Solomon and Sheba

1959

Action / Drama / History / Romance / War

14
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 14% · 7 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 57% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.1/10 10 3756 3.8K

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Plot summary

Near death, King David has a vision that his poet son, Solomon, should succeed him, rather than hot-headed Adonijah. Furious, Adonijah departs the court, swearing he will become king. Other rulers are concerned that Solomon's benevolent rule and interest in monotheism will threaten their tyrannical, polytheistic kingdoms. The Queen of Sheba makes an agreement with the Egyptian pharaoh to corrupt Solomon for their mutual benefit.


Uploaded by: OTTO
May 19, 2015 at 02:22 PM

Director

Top cast

Yul Brynner as Solomon
George Sanders as Adonijah
1080p.BLU
2.06 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
2 hr 21 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by mark.waltz 4 / 10

Solomon was wise. Hollywood is otherwise.

Directions to two hours and 20 minutes, this biblical epic had a lot of problems getting released but still managed to come out with a profit. Perhaps the prophets weight of the Biblical times were looking over them and ask God to give King Vidor a break for his last film. It's an entertaining but overstuffed example of how certain producers and writers effort's to climb onto the certain bandwagons of hit genres of the time didn't always come together. The 1950's were overloaded with these sword-and-sandal widescreen extravaganzas, and if people could spare a couple of extra hours than the usual 90 minutes, they take them in just for the spectacle and an occasional unintentional laugh.

Obviously, the big battle scene towards the end was inspired by "The Ten Commandments", and the scene of charging chariots taken by surprise with a clever battle technique is quite a shocking moments. The story surrounds Solomon's efforts to hold on to his throne when neighboring countries to conquer him because of the country's belief in one God and Solomon's alleged wisdom which they are obviously envious of. This brings on the Queen of Sheba, played by the ravishing Gina Lollobrigida who delivers a sensational performance even if she isn't physically accurate historically.

When we first see the very tough Lollobrigida, she is charging past the Israeli Army led by George Sanders (as Solomon's much older brother) and ferociously whips his face until he collapses in shock. She's not one to be taken advantage of because she is a woman, and as we learn, Sheba has always had a queen, not a king. Sanders believes that by being King David's eldest surviving son, he will be the heir, but King David (Finlay Currie) has other ideas.

That's where Solomon comes in as king, played by Yul Brynner who replaced Tyrone Power. On the surface, Brenner is perfect, but I had a hard time accepting him as an Israeli king after seeing him as the Egyptian pharaoh in "The Ten Commandments" and the King of Siam in "The King and I". Tyrone Power certainly would have been a bit more reflective, but Brynnur, even in his quieter moments, is far too big as a performer to play a man who was presumably humble yet morally strong. With a dark wig and beard, Brynner does manage to look a bit different, but that voice betrays who he is with all that extra hair. Yet, you can't take your eyes off of him because he is such a fascinating personality.

While this is big in scope and huge of heart, containing many of the great stories that the Bible tells us about one of the wisest rulers ever on the face of our Earth, it seems far too forced to be completely successful. The story of the two women fighting over a child is a classic moment as is the attempted stoning of Sheba. Marisa Pavan has a nice supporting role as a woman in Solomon's Court who is obviously in love with him and pays for that love by praying for his wisdom to return when his temptations with Sheba becomes too much. That leads to a sequence of idol worship for Sheba and her people that is completely over-the-top. Utilizing ideas that were done in different ways and other epics made before this also shows a lack of creativity to make it stand out on its own.

Reviewed by blanche-2 5 / 10

Not worth dying over

Yul Brynner and Gina Lollabridgida are "Solomon and Sheba" in this 1959 Biblical epic directed by King Vidor. Also starring are George Sanders, Marisa Pavan and Finlay Currie.

The main problem with "Solomon and Sheba" is that a) it's bad; and b) no one infuses any energy into it, understandably. When Tyrone Power died during the swordfight with George Sanders, the producers decided to cash in the insurance check and start over. A mistake. It's hard to imagine what these actors went through, standing in a freezing cold Madrid studio, watching the 44-year-old star, who had a pregnant wife, die suddenly, and having production shut down amidst tremendous publicity. On top of which, Brynner asked for rewrites, and believe me, they weren't for the better.

Lloyds of London stipulated, on payment of the insurance, that Power could not appear in any part of the film. Obviously the producers weren't about to shoot those battles scenes again, so Power IS in the longshots.

Tyrone Power was a co-producer of this movie, and it was part of his deal with Arthur Hornblower, who wanted him for Witness for the Prosecution and this. Power knew that audiences were used to seeing him in this type of film, and he had given up on Hollywood and committed himself to theater work. This was his one film a year where he could make big bucks and then spend the rest of his time doing plays.

One thing about Power that no one can ever take away from him - he could make the world's worst dialogue sound absolutely believable. Brynner, alas, though very dignified in this role, didn't have that gift. Power had to develop it fast working for Zanuck. I've seen some of the footage of Power in this role - he was much more energetic and intense than Brynner. Having done Shakespeare and recorded poetry, he had a real feel for this language as well. It's not Brynner's fault - I'm sure no one wanted to do the movie once Power died. Brynner couldn't have known how it would have felt to be in that atmosphere ahead of time.

There are spurts here and there - one of the battle scenes is very good, and Gina is gorgeous (Power referred to her as "Lolly" in his letters). She's just not really into it. The audiences who saw it in the theater undoubtedly weren't either.

Reviewed by TheLittleSongbird 5 / 10

Exquisitely mounted and Brynner and Lollobridgida make it watchable, but overlong, bloated and stodgy

I do like epics and I wanted to see it for Yul Brynner, George Sanders, the master of suavity, smarmy menace and charisma and the fact that apparently this was the film where Tyrone Power died on set. However, despite some obvious good things, Solomon and Sheba just didn't do anything for me, and I feel really apologetic for saying that because it was a film I genuinely wanted to like.

I will start with the good things. The film is exquisitely mounted, with photography that is ravishing, sets and scope that are well and truly lush and costumes that are beautifully tailored and elegant. The music also does a fine job with enhancing the mood, and the climax is great and the only scene of the film that I would call riveting. And there are two good performances, The King and I's Yul Brynner who is very charismatic and sexy, and I Pagliacci's Gina Lollobridgida, who is alluring and to say she is smoking hot is an understatement in itself.

Unfortunately I cannot say the same for the rest of the actors, whose performances range from just okay to lousy. Yes, this is including the normally good Sanders, this is a role he should have been perfect for but mainly because the character is written in such a clichéd and uninterested fashion, all he becomes is seemingly a sad caricature of his former self.

Solomon and Sheba feels much too long for me too especially in the battle sequences which are too long-winded for their own good. I wouldn't have minded this so much if the pace and script were any decent and the story at least interesting, but to me the film doesn't succeed in any of those areas. I am not going to go into the numerous inaccuracies there are in the story as I would be here all day, but that is the least of its problems. The story is just so dull and didn't engage me in any way, and this is further disadvantaged by really stodgy pacing, awkward direction and a horrendously stilted script.

In all honesty I wasn't taken with the belly dance scene either. It wasn't like Salome, which had Dance of the Seven Veils, which apart from Hayworth was that film's highlight, but not only was the dancing here rather unexciting but I felt it wasn't done with any passion and only had the sensuality of Lollobridgida going for it.

All in all, there are moments but they aren't enough to save Solomon and Sheba from leaving me cold. 5/10 Bethany Cox

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