David e Golia

Passable Italian Biblical movie about two great kings and shot in various locations as Yugoslavia , Amato Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy , Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, and Jerusalem, Israel . A biopic about two first Israel Kings : Saul (Orson Welles who gives overacting) and David (Ivo Payer) , including great battles , drama , love and hatred , being some moments carried out in slow moving . The picture focuses their epic lives retelling their complicated relationship , rebellion , battles and the intrincacies in taking over the kingdom of Israel . Saul and David are very human figures who are recorded in the Bible : Samuel , Books 1 ,2 . The continued threat and domination of invaders countries : Amalacitas , Amonitas , Moabitas and Philistines forced the Jewish tribes uniting under a strong king , Saul . Later on , the notorious prophet Samuel (Hilton Edwards) under divine inspiration appoints David as king . King Saul is jealous of the fame and adoration of David , who vanquished Goliath and defeated Philistines .

This Biblical story packs drama , familiar confrontations , court intrigues , impressive combats and a strong battle of wills between Saul/Orson Welles along with his underlings as Massimo Serato against David/Ivo Payer . Highlights of the movie are the breathtaking battles shot in Jerusalem and Italy , location by that time was filmed several Biblical spectacles. It contains nice set decoration , interior well filmed in De Paolis studios , and decent art direction but some scenes seem to be a little bit boring that it makes stately pace . Duo protagonist is acceptable and support cast is plenty of Italian actors as Eleonora Rossi Drago , Massimo Serato , Giulia Rubini , Pierre Cressoy , Gabriele Tinti , among others. The motion picture was professionally directed by Ferdinando Baldi and Richard Pottier but it has several flaws and gaps . Ferdinando Baldi has written/directed other epics and Peplum in similar style as In the Shadow of the Eagles , Battle of Germania , The Son of Cleopatra , Pedro il Cruel , Taras Bulba , and Orazi e Curiazi .

David is one of the most important Biblical figures , David is richly represented in post-biblical Jewish written and oral tradition, and is discussed in the New Testament. Early Christians interpreted the life of Jesus in light of the references to the Messiah and to David; Jesus is described as being descended from David. David is discussed in the Quran as a major prophet and figures in Islamic oral and written tradition as well. The biblical character of David has inspired many interpretations in art and literature over centuries.he is described in the Hebrew Bible as the third king of the United Monarchy of Israel and Judah, becoming king after Ish-bosheth . In the Books of Samuel, David is a young shepherd who gains fame first as a musician and later by killing the enemy champion Goliath. He becomes a favorite of King Saul and a close friend of Saul's son Jonathan. Worried that David is trying to take his throne, Saul turns on David. Later on , David claimed his rights for his marriage to Saul's daughter , Michal . After Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle, David is appointed as King. David conquers Jerusalem, taking the Ark of the Covenant into the city, and establishing the kingdom founded by Saul. As king, David commits adultery with Bathsheba, leading him to arrange the death of her husband Uriah the Hittite. Because of this sin, David's son Absalom tries to overthrow him. David flees Jerusalem during Absalom's rebellion, but after Absalom's death he returns to the city to rule Israel. Because David shed much blood,God denies David the opportunity to build the temple. Before his peaceful death, he chooses his son Solomon as successor. He is honored in the prophetic literature as an ideal king and the forefather of a future Messiah, and many psalms are ascribed to him. Historians of the Ancient Near East agree that David probably existed around 1000 BCE, but that there is little that can be said about him as a historical figure. It was initially thought that there was no evidence outside of the Bible concerning David, but the Tel Dan Stele, an inscribed stone erected by a king of Damascus in the late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE to commemorate his victory over two enemy kings, contains the phrase in Hebrew: "House of David".

