The Pharaoh’s Court

The Pharaoh’s Court

1944. Mexico. Directed by Julio Bracho. Remotely based on a famous Spanish zarzuela of 1910, this lavish, daring sex comedy was filmed on a gigantic art deco set that suggests ancient Egypt repurposed for an Astaire and Rogers musical. The Pharaoh, played here as a henpecked husband by the popular comedian Roberto Soto, seeks a virginal slave girl as a bride for his general Potiphar (Fernando Cortés), but Potiphar is impotent and the slave girl (played by Mapy Cortés in a swirl of high-spirited sexuality) has some ideas of her own. In Spanish; English subtitles. 90 min.