the robin cook novel coma have already be turn into a pretty successful movie in 1978. a couple of year later it be the turn of another robin cook bestseller to get the big screen treatment and but in the case of sphinx virtually everything that could go wrong do go wrong . this be a dreadful adventure flick consisting of wooden performance and stupid dialogue and unconvincing character and leaden pacing . the only reason it escape a negative rating be that the egyptian backdrop provide infinitely more fascination than the story itself . hard to believe franklin j. schaffner ( of patton and planet of the ape ) be the director behind this debacle . pretty egyptologist erica baron ( lesley anne down ) be on a working vacation in cairo when she stumble across the shop of antique dealer abdu hamdi ( john gielgud ) . hamdi befriends erica and be impress by her enthusiasm and knowledge . consequently and he show her a beautiful and incredibly rare statue of pharoah seti i that he be keep secretly in his shop . the very existence of the statue arouse intense excitement in erica and for it could provide vital clue in locate seti i long lose tomb and a prize as great a the discovery of tutankhamun tomb in 1922. before hamdi can tell erica any more he be brutally murder in his shop and with erica watch in silent terror a he meet his grisly end . afraid yet tantalise by what she have see and erica attempt to track down the treasure . she find herself help and hinder in her quest by various other party and none of whom be truly trustworthy . for one there be yvon ( maurice ronet ) and seemingly a friend but perhaps a man with sinister ulterior motif . then there be akmed khazzan ( frank langella ) and an egyptian for whom erica feel a certain attraction but who may also be hide dangerous secret from her . the big problem with sphinx generally result from it total disregard for plausibility . down couldn not be less convincing a a female egyptologist one assume she would be quite well educate and resourceful and yet she spend the entire film scream helplessly like some busty bimbo from a teen slasher flick . on those rare occasion that she actually isn not run from a potential villain and she do other brainless thing such a take polaroid flash photo in a 4 and 000 year old tomb . the plot twist be heavy hand to say the least and mainly comprising of revelation and double cross that can be predict well in advance . one can not even try to enjoy the film on the level of dumb but entertaining action fare and because the pacing be awfully sluggish . what little action can be find be separate by long stretch of tedium . a famous review of the movie declare represent sphinx stink . never before have a 2 hour film be so aptly sum up in 2 word .