Sins of Jezebel

One of the surest money-makers Hollywood put out in the 1950s were religious epics. Some of them are amazingly good....most just seem silly and often have little to do with the Bible verses that they are supposedly based upon. I assumed "Sins of Jezebel" would fall in this latter category...especially since it sports such a salacious title. However, surprisingly, the film is quite well made and actually is a good representation of the life of Jezebel and King Ahab in the book of Kings. Now I am not saying it's perfect...but it's far less silly and is a decent movie that probably won't offend Christians or Jews.

The story is about Jezebel, a non-Jew who came to Judea...and leaving a long trail of seduced men in her wake. She sets her sights very high and soon is one of King Ahab's favorites. And, as she's able to twist men around her wicked fingers, he soon agrees to break the Law and construct temples for foreign gods in his country. But while she's worshipping Baal, the prophet Elijah points out how ineffectual and wrong these people are. Ultimately, it ends up with a contest between these priest of Baal and Elijah...though even this doesn't change the evil hearts of Jezebel and Ahab.

There were two things I wasn't thrilled with in this movie. Paulette Goddard, though a nice looking woman, is well past her peak and it's unintentionally funny whenever men go all googly-eyed at her. The other is the inclusion of silly and 100% non-sexy 'sexy dance' scenes. It obviously is a time-filler and just seems way out of place.

Otherwise, the story worked reasonably well and I actually was more interested in it than I'd imagined. Not life-changing but good.

Although this is a very low budget epic, it is surprisingly effective and very similar to the plot of the later lavish "Solomon and Sheba." The Israelite King Ahab ( Edouard Franz), against the warning of the prophet Elijah (John Hoyt)persists in marrying a notorious pagan woman, the seductive Jezebel. This maneater (played by Paulette Goddard with the same sinuous and zesty relish she gave to her role as Lucretia Borgia in "Bride of Vengeance")soon has the smitten old fool reduced to a jelly and obedient to her every whim, including permission to introduce the worship of her false god to Israel. Woe unto Israel, as it's jealous and angry God punishes His errant followers with drought. Jezebel challenges Elijah to a contest between himself and the priests of Baal to bring rain. Events come rapidly to a head as the terrible prophecy concerning Jezebel inevitably arrives.

Paulette Goddard, a beautiful star of the 1940s, was given her first big break by immortal comedian Charlie Chaplin. He starred her opposite himself in his classic film "Modern Times" in which she played his young companion. She also became his wife (though they would eventually divorce). Nevertheless, she and Claire Bloom were the only Chaplin leading ladies to go on to prestigious careers of their own. Vivacious Paulette made such classics as "The Cat And The Canary", "So Proudly We Hail (Oscar nomination), "The Great Dictator" (again opposite Chaplin) and "Kitty". She also made a few films with Cecil B. DeMille--most notably, "Northwest Mounted Police". By the 1950s, however, her box office appeal had faded, and her age (she claimed to have been born in 1911, but the true date was 1905) had finally caught up with her. After "Bride Of Vengeance", her last film at Paramount (where she was under contract) flopped, she and the studio parted ways, and she was on her own. For the next four years, she made a handful of low-budget quickies, none of which revived her fading career. "Sins Of Jezebel" is one of the more interesting ones, though. Made on an unbelievable $100,000 budget,it was reportedly completed in all of three days),but, that's probably just the length of time Paulette filmed her scenes. (She worked on 'Vice Squad'' (1952) for just three days as well. Paulette starred as the infamous Biblical queen, who attempts to replace God with her own Pagan idol, Baal. Opposite her (eventually) is a young George Nader, playing a servant of King Ahab (Eduard Franz), who quickly falls for her after she marries the weak willed King. As might be expected, production values are extremely low, though in an attempt to cash in on the then-popular Biblical epics ("The Robe", "Demitrius and the Gladiators" among others), it was filmed in color and wide screen. The script is serviceable, the photography is above average, and Goddard, Nader, and Franz give good performances. Paulette still boasted a trim figure, though at 48 years old, she was obviously past her prime. Nevertheless, this film, as a fairly straightforward retelling of the Bible story remains watchable and entertaining. Rarely seen on TV these days, VCI Communications has just released it on a DVD double bill with "Queen of the Amazons" (about which the less said, the better). There is minor print damage, and the sound is poor, but it's presented in Anamorphic Widescreen and the color is still attractive. All things considered, it's a welcome release of an obscure film.

In the Bible ,there's no love interest between the heroine and Jehu. So he has no regret when he has the wicked queen thrown out of the window .

The Biblical story is sandwiched between sequences which will remind you of your old Sunday school days : one deals with the creation (it's perhaps going too far back in time) ; the other one makes the viewer think that maybe the budget was too low to film certain scenes ,so a voice over would do the trick.

Paulette Godard is gorgeous as a wicked queen who makes life difficult for everybody around , urging the Israelites to turn their back on Jehovah ; John Hoyt is impressive as Elijah the prophet who curses them : Jehovah 's wrath will be ruthless. He predates bearded Charlton Heston in "the ten commandments" and the ten plagues of Egypt.

The stoning of Naboth was told in the BIble ,the queen wanting to latch onto his vineyard .

The movie cannot compete with high budget movies such as "Samson and Delilah " ,"the ten commandments" "Solomon and Sheba " or "Esther and the king" ; made in a slapdash manner ,it's only a curio for sword and sandals buffs.

It's only short, this, but even at just seventy-five minutes the whole rather dry and stage-bound affair seems to drag! "Ahab" (Eduard Franz) is faithfully following the advice of "Elijah" (John Hoyt) and ruling his kingdom of Israel much as King Solomon might have done. Then, a bit like that King, he falls under the spell of a woman - and a toxic, scheming one at that. "Jezebel" (Paulette Goddard) is a pagan, and rather than allowing him to convert her, she sets out to ensnare him in her multi-theistic culture. As you might expect, fairly swiftly the chagrin really hits the fan! It's one of the more seedy and salacious bible stories, this - but a combination of censors and a poor screenplay really do render this quite dull to watch. Goddard is way off her best and the remainder of the cast (except the camels, perhaps) are equally unremarkable as this legendary Old Testament story is reduced to something distinctly pedestrian. Pity, it could have been much more intriguing and engaging - but as it is, I don't know that I will I bother watching it again.