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Columbia Pictures
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The Glory And Excitement Of Rome... In All Its Greatness and Badness!
In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias. The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a prophecy. Enter beautiful Princess Salome, Herod's long-absent stepdaughter. Herodias sees the king's dawning lust for Salome as her means of bending the king to her will. But Salome and her lover Claudius are (contrary to Scripture) nearing conversion to the new religion. And the famous climactic dance turns out to have unexpected implications...
CinemaSerf
Mar 28, 2022 · via TMDB
This is one of those films that just doesn't ever quite spark - despite a cast that ought to have delivered an epic. Charles Laughton and Judith Anderson gel well as the rulers of Judea under Roman occupation. When her daughter (Rita Hayworth) returns home, she starts to use her feminine wiles on her stepfather to force him to face his fears and deal with the errant John the Baptist (Alan Bedel) as well as on garrison commander Stewart Granger ("Capt. Claudius"). It's not especially faithful to the original biblical text, but that doesn't really matter- it's still a colourful historical romp that culminates in the now infamous "Dance of the Seven Veils". Granger is not really on to form here, his part is somewhat stifled by a rather dry dialogue and lots of scenes with a really wooden Basil Sydney (Pontius Pilate) and Badel just hams it up with his theatrical performance as the prophet. Still worth watching, though - just not anywhere near as good as it ought to have been.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Rita Hayworth
Princess Salome
Charles Laughton
King Herod
Stewart Granger
Commander Claudius
Judith Anderson
Queen Herodias
Alan Badel
John the Baptist
Cedric Hardwicke
Tiberius Caesar
Basil Sydney
Pontius Pilate
Maurice Schwartz
Ezra the King's Advisor
Arnold Moss
Micha
Karl 'Killer' Davis
Slave Master
Rex Reason
Marcellus Fabius
Charles Lang
Director of Photography
Jean Louis
Costume Design
William Dieterle
Director
Viola Lawrence
Editor
Buddy Adler
Producer
Rita Hayworth
Producer
George Duning
Original Music Composer
Jesse Lasky Jr.
Story
Gladiator
Doctor Who: The Romans
Ben-Hur
Paul, Apostle of Christ
The Passion of the Christ
Spartacus
Cabiria
Quo Vadis
Agora
Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert
Barabbas
Spartacus
The Degenerates
The Fall of the Roman Empire
King Arthur
Centurion
The Eagle
Caesar and Cleopatra
Legend of Destruction
Cleopatra
Caligula
The Fall of Rome
Challenge of the Gladiator
Boudica
Amazons and Gladiators
476 A.D. Chapter One: The Last Light of Aries
The Last Roman God
Life in a Year
Purple Hearts
The Best of Me
Love Everlasting
Center Stage: Turn It Up
The Fugitive Kind
Endless Love
The Lost Husband
Nobody Has to Know
Two for the Seesaw
Footloose
The Sleeping Dictionary
Blood and Sand
Starving in Suburbia
Ali and Nino
The History of Love
Five Dances
Not Easily Broken
We
Departure
Racing with the Moon
TalhotBlond
Winter's Tale
The Yellow Handkerchief
Blind
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between
Nine Lives
I'm in Love with a Church Girl
Come Sunday
Mar 24, 1953
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Wasting, sinking, dazzling, floating
2024
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1926
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Battle your watched movies head-to-head
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Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
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2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
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