Sansão e Dalila

In 1949, I was 11years old and saw it in NYC when it was first released. My aunt Ethel, may she rest in peace, took me during Christmas vacation. I was mesmerized by it which led me to check out the story in that Chapter of the O.T. called Judges. And I remember being asked by my 6th or 7th grade teacher to do an oral report about the film before the class. I found it a bit awkward to discuss the idea of seduction at that time especially when I heard the pubescent girls giggling. At any rate I did make that report and remember displaying the book I had bought about the film right at the theater. I estimate from age 11 to 14, I saw the film a dozen times and I'm not kidding. In my adulthood, I saw it once on free TV and rented it once for kicks. Quite honestly, I never saw a more beautiful woman than Hedy in that role. And Victor was perfect thanks to his countenance and physique. After seeing it first and then reading the story in the O.T. I came to the conclusion that the film certainly was factual and illuminating. The bible came alive thanks to the genius of Cecil B.DeMille. The special effects were brilliant, way ahead of its time. What I especially loved about this film was the haunting score by Victor Young and I do remember going out to buy it on 78 rpm disks. And I do have the radio program on cassette, "Lux Presents Hollywood-Samson and Delilah starring Mature and Lamarr. That last scene will always stick in my mind as Samson, standing blind between the two main pillars of the Temple of Dagon, the Phillistine God,called on Jehovah to give him the strength to crush his enemies and WHAT A SCENE FOLLOWED. Good heavens, DeMille was indeed a GENIUS! I recommend the film to EVERYONE because of the amazing story, color

I first saw this as a kid in the early 80s n was blown away by the lion fight sequence n the climax scene of that of Dagon's towering idol.

Saw many times aft that n coincidentally revisited it again on this Easter (04/04/21).

This one is a classic action movie n i still found it very captivating.

The film was very violent for its times. Samson using a jawbone of a donkey to crush skulls like eggs thru helmets is very brutal.

The film's special effects are noteworthy and the most spectacular special effect in the film is the toppling of the temple of Dagon.

Cecil B. DeMille is best remembered for his biblical epics, even though in a forty-year, eighty-film career he only made four of them. It wasn't just that the bible pictures gave him some of his biggest hits; it was in these features that DeMille seemed most at home, and the one genre in which he had unique ability.

Samson and Delilah brought an end to a long phase of epic-cum-adventure movies from DeMille. This period, beginning with The Plainsman in 1936, had some of the weakest pictures of his career for a number of reasons. For one thing, DeMille was not really very good at individualistic action scenes, and there was too much DeMillean historical grandeur and not enough of the free-spirited feel of the Errol Flynn or Tyrone power swashbucklers he was to some extent an trying to copy. What's more, these were mostly original stories or, at least, ones which were not well known, and DeMille's poor choice of source material and screenwriters meant the new characters and situations tended towards the feeble. DeMille's strength lay in his staging and presentation of a familiar tale, and as such his return to Sunday-school moralising, stuffy and pompous though it may be, is apt and welcome.

You see, DeMille was probably aware on some level that although these fables were well-known in a largely Christian society, to a modern audience they were also historically distant, emotionally neutral and even ridiculous when presented literally. But DeMille never attempted any humanity or realism in his features, instead turning the remote, mythical nature of the stories into a virtue, portraying his subject matter with a kind of dignity and grace. Of course most ancient world epics do this to some extent, but DeMille did it the most effectively because he never demanded that the audience sympathise with the characters, merely that we marvel at their deeds.

Specifically, DeMille composes the picture with overstated gesturing and painterly tableau, like a Gustave Dore print come to life. This is combined with the vivid colours of a bible stories illustration, coded with drab shades for humbleness and virtue, garish ones for extravagance and sin. Throughout, DeMille's flair for dreamlike, rhythmic motion keeps the images flowing, most notably in the establishing tracking shot at the wedding feast - although if you watch closely you'll see one of the two men engaged in a mock swordfight is actually camply slapping his opponent with a feather duster.

And DeMille was perhaps unique in that he even used the imagery to turn God into a character. You can see from one of his much earlier religious pictures, 1929's The Godless Girl, that DeMille associated God with natural beauty, and in Samson and Delilah God makes several key "appearances" as a breathtaking skyscape. This touch would be expanded upon in the 1956 version of Ten Commandments.

It's a pity DeMille didn't associate God with good acting, because even the theatrical presentation on offer here could do with at least some half-decent hamming. The trouble is DeMille chose his actors for their physicality, not for their ability to qualify their job description. In this respect Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr are natural choices. DeMille's business associate Henry Wilcoxon, whom the director unbelievably used to cast in lead roles, is as wooden as ever, and the somewhat hit-and-miss Angela Lansbury, misses this time. The only standout is George Sanders who proves, just as Herbert Marshall did in DeMille's Four Frightened People, that bad dialogue becomes bearable if you underplay it.

Fortunately when it came to crew DeMille always procured the best. Samson and Delilah boasts Oscar-winning costumes and art direction from no less personages than Edith Head and Hans Dreier respectively. The Technicolor cinematography is great, with some remarkably clear night time shots. Some of the effects may be a little dubious; whenever Victor Mature lifts up something heavy it's obvious it's being hoisted from offscreen, and that woolly-rug/lion tamer scene is actually betrayed by bad editing, but overall this is a solid, high-quality production.

Yes, Samson and Delilah is as corny as anything, but it looks great, and above all it entertains. Don't be too harsh on DeMille's staginess or his archaic moralism, for as his willing appearance as himself in Sunset Boulevard proves, he probably didn't have a sense of irony. And his earnestness was probably his greatest asset.

By the time the 1940s were rolling around, Cecil B. DeMille was doing a lot less work, but the work was getting more expensive. DeMille took off a couple of years now between films to create the opulent splendor that typifies his work.

Well Samson and Delilah abounds in opulence. The color cinematography is first rate and reason enough to see the film. Of course it has the usual stilted dialog that is common in DeMille's costume work. But one has to remember that DeMille made his show business bones with David Belasco in the Edwardian era. And that's how folks talked in those Belasco plays.

Acting honors in this go to George Sanders as the Saran of Gaza, Philistine ruler and sophisticated cad. This was the height of Sanders career, he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for All About Eve the same year. I think the Saran and Addison DeWitt would have understood each other very well.

Angela Lansbury is the original object of Samson's lust and she does okay, but personally if you had the choice between Jessica Fletcher and Tondelayo, who would you choose? Is that ever a no-brainer.

DeMille got a couple of loan-outs to play the leads. Hedy Lamarr could easily lay claim to be the most beautiful woman in the cinema. She never had much acting skill, but all she has to do is be seductive and that no one could do better.

And Victor Mature away from his home studio of 20th Century Fox where he was languishing, Samson and Delilah provided a whole new vista for him with roles in spectacle pictures where he could truly be that beautiful hunk of man.

Fay Holden is good as Samson's mother. In modern times I can just hear her telling him about settling down with a good Jewish girl.

This film is a must for everyone who loves Technicolor, great actors and great movies. Mature is a wonderful Samson but Hedy Lamarr is the definitive incarnation of beauty. She is also a very good actress and directed by De Mille gets her screen triumph. Watch this over and over again and you'll not be tired.