Salome (1953)

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Jesse Lasky Jr. (story) &
Harry Kleiner (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

24 March 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Tagline:

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

Plot:

In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias...

Plot Keywords:

Salome | Religion | Beautiful Woman | Femme Fatale | Royalty

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Ahdar	...	Convert (uncredited)
Ray Beltram	...	Herod's Council Member (uncredited)
Bobker Ben Ali	...	Politician (uncredited)
Frederic Berest	...	Sailor (uncredited)
Barry Brooks	...	Roman Guard (uncredited)
Bruce Cameron	...	Guard (uncredited)
Eduardo Cansino	...	Roman Guard (uncredited)
Tristram Coffin	...	Guard (uncredited)
Bud Cokes	...	Galilean Soldier (uncredited)
John Crawford	...	Guard (uncredited)
Carmen D'Antonio	...	Salome's Servant (uncredited)
Henry Dar Boggia	...	Politician (uncredited)
Karl 'Killer' Davis	...	Slave Master (uncredited)
Don De Leo	...	Politician (uncredited)
Leslie Denison	...	Court Attendant (uncredited)
Italia DeNubila	...	Convert (uncredited)
Henry A. Escalante	...	Acrobat (uncredited)
Eddie Fields	...	Politician (uncredited)
Robert Garabedian	...	Politician (uncredited)
Chief Leonard George	...	Assassin (uncredited)
Michael Granger	...	Captain Quintus (uncredited)
Tom Hernández	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Paul Hoffman	...	Sailmaster (uncredited)
Eva Hyde	...	Herodias' Servant (uncredited)
Duke Johnson	...	Juggler (uncredited)
George Keymas	...	Sailor (uncredited)
George Khoury	...	Assassin (uncredited)
Guy Kingsford	...	Officer (uncredited)
David Leonard	...	Old Scholar (uncredited)
Freddie Letuli	...	Sword Dancer (uncredited)
Jack Low	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Michael Mark	...	Old Farmer (uncredited)
Gilberto Marques	...	Acrobat (uncredited)
Saul Martell	...	Dissenting Scholar (uncredited)
Merrill McCormick	...	Herod's Council Member (uncredited)
Tina Menard	...	Convert (uncredited)
John Merton	...	Baptism Attendee (uncredited)
Ralph Moody	...	Old Scholar (uncredited)
Anton Northpole	...	Advisor (uncredited)
Lou Nova	...	John's Executioner (uncredited)
John Parrish	...	Politician (uncredited)
Abel Pina	...	Acrobat (uncredited)
Jerry Pina	...	Acrobat (uncredited)
Tony Pina	...	Acrobat (uncredited)
Rex Reason	...	Marcellus Fabius (uncredited)
Ramiro Rivas	...	Acrobat (uncredited)
Richard Rivas	...	Acrobat (uncredited)
Ruben T. Rivas	...	Acrobat (uncredited)
Franz Roehn	...	Herod's Council Member (uncredited)
Bob Rose	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Maurice Samuels	...	Old Scholar (uncredited)
Joe Sawaya	...	Herod's Council Member (uncredited)
Sam Scar	...	Politician (uncredited)
Joe Schilling	...	Advisor (uncredited)
Mickey Simpson	...	Herod's Guard Captain (uncredited)
Charles Soldani	...	Convert (uncredited)
Dimas Sotello	...	Convert (uncredited)
William Spaeth	...	Fire Eater (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Caesar's Scrivener (uncredited)
Carlo Tricoli	...	Herod's Council Member (uncredited)
Rick Vallin	...	Sailor (uncredited)
Charles Wagenheim	...	Simon (uncredited)
Trevor Ward	...	Blind Man Given Sight (uncredited)
Robert Warwick	...	Courier (uncredited)
Stanley Waxman	...	Patrician (uncredited)
Billy Wilkerson	...	Convert (uncredited)
David Wold	...	Herod's Council Member (uncredited)
John Wood	...	Sword Dancer (uncredited)
Carleton Young	...	Officer (uncredited)

Directed by
William Dieterle

Writing credits
Jesse Lasky Jr.		(story) (as Jesse L. Lasky Jr.) &
Harry Kleiner		(story)
Harry Kleiner		(writer)

Produced by
Buddy Adler	....	producer
Rita Hayworth	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
George Duning

Cinematography by
Charles Lang

Film Editing by
Viola Lawrence

Art Direction by
John Meehan

Set Decoration by
William Kiernan

Costume Design by
Jean Louis		(gowns)
Emile Santiago		(costumes: men)

Makeup Department
Clay Campbell	....	makeup artist
Helen Hunt	....	hair stylist
Robert J. Schiffer	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Earl Bellamy	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Lodge Cunningham	....	sound engineer

Camera and Electrical Department
Irving Lippman	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Joan Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Music Department
Daniele Amfitheatrof	....	composer: dance of the seven veils
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator
Morris Stoloff	....	musical director
Roger Wagner	....	chorale director

Other crew
Valerie Bettis	....	choreographer
Francis Cugat	....	technicolor color consultant
Millard Sheets	....	technical advisor

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents)
• The Beckworth Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1953) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Film-Verleih (1953) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Union Film Wien (1953) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Columbia Home Video (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar (video)

Also Known As:

"Salome: The Dance of the Seven Veils" - USA (alternative title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG | West Germany:12 (f) | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16050)

Filming Locations:

Israel

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The first full length feature that Alan Badel featured in.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In Palestine, Claudius saves Salome from a gila monster, a venomous lizard found only in southwestern North America.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Featured in Head (1968)

Lovely to watch, with a mesmerising Hayworth, but it is pedestrian in pace, and plays around with the biblical story

Salome certainly isn't a terrible film, far from it. But I do think, as a biblical epic it is flawed in many ways. The costumes and the scenery were a joy to the eyes, and the music was beautiful and a treat to the ears. The acting is pretty good too, with Stewart Granger handsome in his role, and Judith Anderson deliciously cruel as Herodias, though Anderson to be fair has given better performances in classics like And Then There Were None and Rebecca. Charles Laughton gives one of his career's weakest performances, but he is good as King Herod to some extent. The film's portrayal of John the Baptist from Alan Badel was also fine, but Salome's creme de la creme is Rita Hayworth in the title role. Entirely captivating and so beautiful, and she danced beautifully in Dance of the Seven Veils which also happens to be a scene from Richard Strauss's opera of the same name. However, the film's flaws include pedestrian pacing, an underdeveloped script and a story that suffers from a lot of tampering. Overall, deeply flawed, but watchable biblical film, that is worth watching if only for Hayworth and Dance of the Seven Veils. 6/10 Bethany Cox