Surprisingly effective drama, based on the biblical book of Samuel, about the ascent of David of Bethlehem to the throne of Judah, from his defeat of the Philistine Goliath, while still a boy, until the death of King Saul. A co-production between Spain and Italy, «Saul and David» is an expansive show of open spaces, hundreds of extras and massive sets evoking the 10th century BC. The dramatic effect of the film can be overshadowed, if the viewer pays too much attention to the controversies about the veracity of the kingdoms, administrations and buildings made by Saul, David, and Solomon, which range from academic mockery to fanatical reverence. Neither position has to do with adventure, war, passions and even the homoerotic suggestion between David and Jonathan, Saul's son, in a 1964 film. It is a work in which the pen of maestro Tonino Guerra intervened, a film of agile editing, economical in its descriptions and modern in its ellipsis, with a good interpretation by the British actor, expert in Shakespeare and Arthur Miller, Norman Wooland in the role of Saul, and the Croatian Gianni Garko, dexterous and handsome according to descriptions of David. Few minutes less in the final third of the drama between the protagonists, which leads to death and the conclusion of the monarchical dispute, would have favored the total effect. However, as is it works. And I confess that I saw it only because I was looking for information... and I was caught at the same time reflecting on how big film spectacles were produced in the old days and only the name of two or three producers were credited ... not 14 or 20 like today.
