Valley of the Kings (film) Valley of the Kings (film) Valley of the Kings is a 1954 Eastmancolor adventure film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was written and directed by Robert Pirosh from a screenplay by Robert Pirosh and Karl Tunberg, "suggested by historical data" in the book "Gods, Graves and Scholars" by C. W. Ceram. The music was by Miklós Rózsa and the cinematography by Robert Surtees. The title of the film refers to the valley on the west bank of the Nile River in Egypt, where the tombs of the Ancient Egyptian kings are located. The film was based on an original story by
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