Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

Solomon and the Queen of Sheba ( Solomon and Sheba ) is an American film directed by King Vidor and released in 1959 .

Synopsis

Around 1000 , David , aged 70, King of the Land of Israel , must hand over power to one of his sons: Prince Adonias is a great warlord and Prince Solomon is a wise and peaceful man . David has a dream where God tells him that his kingdom will be more prosperous and happy by peace than by war. He therefore designates Solomon as his successor.

Solomon must then reign while resisting against his powerful neighbor the Pharaoh of Egypt Siamon who wants to annihilate him. In addition, his older half-brother Adonias wants to kill him to recover the throne despite the last wishes of their father David, and the beautiful Queen of Sheba (kingdom located somewhere between Yemen and Ethiopia ), an accomplice of the Pharaoh Egypt visits him with the intention of seducing him to find his weak spots and destroy him. But the two powerful and alluring sovereigns fall in love with each other. The Queen of Sheba, conquered by the wisdom of Solomon, finally wants to convert with his people to his God …

Technical sheet

  • Original title: Solomon and Sheba
  • French title: Salomon and the Queen of Sheba
  • Director: King Vidor , assisted by Noël Howard and Bernard Vorhaus
  • Scenario: Anthony Veiller , George Bruce, and Paul Dudley from Crane Wilbur’s Biblical Story
  • Sets: Richard Day , Alfred Sweeney , Dario Simoni
  • Costumes: Ralph Jester
  • Makeup: John O’Gorman , Tom Smith , Thomas Tuttle
  • Hairstyles: Anne Box
  • Photography: Freddie Young
  • Sound: David Hildyard
  • Editing: Otto Ludwig
  • Music: Mario Nascimbene
  • Producers: Ben Goetz , Ted Richmond , Edward Small
  • Production Company: Theme Pictures (United States)
  • Distribution Companies: United Artists (Germany, United States, France), Les Films Coronis (France) (France)
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Original language: English
  • Format: color by Technicolor :
    • 35mm Version – 2.35: 1 CinemaScope – monophonic sound
    • Version 70 mm – 2.20: 1 Technirama – 6-track stereophonic sound
  • Genre: peplum , historical film
  • Duration: 141 minutes
  • Release dates:
    • Japan :
    • France :
    • United States :
  • (en) CNC classification : all public (operating visa o 22546 issued)

Distribution

  • Yul Brynner ( VF : Yul Brynner ) : King Solomon
  • Gina Lollobrigida ( VF : Gina Lollobrigida ) : The Queen of Sheba
  • George Sanders ( VF : Marc Valbel ) : Adonias
  • Marisa Pavan ( VF : Jeanine Freson ) : Abisag
  • Finlay Currie ( VF : Jean Toulout ) : King David
  • David Farrar ( VF : André Valmy ) : the pharaoh Siamon
  • Harry Andrews ( VF : Serge Nadaud ) : Baltor
  • Julio Peña ( VF : Abel Jacquin ) : Zadok
  • John Crawford : Joab
  • José Nieto : Ahab
  • Alejandro Rey : Sittar
  • Jack Gwillim : Josiah
  • Jean Anderson ( VF : Delia Col ) : Takyan
  • Laurence Naismith : Hezrai
  • Claude Dantes ( VF : Maria Tamar) : real mother of the child
  • Felix de Pomes ( VF : Pierre Morin ) : The Egyptian General

Production

Genesis

The filming of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba was undertaken in Spain onwith Gina Lollobrigida as Queen of Sheba and Tyrone Power as Solomon and also co-producer. The, the actor has a heart attack during the shooting of the scene of the final duel with George Sanders and, rushed to a hospital in Madrid, is declared dead on his arrival. Two days later, Variety magazine announced that Yul Brynner would have been chosen to take over the role of Solomon. On November 20 , the Los Angeles Mirror-News confirms that Yul Brynner is actually remembered and that all the scenes where Tyrone Power appeared would be shot again with him. The LA Mirror-Newsalso indicates that Ted Richmond, co-producer of the film with his friend Tyrone Power, deeply affected by the death of it, could withdraw from the production. On November 21 , The Hollywood Reporter writes that producer Ben Goetz should travel to Madrid to take control of production without changing the status of Ted Richmond and King Vidor . Although all previous articles have indicated that all scenes would be remade with Yul Brynner, the production hopes that the many scenes already shot with Tyrone Power not appearing close up could be used. But theVariety magazine reports that this was not possible, despite the good will of King Vidor, because of significant morphological differences between the two actors 1 .

Casting

  • Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida , both fluent in Molière’s language, provide dubbing in French .
  • Marisa Pavan , who plays Abisag , is the twin sister of the famous actress Pier Angeli .

Shooting

  • Shooting period: at the end of February 1959 2 , 1 .
  • Exteriors in Spain : Monastery of El Escorial , Madrid , Palace of Manzanares el Real  (in) , San Martín de la Vega , Valdespartera Zaragoza 2 , 1 .

Notes and references

  1. ↑ a , b, and c Source: The TCM Movie Database United States .
  2. ↑ a and b Source: BiFi .

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