David and Bathsheba (1951)
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor 116m
Director: Henry King
Cast: Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Raymond Massey, Kieron Moore, James Robertson Justice (who for some reason the Studios thought cut out for subservience, cf. Land of the Pharoahs)
Synopsis:
King David sees Bathsheba, the wife of one of his captains, and begins an affair with her. When she falls pregnant, he engineers the death of her dutiful husband in order to marry her and disguise the adultery.
Review:
Fox tried to repeat the success of De Mille's Samson and Delilah for Paramount with this other great Old Testament scorcher. Unfortunately, though King was a safe pair of hands for literary/historical pieces, he does not quite deliver the relish of a De Mille, and the stars have all the sex appeal of a couple of headteachers on a conference weekend. The Technicolor looks great, like pictures from a children's Bible come to life, and an early stoning scene provides suitably chilling notice of Bathsheba's likely fate, but the narrative is mighty low on dramatic tension, and the final deliverance as incomprehensible as Jehovah's celebrated partiality. The whole story merits only a chapter in the book of Samuel, and one understands why.
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor 116m
Director: Henry King
Cast: Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Raymond Massey, Kieron Moore, James Robertson Justice (who for some reason the Studios thought cut out for subservience, cf. Land of the Pharoahs)
Synopsis:
King David sees Bathsheba, the wife of one of his captains, and begins an affair with her. When she falls pregnant, he engineers the death of her dutiful husband in order to marry her and disguise the adultery.
Review:
Fox tried to repeat the success of De Mille's Samson and Delilah for Paramount with this other great Old Testament scorcher. Unfortunately, though King was a safe pair of hands for literary/historical pieces, he does not quite deliver the relish of a De Mille, and the stars have all the sex appeal of a couple of headteachers on a conference weekend. The Technicolor looks great, like pictures from a children's Bible come to life, and an early stoning scene provides suitably chilling notice of Bathsheba's likely fate, but the narrative is mighty low on dramatic tension, and the final deliverance as incomprehensible as Jehovah's celebrated partiality. The whole story merits only a chapter in the book of Samuel, and one understands why.
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor 116m
Director: Henry King
Cast: Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Raymond Massey, Kieron Moore, James Robertson Justice (who for some reason the Studios thought cut out for subservience, cf. Land of the Pharoahs)
Synopsis:
King David sees Bathsheba, the wife of one of his captains, and begins an affair with her. When she falls pregnant, he engineers the death of her dutiful husband in order to marry her and disguise the adultery.
Review:
Fox tried to repeat the success of De Mille's Samson and Delilah for Paramount with this other great Old Testament scorcher. Unfortunately, though King was a safe pair of hands for literary/historical pieces, he does not quite deliver the relish of a De Mille, and the stars have all the sex appeal of a couple of headteachers on a conference weekend. The Technicolor looks great, like pictures from a children's Bible come to life, and an early stoning scene provides suitably chilling notice of Bathsheba's likely fate, but the narrative is mighty low on dramatic tension, and the final deliverance as incomprehensible as Jehovah's celebrated partiality. The whole story merits only a chapter in the book of Samuel, and one understands why.