Samson et Dalila

TV Movie
1981
2h 2m

IMDb RATING

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While the rest of the Hebrews bewail their fate, Samson alone trusts in God's promise of liberty. Abimelech, the Philistine satrap of Gaza, enters to mock the Hebrews' God, proclaiming the s... Read allWhile the rest of the Hebrews bewail their fate, Samson alone trusts in God's promise of liberty. Abimelech, the Philistine satrap of Gaza, enters to mock the Hebrews' God, proclaiming the superiority of Dagon, and the Hebrews are afraid of him. But calls them to show some defian... Read allWhile the rest of the Hebrews bewail their fate, Samson alone trusts in God's promise of liberty. Abimelech, the Philistine satrap of Gaza, enters to mock the Hebrews' God, proclaiming the superiority of Dagon, and the Hebrews are afraid of him. But calls them to show some defiance, so Abimelech attacks Samson with his sword. Samson seizes the sword and strikes him de... Read all

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IMDb RATING

6.5/10

YOUR RATING

1User review

See production info at IMDbPro

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Connections
Remade as Samson and Delilah (2008)

User reviews1

Featured review

8/10

Worth seeing for Domingo and Verrett...

Samson Et Dalila is not quite one of my favourites, but it is a very good opera, wonderful music especially Dalila's Mon Coeur Ta S'Ouevre Voix and the Bacchanal. This SF production is very good, and preferable to the decent performance with Domingo and Borodina.

I do think however the chorus are sometimes rather sloppy, I am not sure whether it was because they were trying to catch up with Julius Rudel's tempos but there are times such as in act 1 where their singing is well balanced and pitched if behind the beat and unrhythmic.

Rudel in general does do a solid job conducting, but particularly at the start he does take things a little too fast. Acts 2 and 3 shows him relaxing more and it is all perfect from there.

With all this said, the orchestra consistently are wonderful, and the costume and set design are terrific. The video directing is interesting, and the sound and picture quality hold up very well.

The performances are wonderful. Of the support cast, Wolfgang Brendel comes off best, but at the end of the day it is the wonderful Placido Domingo and the late great Shirley Verrett that make this work. Domingo is throughout very powerful, see him at the beginning of act 3 for instance. Verrett's charm and luscious mezzo are put to ideal use, and she brings the house down with Mon Coeur Ta S'Ouvre Voix, beautiful phrasing and great control of the speed. Together they are scintillating.

All in all, a very good production with the two leads standing out. 8/10 Bethany Cox