{"id":16678,"date":"2017-10-06T11:10:48","date_gmt":"2017-10-06T15:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=16678"},"modified":"2017-10-06T11:10:48","modified_gmt":"2017-10-06T15:10:48","slug":"dvd-tutankhamun-the-mummy-of-tutankhamun-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=16678","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Tutankhamun \/ The Mummy of Tutankhamun (2016)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Film<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Very Good<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: n\/a<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong> ITV<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a01 (NTSC)<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 June 6, 2017<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Drama \/ Romance \/ Archeology\/ Ancient Egypt<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0Romanticized account of Howard Carter’s discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, still regarded as one of the best preserved and most intact royal tombs from ancient Egypt.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0 (none)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps put into production to beat Tom Cruise\u2019s The Mummy<\/strong><\/a> production by a year, this 4-part ITV mini-series was foolishly rebranded as The Mummy of Tutankhamun<\/strong> for North American home video, confusing DVD buyers who caught the series on TV.<\/p>\n

Guy Burt\u2019s teleplays blends a mix of fact and fanciful fiction in recounting the momentous discovery of King Tut\u2019s tomb in 1922, still regarded as the best preserved and most intact ancient Egyptian tomb. Max Irons plays famed Egyptologist Howard Carter<\/a>, hired by patron Lord Carnavon<\/a> (Sam Neill) to search for hidden treasures in the Valley of the Kings<\/a>. While other patrons declared the valley dry of any further riches, Carter insisted King Tut\u2019s tomb lay buried in the central valley, but it took heavy pressure to convince Carnavon to sponsor one final season, and allow free reign to choose the new dig site.<\/p>\n

When that first stone step leading into a buried chamber was found, the excavation yielded further details that suggested Tut\u2019s treasure had never been disturbed. What transpired after the momentous discovery was a media frenzy: Carter wanted privacy for his team to dig in peace; reporters invented scurrilous reports to attract readers when Carter refused any media scrum; and the Egyptian antiquities ministry rewrote laws to ensure 100% ownership of all newly discovered royal tombs remained with the Egyptian people.<\/p>\n

This tug-of-war is dramatized in the series\u2019 final two episodes, more than touching upon the long-standing tradition of European colonial powers acquiring the ancient cultural heritage of other nations and carting them back for domestic museum galleries. Carter\u2019s riposte to gov\u2019t rep Pierre Lacau<\/a> (Nicolas Beaucaire) is \u2018You\u2019ve had 3000 years to find and exploit your treasures,\u2019 but Lacau\u2019s name dropping of the Elgin Marbles<\/a> from Greece\u2019s Parthenon silences further jabs. Historically, the pair apparently maintained a strong dislike for each other, but Burt\u2019s script also dramatizes Carter\u2019s initially inability to deal with the media, and his clever deal to grant exclusives to one paper in exchange for further digging funds.<\/p>\n

The production design is first-rate, with exceptional detail to costumes, cars, and Tut\u2019s artifacts, which recall the key items that toured the world<\/a> from 1972-1981, and more recently from 2004-2011. David Raedeker\u2019s cinematography is lovely, filling the screen with shades of amber and red, and Christian Henson\u2019s score features strong central themes and enough variations to ensure no theme is heavily repeated. There\u2019s also great understatement in the pivotal scenes where Carter, Carnavon, and daughter Evelyn<\/a> (Amy Wren) enter the sealed chamber and witness the \u2018wonder\u2019 before the official media reveal days later. Henson nails the anticipation and brimming excitement of Carter\u2019s first look through a hole with a candle, and director Peter Webber eases the teleplay\u2019s pacing to ensure the mystique and wonder of each archeological milestone aren\u2019t rushed or treated in a perfunctory manner.<\/p>\n

Tutankhamun doesn\u2019t aim to be an action mini-series \u2013 it\u2019s a balance of history, politics, wonder, and romance \u2013 but fans of ancient Egypt will appreciate the detail and care given towards the 15 year odyssey of Carter and the Carnavons. As for the romances, well, that\u2019s where the teleplay becomes very predicable.<\/p>\n

The romances between Carter and likely fictional American archeologist Maggie Lewis (Catherine Steadman) is too neat; she exists to maintain Carter as a determined but more nerdy Indiana Jones archetype; handsome, but also emotional and prone to facial twitches when he\u2019s feeling vulnerable.<\/p>\n

Maggie\u2019s also a faux foil for the teleplay\u2019s second contrived romantic liaison Carter begins with Evelyn. The lovers are forced to keep their snogging secret because daddy would disapprove and ban any further contact and communication. All these sillies play out near the end, and the dialogue that has Evelyn convincing her father to re-hire Carter is clich\u00e9d and feels utterly bogus.<\/p>\n

None of the British cast members manage to maintain reliable American accents, but the solidity of their performances manages to soften the melodrama and stark clich\u00e9s. Tutankhamun<\/strong> doesn\u2019t feel like a definitive chronology of a remarkable event in archeological history , but as a heavily mannered British mini-series where all ends well for all parties, it\u2019s good historical drama that doesn\u2019t belittle the importance of the key players in Tutankhamun\u2019s rebirth as Egypt\u2019s most famous human icon.<\/p>\n

ITV\u2019s DVD offers all 4 episodes on 1 DVD, and although that\u2019s a tight 3 hours of content, the compression is unable to hide the adequate PAL to NTSC transfer. Pity the teleplay isn\u2019t available on Blu-ray \u2013 the production would shine in HD, as would Henson\u2019s score. The 5.1 sound mix is very subtle, with music and slight reverb of crowds being the most overt times the rear surrounds become active.<\/p>\n

\"\"As mentioned at the onset, the Region 1 DVD sports a different title with \u201cMummy\u201d in bold caps, and a mass of flying birds, distressed characters, and a transforming mummy over a fiery backdrop \u2013 all bullshit, as the teleplay\u2019s neither packed with Indiana Jones heroism, mystique, nor Agatha Christie mystery. The British Region 2 cover, however, is no better, sporting that generic cast cover where the actors are either wearing neutral masks, gazing at us with utter disgust (typical of crime series), or in this case, a moment of awkward discovery, typical of more comedic series like Doc Martin<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Also seemingly designed to cash-in on Cruise\u2019s Mummy<\/strong> film is the simple-titled Tut<\/strong> (2015), which aired on the U.S. cable network Spike.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2017 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a> —\u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a>
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\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

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