ThiefHott Too much of everything

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Iseerphia All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

tomsview "Salome" features two stars I can enjoy in just about anything - Rita Hayworth and Charles Laughton. In this version of the Biblical tale, Rita Hayworth's Salome is not as wanton as she appears in the New Testament, she's had a history, but now she is trying to sort herself out.She is the daughter of Queen Herodias (Judith Anderson) and the stepdaughter of King Herod (Charles Laughton) ruler of Judea. We learn that her mother sent her to Rome as a young girl to avoid being monstered by her step-dad who is a total lech. When she's kicked out of Rome in a very un-PC fashion because she is not Roman, she heads home.On the way she meets Claudius (Stewart Granger), a Roman officer who is accompanying Pontius Pilate on his fateful mission to Judea. When Salome arrives at the palace, Herod is all over her. Rita Hayworth looks stunning in this film dressed to ancient red carpet perfection in every scene by Jean Louis. Interestingly, Charles Laughton gives a fairly restrained performance - for the most part anyway.At the same time, Herod and Herodias are receiving plenty of flack from John the Baptist who denounces them as adulterers while also heralding the imminent arrival of the Messiah. However, Herodias has had enough of her bad press and wants John terminated with extreme prejudice, but Herod only wants him imprisoned - Herod has been warned by his adviser, Ezra, that he risks divine punishment if he hurts John. Ezra is played by Maurice Schwartz who often appeared in pious roles - with a look that suggested his haemorrhoids were giving him hell.Eventually, through a quick rewrite of history, in order to save John, Salome does the Dance of the Seven Veils (she sheds about five, this was the 1950's after all), but is instead rewarded with his head on a plate; an impressive effect decades before CGI.By this time Salome realises that Claudius is a follower of John and feels that the holy man's teachings also offer her a chance for inner peace. In the final scene they join the throngs listening to Jesus give the Sermon on the Mount. This is a startling scene mainly because you can tell most of the crowd is painted.The film has a rather stagey look, but it's colourful, and what it lacks in scope it makes up for with plenty of dancing for Herod's pleasure. However there are some fairly literate passages, especially around Herod's relationship with John the Baptist.Students of history or the Bible will no doubt have apoplexy over some of the liberties taken, but "Salome" delivers everything that was promised in its colourful poster - which also served as a bit of a warning depending on your point of view.

writers_reign Had the director credit read Ed Wood and not, as it does, William Dieterle, I would have thought it one of Wood's worst efforts. How anyone involved would want to include this debacle on their CV is beyond me. In its favour we do get some film buffs treasures; Basil Sydney, looking as though he wandered onto the wrong soundstage while shooting Hamlet and wondering why he is suddenly in the wrong costume; Cedric Hardwicke, slightly aloof and apart, as if he is being filmed against the blue background that wasn't available at the time; a pair of gorgeous hams in Charles Laughton and Judith Anderson, chewing not only the scenery on their own set but also that on adjacent sound stages, and, of course, Stewart Granger, supercilious as ever, barely managing to conceal his built-in arrogance. This leaves Rita, alone, isolated, getting no help whatsoever from the rest of the cast, still managing to shine and glow in a meaningless cause.

emswan2004 While this film does vary from the biblical storyline, it's worth watching for Rita alone. She's a vision in all her scenes and very good in her part, culminating in her 'Dance of the Seven Veils', which is a treasure. {I only wish it wasn't montaged with the death of the Baptist.} Rita never looked lovelier than she does here and her Jean Louis costumes are all drop-dead gorgeous. Stewart Granger is pretty good, better than usual, he and Rita having good chemistry here. It's well cast, with actors Charles Laughton and Dame Judith Anderson both excellent as King Herod and Queen Herodias. Arnold Moss is slithering as the evil adviser to Queen Herodias, though Alan Badel as John the Baptist seems more like a wild-eyed madman than a holy prophet. Though there are some filler segments that are not up to the rest of the film, still I think it's excellent entertainment.

Elswet Chocked full of biblical inaccuracies, this fun free for all lasts for hours and hours. People complain that films are too long today, but those who do the complaining obviously have no idea that these older films even exist. Guess they also never heard of Gone with the Wind or To Kill a Mockingbird, either. LOLAnyway, Rita Hayworth is beautiful in her part as Salome. She's quite possibly the most beautiful Salome ever, though the ambiguity of her character herein is a bit annoying, and the direction taken by this version of the biblical story is a bit odd, but the overall production is fun, nonetheless, though entirely frivolous.All in all? It's entertaining and historically accurate, if not biblically so, which is so often the case.It rates a 7.3/10 from......the Fiend :.