Solomon and Sheba (1959)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

King Vidor

Writers:

Crane Wilbur (story)
Anthony Veiller (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 December 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Behold! The love story of the ages!

Plot:

Shortly before his death in ancient Israel King David has a vision from God telling him that his younger son Solomon should succeed him as king...

Plot Keywords:

King | Tribe | God | Love | King David

Cast

Yul Brynner	...	Solomon
Gina Lollobrigida	...	Sheba
George Sanders	...	Adonijah
Marisa Pavan	...	Abishag
David Farrar	...	Pharaoh
John Crawford	...	Joab
Finlay Currie	...	David
Harry Andrews	...	Baltor
José Nieto	...	Ahab (as Jose Nieto)
Maruchi Fresno	...	Bathsheba
William Devlin	...	Nathan
Jack Gwillim	...	Josiah
Jean Anderson	...	Takyan
Laurence Naismith	...	Hezrai (as Lawrence Naismith)
Julio Peña	...	Zadok (as Julio Pena)

Runtime:

139 min | 141 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

UK:PG | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Edward Small Productions

Trivia:

Co-producer/star 'Tyrone Power (I)' had completed shooting more than half of the film when he collapsed during a duelling scene with George Sanders and died a few minutes later. Power was replaced in the role of Solomon by Yul Brynner, who refilmed all of Power's scenes. Power, however, is still visible in the film in long shots.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When we first see Sheba, she is feeding a macaw. They are native to Brazil, not Egypt.

Quotes:

Adonijah: You and your Sheban slut have defiled the fair name of Israel.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Death Scenes 2 (1992) (V)

Kind Vidor's last movie is worth a look.

A heavy budget, a star that died with 75% of the movie completed. Recipe for disaster right, not in this case as Yul Brynner, the "great bald one" as he was known , except with hair here makes a convincing Solomon and Vidor scores in his direction. This movie sets itself up from the beginning as the story of two brothers and a case for redemption for that is what this movie is about. Solomon as everyone, Christian or not knows was wise as the common adage states. He inherited the Kingdom of Israel from his father as chosen by God to replace his older brother, the warrior played by the great supporting and sometimes leading man George Sanders in one his nefarious performances. Solomon prays for wisdom which God grants him and Israel prospers. Neighbors become jealous and scared as a redeemed Sanders courtesy of Brynner builds Israel's army to a sizable number. They also fear their teachings of equality to all men and their notion of One God. Sheba is sent or chooses to tempt Solomon with riveting consequences. The problem with these movies in our modern eyes is that the writers have them talk in the way texts and related scriblings depicted dialogue back then which is as poetry with innuendoes and rhyme. This today is often seen as camp, such the case of recent Swords and Sandals like Gladiator avoiding these dialogue. The movie also bears a certain resemblance to De Mille's classic Samson and Delilah which kickstarted the whole genre. That said, a "Shield of light" action sequence is worth a look to see how it was staged and shot. Gina Lollobrigida is absolutely stunningly photographed and the performance is quite good. All in the one, one of the master's last can be your first intro into his ouevre.