Solomon and Sheba

_**Hollywood’s account of wise King Solomon’s reign in Israel, including his folly**_ In the 10th Century BC, elderly King David’s reign is ending and there’s a dispute between siblings Adonijah (George Sanders) and Solomon (Yul Brynner) about who will take over the kingdom. Once this is settled, the Queen of Sheba (Gina Lollobrigida) visits Israel for dubious reasons and Solomon becomes entranced. “Solomon and Sheba” (1959) is a biblical epic covering the first eleven chapters of 1 Kings with bits & pieces of other scriptural characters/stories thrown in, plus the fabrication that Solomon had an affair with the Queen of Sheba. In truth, the Queen visited Israel because she heard of Solomon’s great wisdom and wanted to test it for herself, plus witness the splendor of the renowned kingdom. While the movie shows Solomon’s harem of hundreds of wives & concubines, the scriptwriters decided to make the Queen of Sheba a microcosm of these women for dramatic purposes. So it’s true that Solomon’s foreign wives led him astray into idolatry and disfavor with the LORD, it just wasn’t the Queen of Sheba who did it. Nevertheless, I thought there were enough historical truths to roll with the film and appreciate it despite its fabrications and bloated talky-ness. For instance, Adonijah really did seek to usurp the throne, but the way the story evolves in the movie is false. Yet I liked the inclusion of several real-life characters beyond those already mentioned, like Bathsheba, Abishag, Joab, Nathan, Zadok and Pharaoh. Meanwhile Brynner is stately as the protagonist and Gina is ravishing, not to mention the costumes, sets, action pieces and score are all well done. Speaking of the score, power rock/metal bands of the 70s-90s were obviously influenced by parts of it (e.g. Rainbow, Savatage, Manowar, Crimson Glory, Bathory, Jag Panzer and so on). Rock ‘n’ roll bands of the late 50s-early 60s certainly weren’t playing this kind of dramatic stuff with their pop ditties! Interesting trivia: Tyrone Power originally played Solomon and two-thirds of the film was shot with him when he suddenly died after the sword duel with George Sanders (Adonijah), which is when Brynner was brought in for the starring role and the movie was completed in ten more weeks. Director King Vidor preferred Power because he depicted Solomon’s conflicted spirit better whereas he believed Yul played him with too much self-assurance. While the troubled film turned out to be a box office success, it would be Vidor’s final feature film. It’s worth checking out if the topic and actors interest you, but it’s not as compelling as “Samson and Delilah” (1949), “The Ten Commandments” (1956) and “Ben-Hur” (1959). Still, it’s not far off; you just have to be willing to swing with the alterations to history. The movie runs 2 hours, 21 minutes, and was shot entirely in Spain. GRADE: B-