Salome (1953)
1h 43m | PG-13
In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias. The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a prophecy. Enter beautiful Princess Salome, Herod's long-absent stepdaughter. Herodias sees the king's dawning lust for Salome as her means of bending the king to her will. But Salome and her lover Claudius are (contrary to Scripture) nearing conversion to the new religion. And the famous climactic dance turns out to have unexpected implications...
Director: William Dieterle
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Genre: Drama, Romance
Video: 720p
Cast
Rita Hayworth
as Princess Salome
Charles Laughton
as King Herod
Stewart Granger
as Commander Claudius
Judith Anderson
as Queen Herodias
Alan Badel
as John the Baptist
Cedric Hardwicke
as Tiberius Caesar
Reviews
This is one of those films that just doesn't ever quite spark - despite a cast that ought to have delivered an epic. Charles Laughton and Judith Anderson gel well as the rulers of Judea under Roman occupation. When her daughter (Rita Hayworth) returns home, she starts to use her feminine wiles on her stepfather to force him to face his fears and deal with the errant John the Baptist (Alan Bedel) as well as on garrison commander Stewart Granger ("Capt. Claudius"). It's not especially faithful to the original biblical text, but that doesn't really matter- it's still a colourful historical romp that culminates in the now infamous "Dance of the Seven Veils". Granger is not really on to form here, his part is somewhat stifled by a rather dry dialogue and lots of scenes with a really wooden Basil Sydney (Pontius Pilate) and Badel just hams it up with his theatrical performance as the prophet. Still worth watching, though - just not anywhere near as good as it ought to have been.