Even an old pro like Casablanca director Michael Curtiz has difficulty in jollying up this solemn, overlong historical epic about the search for God in ancient Egypt. Casting the dishy but wooden Edmund Purdom in the leading role of Sinuhe doesn't help matters, and neither does hunky Victor Mature as Horemheb. At least Jean Simmons (fresh from marytrdom in The Robe) and Peter Ustinov seem to take things with a huge pinch of salt. The excellent music is a singular collaboration between Alfred Newman and Bernard Herrmann, while Leon Shamroy's colour CinemaScope photography was nominated for an Oscar. The less said about the script the better.

In eighteenth-dynasty Egypt, Sinuhe, a poor orphan, becomes a brilliant physician and with his friend Horemheb is appointed to the service of the new Pharoah. Sinuhe's personal triumphs and tragedies are played against the larger canvas of the turbulent events of the 18th dynasty. As Sinuhe is drawn into court intrigues he learns the answers to the questions he has sought since his birth.