Salome

Don't bother watching this film for historical accuracy. Watch it instead for entertainment value only and to see why Rita Hayworth was worshipped as a Goddess.

You can almost feel the debauchery oozing out of Charles Laughton's Herod as he oils his way through the film. And Judith Anderson's Queen Herodias is completely over the top, but you can see where she's coming from and that she's a product of her circumstances. Stewart Granger is almost out of place here as he's the only one not seriously hamming it up, but he still does a relatively convincing job as Commander Claudius, improving as the film progresses.

I love this film for the wonderful elocution-lesson delivery of the dialogue and the gloriously artificial colouring which give a lovely fantasy recreation of biblical times: even though bad things happen, they just don't seem that bad. And even after all these years Rita Hayworth's dancing is a vision to behold for men and women alike.

The reason why you 'd like to sit through this is the four leads:Rita Hayworth ,ideally cast as Salome ,a libidinous Charles Laughton ,a cruel Judith Anderson and a noble Stewart Granger.Plus a stint by Sir Cedric Hardwicke.Plus the director of the best version of "hunchback of Notre -Dame" at his kitchiest.Plus a fabulous dance of the seven veils.Plus gaudy colors and John the Baptist's head of course.

But what remains,eg the essential ,is a really "free' adaptation of the holy writs.The script writers invented a Roman soldier with whom Salome falls in love.BUT what will puzzle the Christians is that Salome dances not to get John's head,but to save him!!!.A happy end which will remind you of your Sunday school days.And that's not all:the plot even involves Pontius Pilate whom Claudius (Granger) urged to become a Christian and to repent so that he would go down in history as a soldier of a brand new religion.Well the man did not wash his hands ,but he did not do what he was told either...which did not prevent him from going down in history anyway..

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

While this film does vary from the biblical storyline, it's worth watching for Rita alone. She's a vision in all her scenes and very good in her part, culminating in her 'Dance of the Seven Veils', which is a treasure. {I only wish it wasn't montaged with the death of the Baptist.} Rita never looked lovelier than she does here and her Jean Louis costumes are all drop-dead gorgeous. Stewart Granger is pretty good, better than usual, he and Rita having good chemistry here. It's well cast, with actors Charles Laughton and Dame Judith Anderson both excellent as King Herod and Queen Herodias. Arnold Moss is slithering as the evil adviser to Queen Herodias, though Alan Badel as John the Baptist seems more like a wild-eyed madman than a holy prophet. Though there are some filler segments that are not up to the rest of the film, still I think it's excellent entertainment.

I just finished watching this movie. I think it has been unfairly rundown by critics. Yes it is historically inaccurate, but how many Hollywood epics are actually accurate ? The answer is hardly any.

To me movies are essentially entertainment, and this movie really did that. Most of this was down to the casting of the stunningly beautiful Rita Hayworth in the title role. Her much mentioned "dance of the seven veils" is without a doubt the highlight of this film.

The performances by the rest of the cast are decent if not exceptional. Stewart Granger is the Roman commander who is secretly a Christian, Charles Laughton plays Herod, a man as much obsessed with pursuing Salome as with trying to spare John the Baptist for fear of what God will do to him in retaliation (he believes John the Baptist to be the Messiah).

It is definitely not one of the greatest epics and some of the dialogue is not the best, but the movie is certainly not the worst of Hollywoods many Biblical epics. It is far more entertaining than "The Robe" and Rita Hayworth's radiance is extremely easy on the eye.