Other movies concerning these Biblic kings are the following ones : ¨David and Bathsheba¨(51) by Henry King with Susan Hayward , Gregory Peck , Kieron Moore . David and Goliath¨ by Ferdinando Baldi with Orson Welles , Ivo Garrani , Ivo Payer , ¨A story of David¨ (61) with Jeff Chandler , Basil Sidney , Donald Pleasance . ¨Saul and David¨ 1964 by Marcello Baldi with Norman Wooland , Gianni Garko , Luz Márquez , Virgilio Teixeira , Pilar Clemens , Elisa Cegani , Carlos Casaravilla , Antonio Mayans. ¨King David¨(1985) by Bruce Beresford with Richard Gere , Cherie Lunghi , Edward Woodward , Alice Krige and ¨David¨(1997) by Robert Markowitz with Nathaliel Parker , Jonathan Pryce , Sheryl Lee , Leonard Nimoy , Ben Daniels.

In Jerusalem, the wicked King Saul (Orson Welles) is visited by the Prophet Samuel (Edward Hilton) after losing the Arch of the Alliance in a war against Asrod (Furio Meniconi), King of the Philistines. Samuel advises that God is not happy with him and the new king of Jerusalem would come from Bethlehem.

Meanwhile the shepherd David (Ivo Payer) loses his sweetheart and soon he is summoned by Samuel to go to Jerusalem as the chosen by God. He becomes King Saul's adviser, but the ambitious Captain Abner (Massimo Serato) plots a scheme to get rid of David, and convinces King Saul to send him as an emissary to meet King Asrod. David is challenged by Asrod to fight against the giant Goliath (Kronos) and the impossible happens: David wins Goliath.

"David e Golia" is a cheesy Italian epic based on a biblical story from the Old Testament and with the attraction of Orson Welles in the role of King Saul of Jerusalem. The sets are poor, most of the acting is only reasonable but this movie is not bad, for a Sunday afternoon. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "David e Golias" ("David and Goliath")

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.

This Italian made sand and sandal epic would probably be long forgotten were it not for the presence of Orson Welles as King Saul. Certainly the man who played David in David and Goliath, Ivo Payer, certainly did not enter the ranks of screen immortals.

David and Goliath took as many liberties with scripture as any good Cecil B. DeMille film, but without DeMille's sense of grandeur and spectacle. For instance in this film as a result of the battle where David defeats Goliath and the Philistines are routed, the Ark of the Covenant which the Philistines had captured is returned. Actually those are separate incidents that are not connected at all.

Another thing is that at least I've always interpreted David to be a rather callow youth when he was doing his shepherd thing before God sent Samuel looking for him. And he's still a callow youth when he's in battle with Goliath. The old Negro spiritual is called Little David Play On Your Harp, not without reason.

Ivo Payer is a rather muscular young man looking like he stepped from of those Italian muscle man epics so popular at the time. Of course the sight of all that bare chested beefcake sent many hearts fluttering in the audience. In that sense David and Goliath is right in the DeMille tradition.

The only reason this film is remembered if at all today is because of Orson Welles. Welles at the time was picking up work here and there to finance his own projects. Sometimes it would be something as good as Compulsion the year before, more often it was something like David and Goliath.

Still Welles is a consummate professional and he invests Saul with an air of tragedy about him. At the point we meet Saul, God has already decided he's not the man for the job as King of Israel. But Saul is not about to accept that verdict. If he can't beat David head on, he'll try and co-op David by bringing him into his household and matching him up with his daughter.

And of course there's Saul's son Jonathan. He's there, but none of the business about a gay relationship between David and Jonathan is in this film. Jonathan knows full well that his father has lost favor with the Lord and he's aware of his father's character weaknesses. He too, befriends David more out of a sense of survival than anything else.

English actor Hilton Edwards plays Samuel the Prophet and he comes across as a poor man's version of Finlay Currie. He's the only other English speaking player in the cast besides Orson Welles.

David and Goliath will not pass muster with either biblical scholars or with lovers of big screen spectacle. Still fans of Orson Welles will want to see this film to see how much a great talent can lift even a piece of mediocrity to a level of some respectability.

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