Yul Brynner stars as the legendary figure of the Bible in King Vidor's only contribution to this popular 1950s genre. When aged King David (Finlay Currie) has a vision from God telling him that Solomon should succeed him as ruler of the Israelites, David heeds His word. This angers his martial brother, Adonijah (George Sanders),.. Read more
| Starring | Yul Brynner, Gina Lollobrigida, George Sanders, David Farrar |
|---|---|
| Director | King Vidor |
| Genres | Drama |
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Yul Brynner stars as the legendary figure of the Bible in King Vidor's only contribution to this popular 1950s genre. When aged King David (Finlay Currie) has a vision from God telling him that Solomon should succeed him as ruler of the Israelites, David heeds His word. This angers his martial brother, Adonijah (George Sanders), who threatens to wrest the throne from his younger brother. Israel thrives under the reign of the wise king, and its success creates uneasiness among the powerful kingdoms of the region. The pharaoh conspires with Sheba (Gina Lollobrigida), granting her access to the Red Sea that she might beseige Solomon with her charm, thereby luring the ruler to his doom. Solomon is dazzled by the queen's beauty and quickly falls under her sway. As the king's attention is turned away from the Lord and the welfare of his people, the country begins to deteriorate. The Lord finally expresses his displeasure with the prevailing atmosphere of licentiousness by destroying the Temple of Jehovah. The chastened Solomon grasps the error of his ways, and a transformed Sheba decides to convert to Judaism. SOLOMON AND SHEBA is the great director's final film, and while it might not be up to the standard he set with DUEL IN THE SUN, THE BIG PARADE, and THE CHAMP, it has an undeniably entertaining camp value that makes it worth watching.
| Starring | Yul Brynner, Gina Lollobrigida, George Sanders, David Farrar |
|---|---|
| Director | King Vidor |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 15 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 02 Feb 2004 Production year: 1959 |
| Format | DVD |
A historically dodgy and generally stodgy epic, in which a black-wigged Yul Brynner courts scantily clad Gina Lollobrigida in days of biblical yore. While Ben-Hur, Barabbas and El Cid show how good epics can be, Solomon and Sheba has all the weaknesses of the genre, notably a script brimming with non sequiturs and inane Americanisms. Despite some eye-catching designs and photography by Freddie Young (who later shot Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Ryan's Daughter for David Lean, winning Oscars for all three), the picture was probably doomed when the original star, Tyrone Power, died on the set. That disaster, together with a critical drubbing and poor audiences, caused the director, King Vidor, to abandon the movie business for good.
The Bible's sultriest couple, bar Samson and Delilah, deserve better than this empty Super Technirama epic. There's so... read more on Time Out
Me and my wife really enjoyed this film what we really liked was the use of God's name Jehovah which in many bible based films is replaced with lord.