StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 25 October 1949 by Paramount Pictures Corp. New York release at both the Paramount and Rivoli Theatres, 21 December 1949. U.S. release: 28 March 1951. U.K. release: 26 March 1951. Australian premiere at the Majestic (Adelaide): 21 September 1951. Australian release: 12 October 1951. 127 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Considerable liberties have been taken with the biblical account, principally to whitewash Samson and to introduce Delilah much earlier into the narrative. As a result, many familiar details have been omitted or altered. Samson killing thirty men for their garments is changed to a comic robbery, Samson burning the Philistine fields by tying torches to the tails of three hundred foxes in revenge for his wife being given to another is eliminated. And after Samson slew a legion of Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, twenty years elapsed - during which Samson virtually ruled Israel - before Delilah entered the picture. After betraying him, however, she disappears from the bible narrative and it is most unlikely that she ever saw Samson again.COMMENT: The biblical picture was principally seen by Hollywood as an excuse for spectacle and sex. What censor could dare object to Delilah's sauntering around most seductively in skin-tight shapely garments when this is the very image the Bible itself portrays? And who better to saunter and caper about than the exotic Hedy Lamarr?It must be admitted that Mature looks the part of Samson too. But aside from the urbane George Sanders, the rest of the players are somewhat wanting both in style and appearance and also in acting ability. They are up against some laughably banal dialogue, it is true, and decked out in costumes that are often ridiculously unflattering, no-one could envy them their task. But for stiffness, hamminess or sheer ineptitude, the enormous roster of players assembled here would be hard to beat.The sets too often look phoney and unreal - despite all the money obviously lavished on the production - and the pace is sometimes figetingly slow. De Mille's direction has so little of his customary dash and style that the shot everyone remembers is not the temple crashing down (with its obvious special effects) or even the fight with the lion (obvious doubles for both star and beast are all too evident), but the dolly shot from the ant city to a corner of the Saran's palace!Fortunately, aside from its two stars, Samson and Delilah has two other redeeming assets - George Barnes' lustrous color photography and Victor Young's melodic score. Both artists were nominated for Academy Awards, but incredibly both missed out - Barnes to Robert Surtees' King Solomon's Mines; Young to Franz Waxman's Sunset Boulevard. Special effects were also nominated, but lost to the far more deserving Destination Moon. Even more incredibly Samson and Delilah won Academy Awards for its sets and costumes. Excluding the magnificent creations Hedy Lamarr slinks around in, the costumes are ridiculous. The Philistine helmets are the oddest we've ever seen (couldn't the art department afford feathered plumes?) and even the scruffiest extras and the most poverty-laden villagers are trussed in garments as new and fresh as minted gold.OTHER VIEWS: Took almost two years to reach my city. Presumably Paramount wanted more time to fire publicity guns. But ballyhoo didn't help. The initial engagement (at road-show admission prices) ran a disappointing seven weeks before being replaced by a double bill of Appointment With Danger and The Great Missouri Raid. The reason for this lukewarm boxoffice is not hard to find. The plot is so well-known it has no novelty or suspense, the characters are cardboard cut-outs and their dialogue is as trite and banal as a dime-store romance. Although Sanders is delightfully suave and Lamarr provocatively sensuous, Mature is a thick-lipped Samson and Wilcoxon a wooden Philistine. True, the action scenes are handled with customary De Mille efficiency and the photography is attractively colored (though most of the real Palestinian backgrounds were left on the cutting-room floor) and there's plenty of on-screen evidence of a $3 million budget - but are these enough to justify both a hike in ticket price and 128 minutes of sluggish running-time? - J.H.R. in "The Gang's All Here!"

TxMike This movie came to theaters when I was just a small boy and having seen it several times over the years, watching it again today on the 'Movies!' channel on Easter brought back fond memories of former viewings. It is one of the early epic films shot in color.The story here in the movie is very close to the story in the Bible, the Old Testament Book of Judges chapters 13 through 16. Such as killing a Lion with only his bare hands and defeating an army with just the jawbone of an ass. According to this account Samson was given super strength so that he could fight the Philistines for his people. But a requirement was that he not shave or cut his hair, otherwise he would lose his powers.Often mentioned as a candidate for the title "most beautiful woman in the world", Hedy Lamarr was in the role of Delilah, a woman who schemed to capture Samson for the Israelites in exchange for a large sum of silver. She does this by tricking him into trusting her then having his hair cut.Victor Mature famously plays Samson and it was also fun to see a 20- something Angela Lansbury as Semadar, Samson's wife that was killed before he became attached to Delilah. This is a good telling of the Biblical Samson story and who can ever forget the final scene where Samson dies as he is crushed by the temple he destroys after he had been blinded in captivity but regained his power when his hair grew back.

