Valley of the Kings (film) to Robert Taylor, who had successfully teamed with Parker in "Above and Beyond". Carlos Thompson played the second male lead. Charles Schnee was the supervising producer. MGM bought the rights to the archaeology text "Gods, Graves and Scholars" for "protection purposes", as it contained a chapter titled "Robbers in the Valley of the Kings", which might have been seen as having influenced the film's script. They paid a reported $25,000. Filming started in November 1953. The film was shot on location in Egypt over six weeks in Cairo, Luxor, Faiyum, Suez, the Western Desert and at the Pyramids of Giza.
Exploration of the Valley of the Kings first modern map of the valley itself, in 1743. In 1799, Napoleon's expedition (especially Dominique Vivant) drew maps and plans of the known tombs, and for the first time, noted the Western Valley (where Prosper Jollois and Édouard de Villiers du Terrage located the tomb of Amenhotep III, WV22). The "Description de l'Égypte" contains two volumes (out a total of 24) on the area around Thebes. European exploration continued in the area around Thebes during the 19th century, boosted by Champollion's translation of hieroglyphs early in the century. Early in the century, the area was visited by Belzoni, working for