Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1960)

?///» 9f btitiHCtiCH Solomon and Sheba' Big B.D. Spectacle Scuinc^ &*tut$ O O O O Lavish biblical spectacle has all the ingredients to draw mass audience. Will rank with top grossers. Director King Vidor has reached down into the biblical grab bag of adventure and come up with a sumptuous spectacle that carries the viewer back to the land of Israel a thousand years before the birth of Christ. While it may lack the artistic merit to please the class trade, this is a production in keeping with the tradition of exciting screen pageantry. With sweeping strokes of entertainment showmanship Vidor has created a Actionized version of the meeting between the poet-philosophsr King Solomon and the most beautiful temptress of all times, Magda, Queen of Sheba. Strikingly mounted in Technicolor and Super Technirama 70, the giant screen surges and explodes with many breathtaking sequences. United Artists can rest assured that their S6,000,000 Biblical epic will rank as one of the really big boxoffice smashes. It is on this frankly commercial basis that we have selected "Solomon and Sheba" as a Film of Distinction. The tremendous pre-sell promotional campaign started the ball rolling, and with Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida in the title roles, this Edward Small presentation contains every ingredient essential for mass audience appeal. We beleive UA was wise to release it at popular prices, and the decision will be rew arded with an enormous gross from all over the world. Patrons of biblical spectacle will find what they seek here. Vidor knows how^ to fill his screen with eye-catching sets, crowd scenes and pulsating action, creating visual exciting entertainment. Here is the magnificent Temple of Solomon demolished by God's wrath, Solomon's harem with his 300 wives, his dramatic judgment over two women each claiming to be the mother of the same child, Sheba's arrival in Jerusalem with her glorious caravan, her stoning on the steps of the destroyed Temple, the orgiastic fertility dance performed before the pagan god Rha-Gon, and a trio of battle scenes including the desert charge of the Pharaoh's chariots and the defeat of the Egyptian army as they plunge into a ravine, blinded by the highly polished shields of Solomon's forces. Against these backgrounds scriptors Anthony Veiller, Paul Dudley and George Bruce have woven a simple, obvious tale of many conflicts: Solomon and his brother, who would be king; religious ideologies — Judaism and paganism; Solomon's two loves, his God and his people on one hand, and the seductive, alluring Sheba on the other. The screenplay is quite elemental and the dialogue is often distressingly trite, thereby robbing the film of authenticity or real dramatic intensity for the discriminating filmgoer. While some of the characters are strictly two-dimensional, the two principals come thru effectively. Yul Brynner makes a flesh and blood human being out of Solomon combining strength, warmth and humor throughout. He is a man of many facets: the wise King of Israel, a courageous soldier who believes strongly in peace, and a just man when it comes to falling prey to the wiles of an enticing woman. And who else could have played Sheba as excitinglyy as the voluptuous, tempting and beautiful Sheba (Gina Lollobrigida) leads bet Egyptian followers in wild pagan dance Miss Lollobrigida? As the ambitious Queen conniving to bring about the downfall of Israel, she is calculating and cold; as the forbidden fruit for Solomon, she is all a seductress should be; and finally, as the woman who falls in love with the man she has destroyed, she is humble and sympathetic as she promises God she will destroy all her idols and erect a Tabernacle to Jehovah if Solomon's life is spared in battle. George Sanders is almost a villainous caricature as Solomon's traitorous brother and David Farrar's brief appearance as the Pharaoh is a colorless one. On the other hand, lovely Marisa Pavan is appealing as the girl who loves Solomon and is killed during the Temple's destruction, while Finlay Currie is excellent as the aged King David. On his deathbed, King David proclaims his youngster son, Solomon, King instead of Sanders, thereby alienating the two brothers forever. Solomon carries out his father's wish and builds a Temple to God and rebuilds Jerusalem into a capital of grandeur. He also persuades Sanders to head the army. In Egypt, Farrar, disturbed by the growing strength and prosperity of Israel under one God, agrees to let Sheba go to Jerusalem to see if she can bring about its destruction. Solomon is immediately overwhelmed by her beauty and, she, while attracted to him, still feels obliged to carry out her original intentions. He agrees to allow her people to hold a pagan orgy within the city and during the rites his Temple and the pagan god of fertility are destroyed by lightning. The people turn against Solomon and opportunist Sanders chooses this moment to throw in forces with the Egyptians against the Israelites. When deserters from Solomon's army bring word to Jerusalem of the defeat, Sheba prays in the ruined Temple for Solomon's life. The Egyptians are defeated, but Sanders, believing victory assured, proclaims himself King and incites the people to stone Sheba. Solomon arrives in time to save her and is forced to kill Sanders. When he learns Sheba is carrying his child he asks her to stay and be his Queen. But she reveals her pact with God and promises Solomon his son will be the first King of Sheba. United Artists. 13? minutes. Yul Brynne Richmond. Directed by King Vidor. Gina Lollobrigida. Produced by Ted Film BULLETIN January 4, 1 940 Page 11