of the lost movies in Hollywood.
I loved Debra Padget and Jeffrey Hunter together.
I vaguely remember a scene by the Nile with Debra Padget a bunch of other women.I have always wanted to see it again.
I never thought of it as an escape movie back then, but I can see now where that was probably the case.
It was a wonderful movie..
This wonderful Oriental adventure deals with the princess Shamar, Debra Paget , the flame that ignited Egypt .
And well starred by those sensational new stars , Debra Paget and Jeffrey Hunter .
It is set 1249 Egyt, where the son of the caliph of Baghdad , Jeffrey Hunter, arrives in order to keep peace and order, along the way he helps the beautiful princess to rid the Bedouin invaders led by Michael Rennie .Meanwhile , Shamar takes a double identity , both as a wealthy princess and disguising as an expert dancer, dancing at market place.
This is a typical oriental movie produced by 20th Century Fox with intrigue , fights , sword-crosses and colorful scenarios, though mostly shot in studios .
Debra Paget is marvelous as the gorgeous princess striving to gain her aims, to rid the Bedouin conquerors, as she practices her intriguing skills, both at the slums and at the royal court .
Paget starred a lot of adventure movies for 20th Century Fox , outstanding her exotic beauty and dancing skills, such as : Bird of paradise, Anne of the Indians, Prince Valiant, Demetrius and the Gladiators, Omar Khayyam and the exceptional dyptic : Tiger of Snapur and The Indian tomb by Fritz Lang .
While her partenaire Jeffrey Hunter as a brave hero is fine, but inferior to Paget.
Support is frankly well , such as Michael Rennie, Jack Elam , Michael Ansara, Edgar Barrier as Shaman, Dona Drake and uncredited Lee Van Cleef.It packs a colorful and brilliant cinematography in Technicolor by Lloyd Ahern Sr.
The flick will appeal to Debra Paget and Jeffrey Hunter fans.
Debra Paget an entrancing beauty.
The 20th Century Fox studio have finally bowed to public demand & released "Princess Of The Nile" on DVD.
Nobody can, hand on heart, pretend that it is a great movie but it is a triumph for the innovation of glorious technicolor.
Playing the title role Debra Paget, then aged just 20, was just about as beautiful as any young lady can possibly be.
Dressed in an array of diaphanous costumes she looks utterly fabulous &, even if she was not that much of an actress, her erotic dancing is as breathtaking as her looks.
For the ladies, Fox studio have co-starred the handsomest of their leading young actors Jeffrey Hunter as Prince Haidi.
Nobody is going to include POTN in their list of top ten movies but, crikey, I never saw a vision of loveliness the equal of young Debra Paget in this movie.
Jack Elam!) enlivens this utterly preposterous yarn which passes off an Egyptian Hareem that's straight out of Minsky's (down to a few blondes and red heads).Paget is both lovely and acrobatic, handling action sequences charmingly.
And who knew Michael Rennie fenced left handed?This film has recently been seen in criculation on AMC, and it's worth catching.
But the appaling acting, ham-fisted dialog and cardboard sets only enhance the film's charm..
algernon4's comment that Ms Paget's "ultra lewd dance in (this film) is the most erotic in the history of films" is certainly one doozy of an exaggeration.
It isn't even Debra Paget's most erotic dance.
As for being the most erotic in the history of dance.
I love the sequence and have included it in my "Cheesecake Dance" series on Youtube.
I just think that making a claim like "most erotic in the history of film" is really going out on a very fragile limb..
Princess Of The Nile is set in the 13th century AD and I always thought that the religion of ancient Egypt had died out by that time.
But what we have here is that the city that Debra Paget is princess of on the Nile is still worshiping Isis while their Moslem conquerors are behaving pretty much as conquerors do.The city's salvation just might be Jeffrey Hunter son of the Caliph of Bagdad making an inspection tour of the empire.
The real rulers of the city are vizier Michael Rennie and shaman Edgar Barrier with a gang of assorted hooligans enjoying the spoils of conquest.
You have a few players here like Rennie and Barrier who have classical backgrounds.What they must have thought..
PRINCESS OF THE NILE (Harmon Jones, 1954) **1/2.
Given the title, one would have thought the narrative would be dealing with Cleopatra (whose unhistorical off-spring the leading lady here, Debra Paget, actually played in the Italian peplum CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER {1960}!) or Nefertiti (which, apart from the more famous THE TEN COMMANDMENTS {1956; also featuring Paget}, Jeanne Crain – herself a former Fox star – tackled in another low-brow Italian production, QUEEN OF THE NILE {1961}, that I recently acquired and may very well check out either now or next month, when I intend to give tribute to another actor from that film, i.e. the great Vincent Price, on the 100th anniversary of his birth)!
However, here we have Egypt in the throes of war with the Arab country of Bagdad(!), whose citizens include heir to the throne Jeffrey Hunter and rebel leader Michael Rennie – in this respect, the mish-mash of costumes is almost as incongruous as that in Universal's own YANKEE PASHA (yet another film emanating from this same year)!
Even so, due to time constraints, I have had to discard all the other unwatched Arabian Nights romps at my disposal and concentrate on more historically or thematically relevant fare.Anyway, the compact result (running just 71 minutes!) is colorful (though the muddy print I acquired left much to be desired!) light entertainment bordering on camp, what with Paget's Princess Shalimar doubling as a sultry dancer at a cabaret (years before Luis Bunuel dealt, altogether more subtly, with a similar if not identical ruse in BELLE DE JOUR {1967}!) – conveniently, the river Nile connects this haunt to the Palace itself!
