Solomon and Sheba (1959)

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I saw SOLOMON AND SHEBA (1959) when I was 10 years-old and remember being quite impressed with King Vidor's last film. The production values seemed above average and the actors really stood as ancient figures in a frieze in my schoolboy's imagination. I have been able to watch the film several times since then and can only say that I am happy they did try to finish the film after the catastrophe of Tyrone Power's death. The situation faced by all must have been so desperate that everyone deserves praise for the great common effort necessary to pull the production through. I have reservations regarding the casting of several actors who seem totally wrong in their respective roles, notably George Sanders/Adonijah and David Farrar/Pharaoh. Yul Brynner does a decent job for someone who was rushed into Solomon's role. It is unfair to criticize him, trying to compare his performance to Tyrone Power's as we imagine it to have been. Gina Lollobrigida is excellent as Sheba. In fact, I see her at the center of the whole film, its unifying element. Her beauty is truly breathtaking and her orgiastic dance is the only good thing in a pagan ritual that deserved to be better choreographed. No doubt King Vidor deserved to end his illustrious career with a better film, but SOLOMON AND SHEBA remains a valid effort, nothing he should be ashamed of. Seen today, the film does stand as one of the finer biblical spectacles of the era, way better than THE ROBE (1953), THE SILVER CHALICE (1954) or ESTHER AND THE KING (1960).

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

I just saw Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and I must express my total disagreement on how the story is told in the movie. first of all, I find it unfortunate casting, mainly referred to Adonijah, according to 1st Kings chapter 1, verse 6 (1st Kings 1-6), Adonijah was very good-looking, and George Sanders was well on in years and anything beautiful. following the steps in 2nd Samuel, of children born to King David in Hebron, the king's David firstborn was Amnon , Adonijah was the fourth child who has King David in Hebron of Haggith. In the film, Salomon kills Adonias (this fight was when died of a heart attack Tyrone Power, who was the first to embody Salomon), but it was not King Solomon who killed Adonias but according to 1st Kings 2-25, reads: "Then King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who attacked the (Adonias), and died." and so Hollywood producers always changing the stories as always, thinking only about money, how to get higher profits on their investments. personally I find it deplorable. I'm also in total disagreement with the queen Sheba history in the movie.

This movie and several other movies from the 1950s with a religious overtone, such as The Robe, Quo Vadis, and Samson and Delilah, unfortunately depict all pagans or anybody who isn't a Jew or Christian as morally depraved and decadent. The focus is only on biblical-related stories that ignore the world outside the Bible. As far as they are concerned, nothing good came from pagan Egypt, Greece or Rome.Any movie that preaches about the "one true god" gives a short shift to freedom of religion. The movies ignore the fact that ancient Judea's lack of religious freedom made it a fertile ground for religious extremism. Most 1950s religious movies also overlook the loss of freedom the occurred after Christians assumed political power in the 4th century.