Salome (1953)

In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias. The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a ... See full summary »

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Jesse Lasky Jr. (story), Harry Kleiner (story),

Stars:

Rita Hayworth, Stewart Granger, Charles Laughton

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Rita Hayworth	...	Princess Salome
Stewart Granger	...	Commander Claudius
Charles Laughton	...	King Herod
Judith Anderson	...	Queen Herodias
Cedric Hardwicke	...	Tiberius Caesar (as Sir Cedric Hardwicke)
Alan Badel	...	John the Baptist
Basil Sydney	...	Pontius Pilate
Maurice Schwartz	...	Ezra the King's Advisor
Arnold Moss	...	Micha the Queen's Advisor
Asoka	...	Asian Dancer
Sujata	...	Asian Dancer

Storyline

In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias. The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a prophecy. Enter beautiful Princess Salome, Herod's long-absent stepdaughter. Herodias sees the king's dawning lust for Salome as her means of bending the king to her will. But Salome and her lover Claudius are (contrary to Scripture) nearing conversion to the new religion. And the famous climactic dance turns out to have unexpected implications...

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Plot Keywords:

salome | religion | bible | femme fatale | remake | 

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Taglines:

The Glory And Excitement Of Rome...In All Its Greatness and Badness!

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 March 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

Salome: The Dance of the Seven Veils

Filming Locations:

Israel

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, The Beckworth Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In 1951, director Cecil B. DeMille contacted Columbia Pictures studio head Harry Cohn about borrowing Rita Hayworth to star in a production of "Salome." Cohn essentially stole DeMille's idea, and made his own film. He told screenwriter Jesse Lasky Jr., "You have one weekend to come up with a story for this movie, or you're fired!" Over a weekend, Lasky wrote out a 50-page treatment that became the basis for the film. However, since Hayworth was a popular box office star, the original New Testament ending of the film was re-written to make Salome more sympathetic, and less of a femme fatale.

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Goofs

In one scene, outside the walls of Jerusalem, with the "skyline" of the old city beyond the walls, you can see the golden Dome of the Rock, which wasn't built until more than 600 years after this story takes place.

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Quotes

Commander Claudius: Why waste a slave?
Pontius Pilate: Why not? The world's full of them.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the picture, rather than seeing the words "The End" on the screen, we see a title that says "This was the beginning".

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Connections

Remade as Salome (1975)

User Reviews

Beauty and the Bible

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.