Salome (1953)

Director: William Dieterle

Writers: Harry Kleiner, Jesse Lasky Jr.

Composer: George Duning

Starring: Rita Hayworth, Stewart Granger, Charles Laughton, Judith Anderson, Cedric Hardwicke, Basil Sydney, Maurice Schwartz, Arnold Moss, Alan Badel

More info: IMDb

Plot: After her banishment from Rome, Jewish Princess Salome returns to her Roman-ruled native land of Galilee, where prophet John the Baptist preaches against Salome's parents, King Herod and Queen Herodias.

My rating:  5.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Nope.

Watching these cheesy religious epics is a mixed bag.  On one hand, you've got the beautiful costumes, lavish set dressing, big musical score and usually with a large cast loaded with big time Hollywood stars.  On the other hand, they're loaded with religious propaganda that'll make your eyes roll right out of sockets.  This non-believer watches them for the Ancient Roman spectacle and the cast and this one's at least got a decent cast.  I'll watch anything Charles Laughton did and this qualifies.  And I've been a fan of Stewart Granger since seeing him in SCARAMOUCHE (1952), one of my all time favorites.  I've seen very little of Rita Hayworth's catalog but I like what I've seen.  This flick is OK at best but it suffers from the hit-you-on-the-head propaganda that these pictures are loaded with.  What's more, nearly the entire film is shot on indoor sets.  That gets old and quick.  They're nice sets and well-lit and decorated but they're sets nonetheless and it's obvious that almost whenever they're supposed to be outdoors, they're on a soundstage; fake rocks abound!  Over-the-top melodrama abound!

Charles Laughton is mentally eye-fucking a woman, his step-daughter no less!  

Now THAT'S acting!

Give this mall all the awards!

 

I wasn't into it much until the final act when Princess Salome's (Hayworth) mother (Queen Herodias played by Judith Anderson) offers her up to  King Herod (with Charles Laughton having a good time hamming it up)!  Herodias wants John the Baptist dead for slandering her name so she convinces Salome to dance at Herod's birthday party.  It's already been established that Herod has the hots for Salome but he doesn't want John harmed.  Once Salome's dance begins, Herodias tells Herod he can have her for the price of John's head.  Herod wants a piece of that pie and quickly motions to make it happen.  FUCKING NICE!!!!!  This got dark pretty fucking fast, but then there's only a few scant minutes left and of course they have to throw in some Jesus-y bits to close out the film.  Does Herod get his pie and eat it, too?  Nope.  So, I guess you could say it ends on a down note.

I'm listening...

And one more thing, this is the movie debut of Alan Badel, playing John the Baptist.  He must come from the bug eyes school of acting...

...because he does that thing for most of his screen time.  But the payoff in the end is great!

 

 

Sorry about that bug eyes thing.