Solomon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Solomon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 6, 2017

Note: This film is available as part of the box set The Bible Stories Collection.

That oft quoted adage “the book was better” might never be more appropriate than in adaptations culled from the Bible. How can mere mortals hope to compete with what many believe is a Divinely inspired collection of writings? That of course hasn’t stopped a lot of mere mortals from trying, and Biblical stories have been a staple of first film and, later, television outings virtually from the time these media were invented. While the big screen Biblical epics of the 1950s and 1960s were often kind of silly ( David and Bathsheba), or alternatively overly reverential and therefore kind of stodgy (The Greatest Story Ever Told), they typically (though not always) brought audiences in to delight not just in the pomp and circumstance, but also perhaps to blandish any qualms of conscience that not going to church and/or shul “religiously” (so to speak) may have engendered. One of the more interesting films to come out of this adaptive fervor was the 1966 effort The Bible: In the Beginning..., a John Huston directed effort which presented several iconic tales from Genesis and which was initially planned as just the first installment for a whole series of Biblically oriented tales culled directly from scripture. Its failure at the box office put the kibosh on that plan, but several decades later, a similar plan was put into production, albeit on a much smaller scale, with a series of made for television films (many marketed as miniseries despite not being all that lengthy) that offered various Bible tales, usually with at least one marquee star attached. Many of the made for television entries included in this set were part of a series which ran on various Ted Turner owned networks starting in the 1990s, and some at least have long been favorites of those who like their Biblical adaptations on the more intimate and less epic side of things.

What might be termed the whole “middle” set of tales in the Bible Stories collection have big screen analogs, as I outlined in the David Blu-ray review. Solomon follows suit in that regard, but perhaps luckily for it, the big screen “epic” that deals with at least some of its same story points is not exactly the acme of the Biblical film, Solomon and Sheba, a movie so bad that star Tyrone Power died rather than take part in it (yes, that’s a joke, calm down). As I mentioned in the Solomon and Sheba Blu-ray review, that film seemed to want to make “Sheba” a character name, but at least this miniseries properly identifies the character as the Queen of Sheba (Vivica A. Fox). (Just for good measure, Bathsheba, played by the wonderful Anouk Aimée, is also around.)

This Solomon is a good deal hotter and heavier than the relatively chaste if overheated Solomon and Sheba, and it in fact opens with a bit of an allusion to some of the more sexual elements found in the Song of Solomon. The miniseries is also interesting in its more realistic depiction of an interracial romance than the 1950 epic even attempted to be, something that gives this version both a more contemporary edge but also a more historically accurate ambience. This miniseries' ability to at least delve slightly into the pleasures and problems of an intimate sexual relationship between those of different races, especially in a time period that was almost inherently tribal, is one of the more interesting ways this particular Solomon is able to approach its subject matter.

Solomon also does a nice job detailing a lot of “palace intrigue” with regard to royal succession and Solomon’s travails in attempting to follow in his famous father’s footsteps. There are some interesting interchanges which kind of presage Jesus’ famous proscription to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (and its corollary statement) that give some of the sociopolitical aspects of the story real interest. Once again, as in so many of the tales included in the Bible Stories collection, there's some real feeling intergenerational conflict at play here, both within family units but also within the larger Jewish community itself.

Ben Cross makes an appealing and notably complex hero in this miniseries, nicely depicting some of the turmoil the character goes through as he attempts to forge unity within while facing a number of incursions from without. The miniseries still will probably appeal to the same sort of folks who prefer some torrid romance mixed in with their tales of yore, a la Samson and Delilah, and in that regard the miniseries offers some visual delights beyond the scenic vistas many of the offerings in this set typically feature.

Solomon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All of the films in The Bible Stories Collection are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.78:1. While most (perhaps all) of these efforts were broadcast in the United States in 1.33:1, it looks from scouring through the IMDb that many (perhaps all) of them did in fact have theatrical releases in various foreign markets, meaning they were most likely all shot with "safeties" and/or "shoot and protect" regimens in mind. That said, those who have seen the 1.33:1 versions which were released on videotape and DVD will no doubt notice quite a few "tighter" framings, framings which often tend to lop the tops or bottoms off of heads and/or faces, at least intermittently.

Solomon begins with one of the more natural looking visual presentations in this set, with a good, organic looking grain field and a really nicely suffused palette that offers superb blues, reds and other vivid hues. As with many others in the set, though, accounting of the grain field tends to be highly variable, with some scenes looking good and others looking shorn of readily visible grain. That said, as with many others in this set that have the same variability, detail levels can still be quite commendable, especially in close-ups. There's some really lovely cinematography in this miniseries, and both the evocative exterior locations as well as the gorgeousness of performers like Fox make this one of the more "scenic" in this set. There is occasional speckling and other light damage, but nothing that I'd term overly problematic.

Solomon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Solomon features an occasionally robust DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one that benefits from some great brass inflected cues by the always enjoyable Patrick Williams (this is one of the first miniseries in this set not to feature Ennio Morricone's theme music, and it doesn't feature Morricone in the credits as a music supervisor). There are quite a few scenes in the miniseries that have a television version of a "cast of thousands" (hundreds, maybe?), and in those scenes there's decent spill of crowd sounds through the surrounds. As with many other offerings in this set, dialogue tends to reside front and center, but is presented cleanly and clearly.

Solomon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements of any kind on this Blu-ray disc.

Solomon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While it's a little on the salacious side at times, or maybe because it's a little on the salacious side at times, I rather enjoyed this retelling of Solomon's tale. The miniseries has a modern take on its titular character that the 1959 film simply didn't (or couldn't, due to its production era), and that gives this rendition a rather accurate feeling. The palace intrigue elements are also very well handled in what is an unexpectedly thoughtful piece at times. Recommended.