Wuchak Cecil B. DeMille's "Samson and Delilah" was the most successful film of 1950 and the third highest-grossing picture up to that point. Despite its age and the limitations thereof, it remains a very entertaining film, a melodramatic biblical epic filled with action, drama, romance and intrigue, which isn't to say it doesn't have negative points.The movie excels in the casting department. Victure Mature may have been fearful of many things in real life (like the lions in the film), but he brims with masculine charisma as Samson. As for Delilah, Hedy Lamarr was simply stunning. People who worked on the crew said no man could speak to her when she walked into the break area because they were stunned to silence; they would just watch in awe as her beautiful mouth chewed food, lol. Angela Lansbury has a brief, but significant role as Delilah's older sister. Like me, you probably think of Murder She Wrote when you think of Lansbury—a relatively old and unattractive lady—but this movie will change your image of her because she was a serious cutie back in the day. Secondary roles are also well-cast with Henry Wilcoxon as the formidable Ahtur and George Sanders as the Saran of Gaza with all the requisite royal pomp, although not necessarily unlikable.Memorable scenes abound, like the opening fight with the lion. You can tell on close-ups that it's a lion-tamer and not Mature, but it's still exciting. There are other effective actions scenes, like Samson taking down a thousand Philistine soldiers utilizing a donkey's jawbone and the closing fall of Dagon's temple.While the script is just accurate enough to the biblical account (Judges 13-16), there are blatant deviations. For instance, Delilah wasn't the younger sister of Samson's first non-wife and young Saul, who would become the first king of Israel, is nowhere to be found. Still, I didn't mind the changes because the movie nicely provokes interest in the biblical story to research yourself, even if you're well familiar with it.One significant aspect of Samson's story that was unfortunately omitted is the occasion where Samson visits a prostitute in the city of Gaza whereupon the Philistines surrounded the abode to apprehend him, but Samson escapes taking hold of the doors of the massive city gate and carrying them to the top of a nearby hill (!). They possibly left the prostitute aspect out because DeMille didn't want to paint Samson in an overtly immoral light, which (I presume) DeMille didn't think folks couldn't handle in 1949; and the gates sequence was likely discarded because of the lack of F/X to pull it off.This brings up the perplexing nature of Samson and his story. Although he was a man of great faith, a Nazarite consecrated to the Almighty, and spectacularly used to begin the Israelite's deliverance from the Philistines, the biblical account shows that he forsook God's law in order to marry a Philistine woman, disobeyed his parents, was rash, vindictive and had a serious weakness for the ladies. How could God use Samson so supernaturally, particularly after just visiting a prostitute? The obvious answer is that the LORD used Samson in spite of his moral failings and in no way sanctioned them. God's anointing on a person is not necessarily an indication of a completely godly life. As such, Samson is hailed for his faith in the bible, but not for his righteousness. I think it's great that God refuses to whitewash characters like Samson. The Scriptures share the truth about Samson—the good, the bad and the ugly. And keep in mind an important moral lesson from Samson's account: The mighty man whose downfall had come through the lust of his eyes ultimately had his eyes gouged out by his enemies.Getting back to the movie, due to its colorful Technicolor cinematography "Samson and Delilah" is a delight to watch, but there's sometimes too much melodrama (talk) and certain parts feel seriously padded, like Samson and Delilah in the tent in the second half. The movie runs 131 minutes, but could've easily been cut by 11-15 minutes.The film was shot at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, but also Durango, Mexico; Morocco, Algeria and Alabama Hills, CA.GRADE: B+

dougdoepke It's hard not to mock this comic book version of the Bible's Book of Judges. However, if you can put up with the non-stop palaver, exterior sets and spotty acting, there is a big payoff at the end. That's when the heathens' temple of Dagon collapses in grand fashion thanks to Samson's eye-bulging strength and the Israelites' vengeful god. Catch all those cheering heathens getting suddenly creamed by ten-ton cardboard rocks. It's a Technicolor doozy and a real tribute to Paramount's special effects department.Nonetheless, the movie's other big action sequence— Samson swinging the jawbone—makes you wonder if the Philistines ever discovered the use of the spears they carry. Too bad that the staging there is about as credible as Wiley and the Roadrunner. Still, I could gaze into LaMarr's very non-Semitic blue eyes all day long. She and the hunky Mature definitely incarnate Hollywood's over-the-top imagination. But pity the clunky lines they have to recite. Stuff like "The Philistine dogs over our green fields do pass". Hollywood was always at its dialog worst when putting poetic excess like this into the mouths of unfortunate ancients and ethnics.Okay, I tried not to mock the movie, but it's just too hard to resist. On the other hand, the production remains a colorful eyeful, along with fancy costuming still fit for a royal court. Plus, there's the incomparable George Sanders at his snooty best. But these Biblical epics were too often commercial traps Hollywood just couldn't resist— that is, guaranteed big bucks in return for comic book treatments. Unfortunately, this is one of them.(In passing— contrary to the movie's version, this is how Samson actually got the cloaks to pay off his riddle wager: " And the spirit of the LORD came upon him {Samson}, and he went down to Ashkelon and slew thirty men of them {Philistines}, and took their spoil {cloaks}, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle." Judges 14:19. In short, De Mille and Co. turned the unacceptable mass murder in the Bible into the movie's rather comical crime of thievery, presumably to make the story more acceptable to ticket- buying audiences. How fitting.)