★ 7 / 10
Maybe not one of Cecil B. De Mille's
CinemaSerf
Maybe not one of Cecil B. De Mille's better biblical epics, this, but it's still an enjoyable, if slightly long, watch with Hedy Lamarr on good form as the…
Maybe not one of Cecil B. De Mille's better biblical epics, this, but it's still an enjoyable, if slightly long, watch with Hedy Lamarr on good form as the eponymous temptress. Snubbed by "Samson" (Victor Mature) in favour of her beautiful but fickle sister "Samadar" (Angela Lansbury) whom is subsequently killed, she sets out - with the aid of the Saran of Gaza (George Sanders), to find the secret behind the strength of the handsome, strong and decent man and use it do ensure his disgrace and downfall. De Mille uses a certain amount of cinematic licence with the biblical verses upon which this is based, but that does it no harm - it is a live, fairly action-packed romantic adventure that looks every inch the part. Sumptuous settings and costumes give it a visual richness and Victor Young has written a score than accompanies the grandeur of the visuals well, too. The acting, well that's quite another matter though. Lamarr is efficient, certainly, but Mature and Sanders are both as wooden as a picket fence. They deliver their dialogue as if they were reading it straight from off-screen cue cards. There is a great deal of activity filmed on sound stages that, though colourful, does limit the imagination (especially the terrifying stuffed lion that starts off the whole enterprise in the first place). George Barnes did try quite hard to photograph the legendary denouement creatively, but even that is just too stage bound to be wholly effective. Luckily, for me anyway, it leaves out much of the moralising. It's about power, avarice, betrayal, maybe even love and ultimately redemption but the narrative is left to deliver what messages we choose to receive, rather than having pontificating monologues aimed between our eyes. That helps to keep this a decent example of entertaining, big screen cinema that delivers a feast for your eyes, if not so much for your brain.
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★ 8 / 10
One of the better biblical epics....
tambourine33
I've always loved this film. Granted, somehow it does not generate the 'huge epic' feel of some of the director's other work but it is a great film to sit down…
I've always loved this film. Granted, somehow it does not generate the 'huge epic' feel of some of the director's other work but it is a great film to sit down and relax in front of. Opulent costume design, good casting and excellent cinematography make this one of the better biblical epics that were being produced at the time.Victor Mature, a fine physical specimen of the male physique, seems to fit perfectly into the role of the brooding and oft-troubled Samson. Burt Lancaster, I'm told, was the original choice for the part which I think would have been a bad choice. Although Lancaster is a better actor, on purely aesthetic grounds, the Mediterranean featured, tousle-locked Mature fitted better into the location.George Sanders is superb as the Saran of Gaza. One of the other reviewers on this website said he portrayed a "sophisticated cad" which is the best description I have ever heard of Mr Sanders in this role or any other for that matter.The absolute star of the show is the movie's other lead actor, Hedy Lamarr. This was undoubtedly the finest hour of an actress who either, curiously passed up or was just overlooked for many other leading parts. Hedy sets the screen on fire as the sensual and wicked Delilah, playing with and dragging every man on screen and in the audience in her wake. Many have questioned her acting ability. Truth is I doubt we shall ever really find out. Poor choice of scripts and directors resulted in her being pushed to the sidelines at MGM and eventually and sadly into complete obscurity.
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★ 7 / 10
The man has the strength of a Devil! No he has the strength of a God!
sol-kay
Biblical epic that became the biggest hit, up until then, in Paramount Pictures history. The story about the Hebrew Hercules Samson, Victor Mature, who…
Biblical epic that became the biggest hit, up until then, in Paramount Pictures history. The story about the Hebrew Hercules Samson, Victor Mature, who redeemed himself from a life of foolhardiness and slavery by taking down the Temple of Dagon, the Philistine Idol God. Samson not only destroyed Dagon's temple he took the lives, together with his own, of 3,000 of his bitter enemies and tormentors in the movies', Samson and Delilah, spectacular and ground shaking final scene.
Never living up to what God wanted from him, to lead his people the ancient Israelites against the hated and occupying Philistines, Samson instead lead a life of womanizing and partying mostly with the Philistines who more then anything else wanted him dead. Because of his super-human strength Samson felt safe from anything that the Philistines could do to him, killing hundreds who tried, in capturing or killing the biblical strongman.
It's when the Philistine temptress the drop-dead gorgeous Delilah, Hedy Lamarr, got to work on the big guy that he left himself open to be captured, by the Philistine army, in revealing the source of his strength; His black curly locks of hair on his head. Blinded, with a red hot iron put to his eyes, Samson was then forced to pull the grind-mill and made to look helpless as he was brutally mocked and tortured by his Philistine captors.
As the days weeks and months went by and his hair, the source of his great strength, grew back Samson with Delilah's, who had since repented what she did to him, help then planned to finish the job that he never really started; annihilate his and his peoples enslavers the hated Philistines. Samson did it by, with Delilah's leading him to them, tearing down the pillars that held up Dagan's temple and thus bringing the entire house down.
The film "Samson and Delilah" still holds up quite well despite it's bargain basement, compared to those now, special effects. Victor Mature as Samson was at his best being able to show off his hunky body without having to wear a suit and tie, as well as pants, like in his previous blockbusters "Kiss of Death" and My Darling Clementine". Heady Lamarr in her first Technicolor movie showed why she was considered to be, just get a load of her violet/lavender eyes, the most beautiful women in the world at that, back in 1950, time.
The movies director Cecil B. DeMille really had very little to go on in making the biblical blockbuster in that it was based on only four chapters, the 13 to 16, of the Book of Judges. It was an obscure 1930 German language novel "the Judge and the Fool" by Vladimir Jabotinsky that filled in all the gaps and made a full length two hour plus film about the subject, Samson & Delilah, possible.
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a woman is always behind the downfall of historys greatest