David et Goliath

Released as David And Goliath, this is a very enjoyable classic Bible story. On the cover it is billed as an Orson Wells picture, however, Wells does not take the prominent focus. This movie explores the opposite side of the Philistenes gearing up for war against Israel, an aspect not usually covered in Bible stories. If you like classic film, this is definitely one that should be seen.

I was hoping this would not be so disjointed and out of wack from the actual biblical narrative, which is far superior. The best parts of the actual story are missing entirely.

King Saul has lost favor with God, war is imminent. The only man Saul is afraid of is the prophet Samuel. Samuel arrives to prophesies about a man that God will anoint a man king out of the land of Benjamin to rule over Israel - that man is David. David must fulfill the prophesy but King Saul is willing put up a battle or die before he will bow down to David and give up his throne. Before David can take the throne, he must fight Goliath. In the end, King David restores Saul back to the throne.

This is a pretty decent version of the biblical story. It's not a big long Epic tale but of a good length to give us a movie version (around an hour and a half long).

I do not rate films of this nature by how much it matches the bible tale nor do I rate these types of films by how much I believe the story is true. I rate them by how well entertained I was by them, how well it was filmed and acted out. My rating is not for my personal beliefs, but for how well I enjoyed it.

4/10

At first glance, the story of David and Goliath may seem to be a good pick for a filmed adaptation of a Bible story - most people know of the story even if they are not religious, and it's a classic underdog making good theme. But thinking about it a little, an obvious problem rears its head - it's a SHORT story. The screenwriters of this movie had the problem of stretching things out to feature film length, and in the process made the story a pretty long and boring one. It's made worse by the fact that there's hardly any action. Also, some gentle humor here and there would have helped as well. Another script problem is that it doesn't get into the heads of the main players very well. David seems to blindly follow God's commands, Goliath is more or less a growling thug, and King Saul (played by a clearly embarrassed Orson Welles) only has a few brief scenes. The look of the movie is okay, but it's not enough to stop you from drifting off to sleep as you watch.

It is very bizarre to be too critic about this film. It is one of , maybe, too many films inspired by ancient history and mythology , cheesy in deep sense, using a simple and not bad recipe, responding to the taste of public of "50-"60 s. Orson Welles as a king Saul reduced at his presence, in fact. A seductive Ivo Payer, maybe too old to be a reasonable David and, obvious, not the most convincing but a acceptable for a love story. Edward Hilton in a role of Samuel reflecting the wisedome of the word of God . And, dance or Massio Srato as gardener of bad seeds of angry for Saul. Short, a film reflecting a trend, naive, no doubts but sweet.