Salomé

Epic films based upon the Bible were popular in the 1950s, but sometimes they were only very loosely so based. "Salome" is a case in point. The "damsel" whose seductive dance before King Herod led to the execution of John the Baptist is not actually named in the New Testament, but tradition has identified her with Princess Salome, the daughter of Queen Herodias and the niece and stepdaughter of Herod. She has traditionally been painted as the ultimate Bad Girl, a wanton teenage temptress whose thoughtless cruelty led to John's death.

Well, in this film Salome is no longer a teenager but a mature beauty in her mid-thirties. (Rita Hayworth would have been 35 in 1953). More importantly, she is no longer a Bad Girl. (The studio, apparently, did not want Rita to play a villainess). To begin with, she is proud and independent-minded, but gradually softens under the influence of John's teaching and eventually converts to Christianity. (A "Salome" is numbered among Christ's followers in Mark's Gospel, but this is generally believed to have been a different person). Yes, she still gets to perform her sexy "Dance of the Seven Veils", but her motives for doing so are the precise opposite of those attributed to her in the Scriptures. In this version she is dancing in the hope that she can thereby influence the King to spare John's life.

As the film opens, Salome is living in Rome, where she has lived for most of her life. She has fallen in love with Marcellus, nephew of the Emperor Tiberius, but he forbids their marriage, not wanting a member of his family to marry a "barbarian", and exiles her back to Galilee. Once there she finds herself in a complicated political situation, made more complex by the teachings of the Baptist who condemns Herod's rule and his adulterous marriage to his brother's wife. Herodias is furious, and demands that her husband condemn the Baptist to death for treason, but he is reluctant to do so, believing that he will be cursed if he does; his reluctance makes their already unhappy marriage even more strained. In the meantime, Salome has found a new boyfriend, the handsome Roman soldier Claudius, who shares her interest in John's teaching.

Some later Biblical epics were an odd mixture of godliness and sexiness, combining an improving Christian moral with plenty of bare flesh on display. An example is "Esther and the King" in which Queen Vashti (who in the Bible is banished for refusing her husband's command to "show the people and the princes her beauty") gets into hot water for quite the opposite offence, that of showing them more of her beauty than she should by stripping down to her panties in the Royal Palace. In 1953, however, the Production Code was more rigidly enforced, so "Salome" is, on the surface at least, more godly than sexy. Hayworth's dance is really a Dance of the Six Veils, as she never removes the seventh and therefore remains fairly modestly clad to the end.

Below that surface, however, there is a lot going on. Hayworth, as lovely in her thirties as she had been a decade earlier, was gifted enough, both as an actress and as a dancer, to convey a great deal of erotic allure even when fully clothed, and although the censors could come down hard on any explicit displays of nudity, this sort of subtle sexuality was much more difficult for them to control. "Salome" is far from being Rita's greatest film (that was probably "Gilda"), but that dance is one of her greatest moments. (She later claimed it was "the most demanding of her entire career" as the director William Dieterle demanded endless retakes).

Among the other actors, the best contribution comes from Charles Laughton as the slimily lecherous Herod. Laughton had a tendency to overact, but in a role like this overacting is not necessarily a bad thing. Easily the worst comes from Alan Badel, playing John the Baptist not so much as a prophet as a swivel-eyed religious maniac, the first- century Galilean equivalent of a Hyde Park soapbox preacher. Judith Anderson is good as Herodias, but Stewart Granger is a bit wooden as Claudius, possibly because his character does not have much to do except stand around to provide a love-interest for the leading lady.

"Salome" will never, in my opinion at least, rank alongside the grand epics like "Ben-Hur" or "Spartacus"; there is too much of the smell of cheesy Hollywood sanctimoniousness about it. It does, however, have its virtues, and is certainly better than the likes of "Esther and the King", "The Silver Chalice" or "Sodom and Gomorrah", all of which do not just smell of sanctimoniousness but positively reek of it. It makes enjoyable, if undemanding, watching on a Sunday afternoon. 6/10

Some goofs. Claudius and Pontius Pilate refer to their military service in Britain, but Britain was not a Roman province during the reign of Tiberius. And whatever persuaded the scriptwriter that Gila monsters (natives of Mexico and the American South-West) are to be found in Israel?

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

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.

As we all know that Princess Salome,(Rita Hayworth) danced for King Herod,(Charles Laughton) in order to gain his favor and requested that John the Baptist's head would be removed and placed on a silver platter and given to the king. However, Hollywood changed the Bible version and made Salome look like a kind and loving Princess who loved the Christian way of thinking and living and wanted to save John The Baptist from being killed. Stewart Granger,(Commander Claudis) soon become the lover of Princess Salome after she had fought with him constantly and told him she wanted nothing to do with a Roman. King Herod and Queen Herodus (Judith Anderson)was living in adultery since she was married to another man and living with King Herod. Rita Hayworth was an experienced dancer and this was one of her best films in 1953.