Solomon and Sheba (1959)

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 | Israel | Pharaoh | Tribe | Queen Of Sheba

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)

Also Known As:

Salomón y la reina de Saba (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Salomon und die Königin von Saba (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Salomão E a Raínha de Saba (Portugal) [pt]
Salomão E a Rainha de Sabá (Brazil) [pt]
Salomo ja Saban kuningatar (Finland) [fi]
Salomo och drottningen av Saba (Sweden) [sv]
Salomon et la reine de Saba (France) [fr]
Salomon og dronningen af Saba (Denmark) [da]
Salomone e la regina di Saba (Italy) [it]

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 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:

Factual errors: The temple was never destroyed by lightning.

Quotes:

Pharaoh: And how will you destroy Solomon?
Sheba: It is said that Solomon is wise. But no matter how wise he may be, he is still human, with a human weakness.
Pharaoh: Surely the way of a woman is beyond understanding.
Sheba: The way of a woman is simple, my lord. It is always to follow the way of a man.

Movie Connections:

Version of Haring Solomon at Reyna Sheba (1952)

Standard Aiming to Poor

"Solomon and Sheba" was the kind of film that you just had to go and see back in the late 50's when I was a kid: a biblical epic spectacular with well known performers, unusual costumes, lots of extras and battle sequences. So I went to see it; but I remember that back then "Solomon and Sheba" didn't impress me at all, which was a strange thing since I had enjoyed a lot "The Ten Commandments", "Quo Vadis", "Helen of Troy" and others. The point is that when you are a kid you disregard things in pictures that adults don't (bad acting, for instance) and you are easier to please with warriors in their armors, battles, sword duels and action, so if your'e not impressed then something is wrong with a product of this genre.

This film, though it has some of such features, is definitely standard and average. Yul Brynner's wooden performance as the Hebrew king doesn't even light when he has voluptuous and half naked Gina Lollobrigida dancing around him provocatively. She is better and renders an acceptable acting. George Sanders doesn't look interested in what he is doing, and Marisa Pavan (Pier Angeli's twin sister) doesn't add at all as a sort of Brynner's conscience.

The final sword duel between Brynner and Sanders is just for the plot and lacks interest and intensity (it had to filmed, that's all).

Not a good farewell for director King Vidor, Solomon and Sheba will probably be remembered as Ty Power's last unfinished picture.