Salome (1953)

After her banishment from Rome, Jewish Princess Salome returns to her Roman-ruled native land of Galilee where prophet John the Baptist preaches against Salome's parents, King Herod and Queen Herodias.

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Harry Kleiner (screen play), Jesse Lasky Jr. (story) (as Jesse L. Lasky Jr.)

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)
Basil Sydney	...	Pontius Pilate
Maurice Schwartz	...	Ezra
Arnold Moss	...	Micha
Alan Badel	...	John the Baptist

Storyline

In the reign of Tiberius Caesar (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), Gallilean prophet John the Baptist (Alan Badel) preaches against King Herod (Charles Laughton) and Queen Herodias (Dame Judith Anderson). The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a prophecy. Enter beautiful Princess Salome (Rita Hayworth), 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 (Stewart Granger) are (contrary to Scripture) nearing conversion to the new religion. And the famous climactic dance turns out to have unexpected implications.

---

Plot Keywords:

biblical | sword and sandal | remake | character name as title | john the baptist character | 

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Drama | History

---

Certificate:

Approved

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 movie. He told screenwriter Jesse Lasky, Jr., "You have one weekend to come up with a story for this movie, or you're fired!" Over the weekend, Lasky wrote out a fifty-page treatment that became the basis for this movie. However, since Hayworth was a popular box office star, the original New Testament ending of this movie was re-written to make Salome more sympathetic, and less of a femme fatale.

---

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.

---

Quotes

John the Baptist: The crooked path shall be made straight. And the rough ways shall be made smooth, so that we shall receive the salvation of God.

---

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.

---

Connections

Featured in Significant Others: The Plan (1998)

User Reviews

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

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 April 1953 (Argentina)

Also Known As:

Salome: The Dance of the Seven Veils

Filming Locations:

Israel

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Beckworth Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1