– though her intention is actually to gauge the people's opinion of her father's reign and uncover any possible conspiracies being hatched (yet Rennie does not recognize her immediately, while he and Hunter fall out over her 'earthy' charms)!
– is fomenting trouble between the two countries (even if the killing of Hunter's aide is actually witnessed by Paget!), then offering himself as the Princess' suitor in order to bring them back together again!
She and Hunter eventually fall in love (after the heroine has stabbed him in their first scene together!); the whole culminates in a clash between the two factions within the Palace walls, in which Rennie gets his come-uppance by being effectively impaled (in silhouette) inside a tent on a lance he had himself previously thrown to get at the hidden Paget!
The supporting cast features gullible potentates, giggling handmaidens, comic relief acolytesand Jack Elam as an Egyptian outlaw (by the way, the IMDb also lists Lee Van Cleef putting in an appearance here but I failed to recognize him!)..
Exciting adventure highlighted by the amazing Debra Paget.
This is the movie that made Debra Paget a superstar, and rarely has an actress dominated a film so completely as Ms. Paget does this one.
From the moment she is first revealed--practicing an exotic dance, no less--to the the last scene of the film, Paget remains the apple of the camera's eye.
Whether dancing seductively before spellbound soldiers, bargaining with duplicitous courtiers, or swinging a scimitar in defense of her people, Paget brings the film's eponymous character to life with a cinematic charisma that is never less than spellbinding.But while the film is generally remembered as a showcase for Paget's incredible charms, it is in fact a fine all-round action/adventure movie.
The script and direction are fine and the several action scenes are exciting, with quite a bit of effective humor thrown in for good measure.
Jeffrey Hunter and Michael Rennie are effective as the story's hero and villain, respectively, and their rivalry builds to a suitable conclusion.
An excellent adventure from the days of classic Hollywood, Princess of the Nile is as enchanting as it is exciting and a colorful showcase for the wonderful talents of Debra Paget..
Basic plot: Set in 13th Century Egypt, Princess Shalimar (Debra Paget) wishes to see the band of Bedouin conquerors, led by the ruthless Rama Kahn (Michael Rennie), ousted from her city.
While disguised as dancing girl Taura, Shalimar sees an opportunity when Prince Haidi (Jeffrey Hunter), son of the Caliph of Bagdad, pays a visit.
Shalimar, Haidi, and a band of thieves form an alliance to fight back against the tyranny of Rama Kahn.Princess of the Nile is 100% Grade-A Saturday matinée popcorn fun.
Instead, you'll find sword fights, secret passages, dancing girls, intrigue, a young Jack Elam, a young Lee Van Cleef, and a lot of other hokum that all add up to a good time.
At 71 minutes, the movie is quick-paced and never drags.
And to top it all off, Princess of the Nile is in glorious Technicolor.
Hunter is equally good as Prince Haidi.
Paired with Paget, there's not a more beautiful couple.
And, then there's Debra Paget.
WOW!Overall, Princess of the Nile is a winner with me.
Please don't ask me to watch it again.......although the sets (from earlier movies) were supposed to give the intention it was a high-budget film, the studio just used some folk they had doing nothing to produce this hilariously stupid film.
Harmen Jones most likely kicked himself in the rear-end every day after filming was finished, or laughed all the way to the bank - IF he were paid !
Writers Drayson and Adams surely had to be two sissies trying to out-do one another with their plots, and most likely had to stuff towels in their mouths to keep from laughing out loud.Ms. Paget ("Shalimar," what an original name !) was lovely and danced her wigglies with mucho aplomb, looking good.
Double-handsome Jeffrey Hunter ("Prince Haidi") should have taken a good look in the mirror to see that his hair-cut was terribly modern and did not budge at any point, no matter how active he was.The cinematography was wonderfully colorful - I just hooted every time the "handmaidens" stood-around in their contemporary wigs and makeup....
That was the best laugh (for me) through the whole movie.
TCM should have warned us they were about to present a saga-turned-comedy.I tried very hard to believe Michael Rennie ("Rama Kahn") really was a sinister beduoin lusting after the cold-natured Paget........maybe he should have tried for Hunter.
Those Beduoins are versatile......"The Princess of the Nile" should give you a good boost, if you're down.
You'd have to research this film before viewing to realize that this isn't a film about a Pharaoh's daughter set in ancient Egypt, but some 2000 after the great kings ruled the greatest civilization of biblical times.
Starring Debra Paget, this then is 2000 years after her "Ten Commandments" slave girl caught the attention of master builder Vincent Price.
By 1200, the approximate year this is set in, there really was no Egypt like we know it from ancient times or the re-established country that exists today.
Nevertheless, Paget is a princess of a small Nile country whose homeland is threatened by barbaric invaders and with the help of a handsome prince from Bagdad (Jeffrey Hunter) strives to fight off her enemies.At just over 70 minutes, this is perhaps the shortest film of this genre, produced in lush Technicolor, overloaded with native girl dances and sword fights, and a pretty memorable villain (Michael Rennie).
Unfortunately, it's still rather second rate, rushed out with not much thought to story or substance, and thus simply just another standard sword and sandal adventure that audiences expected to get from Universal, not the Cinemascope inventing 20th Century Fox which produced "The Egyptian" and a few other classic biblical era epics the same year as this.