Episode 12: King Tut Tour Documentaries – How Do They Rate?

Ii-wey! Last Saturday, I made a return visit to the California Science Center in Los Angeles to see the King Tut exhibit for a second time. This time, I watched the IMAX film, Mysteries of Egypt (1998, Bruce Neibaur) being billed as part of the exhibit experience, which starred Omar Sharif and Kate Maberly as grandfather and granddaughter respectively. While I was thoroughly enchanted by the visuals and the flood of memories from my own trip to Egypt many years ago, when the lights came up, I was left wondering why a 20-year-old movie was offered alongside the King Tut tour that touted several new, never-been-out-of-Egypt-before artifacts? And, especially in light of the scientific insights made since 1998?

There are a few problems with Mysteries of Egypt. First, the hook: the granddaughter is sitting with her grandfather in a Cairo café and all she wants to know about is the mummy’s curse. Of all things about ancient and modern Egypt, it was the curse that sparked a lengthy discussion about the Nile, the Pyramids, the Valley of the Kings, Karnak, and a number of locales presented in a visual travelogue. Regrettably, the dialogue was passé and superficial in its presentation about the complexities of the ancient civilization. For example, while some of the workforce on the pyramids may have included farmers, the idea that they were happy to be working towards a united, awe-inspiring seventh wonder of the world is hard to believe. 

Secondly, a technical problem with the film that I originally thought was just an occurrence during my viewing, was the radical escalation of the volume part way through the film. If anything, I thought the softer tone helped build the intimacy of the grandfather-granddaughter relationship as well as the relationship with the audience. Sadly, the sound disruption was jarring and actually came after the thunderous images of the tributary rivers, White and Blue Nile, as they converge at Khartoum! 

Lastly, one of the lasting impressions that attendees take away from the King Tut exhibit is Carter’s relationship to Tutankhamun and his role in reintroducing a modern world to a young ruler of the ancient world – a shared legacy. This should have also been a theme of the film, but it feels like it was a missed opportunity to more directly support the exhibit as well as present audiences to the new home for Tutankhamun’s tomb belongings – over 5,000 artifacts – on display at the GEM (Grand Egyptian Museum being completed on the Giza plateau near the Pyramids). 

As a comparison, I went back in the vault at Archive.org and found the Orson Welles’ narrated Tut: The Boy King (1978, Sidney Smith). In this Peabody Award documentary, Welles spotlights a number of the 55 artifacts that were part of the Tutankhamun exhibit that toured the U.S. during the late 1970s. Welles’ distinctive and memorable voice spins a poetic narrative that dramatizes the life of Tutankhamun, who ruled for a short ten years between the ages of nine and nineteen. Although the mummy’s curse is touched on, the focus is on the artifacts and their place in Tutankhamun’s life. For instance, with the two-handled white alabaster cup (a chalice known as the “Wishing Cup”) showcased in both tours, Welles reads the inscription and mediates its meaning for the audience. It’s not the only time he does this. The beautiful cartouche-shaped chest provides Welles the opportunity to explain how to read Tutankhamun’s name in hieroglyphs or that amongst the jewelry buried with Tutankhamun, there are earrings that provide examples of early clear glass work. 

The 50-minute documentary does show its age. The soundtrack is dreadful and dated – sorry Robert Maxwell (music score composer). Putting the grating minimalist musical interludes aside, Welles’ mentions that the gilded shrine on a sledge is missing the statue of Tutankhamun. This is based on the stand within the shrine which denotes footprint indents, thereby giving the impression that a statue should be there. However, in listening to the audio accompaniment during the tour, new understand of ancient Egyptian mythology leads to the speculation that a statue wasn’t actually made for the one-foot tall shrine. 

Welles also talks about Tutankhamun’s reign as part of the “new empire” which was a bit confusing. He substantiates this through the artistic expression and sense of freedom in the art and images of life portrayed on the artifacts. Tutankhamun’s reign was during the 18^thDynasty and comes on the heels of Akhenaten’s heretical monotheistic rule from Amarna, rather than Thebes, so this freedom could have been the residual influence of Akhenaten’s distinctive art style or the resurgence of traditional religious customs of Aten when the pharaonic reign returned to Thebes with Tutankhamun’s ascension to the throne.

In the documentary, Welles mentions the misleading “brother-sister” terms between Pharaoh Tutankhamun and his wife Ankhesenamun as terms of endearment between the lovers, whose tenderness for each other can be witnessed on some of the engraved artifacts. With the intense attention on the mummies found in KV55 (the 55^thtomb found in the Valley of the Kings) and analysis of the DNA testing comparisons in the past ten years has almost certainly confirmed Tutankhamun is the son of Akhenaten. Tutankhamun’s mother is hypothesized to be one of Akhenaten’s five sisters. Since Ankhesenamun is the daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun are half-siblings, and the marriage between siblings was a tradition amongst the royal families. And, as to the demise of Tutankhamun, Welles speculates it could have been accidental or perhaps deliberate. Today, the majority lean towards his death being accidental or a result of an illness, such as malaria. 

While the visuals are gorgeous in Mysteries of Egypt and it stars Sharif, the earlier Tut, The Boy King documentary is more directly engaged with the artifacts while mediating Tutankhamen’s life. Welles’ voice and dramatic yet poetic touch result in an educational documentary that is entertaining but balanced with thoughtful, though sometimes dated, insight. If you have seen both films, what are your thoughts? 

You can watch Tut: The Boy King free at Archive.org by clicking here. 

Senebti! 

Images from left to right: Orson Welles on set for Tut: The Boy King (Getty Images) and cover of Mysteries of Egypt DVD (Amazon).