Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Solomon and Sheba Blu-ray Movie Review

Ben-her?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 28, 2015

It’s at least a little surprising how quickly the co-called Biblical Epic fell from its perceived apex, the multiple Academy Award winning classic Ben-Hur. Ben-Hur made its stateside premiere in mid November 1959, going on to pretty much sweep the Oscars a few months later, and of course raking in seemingly divine amounts of lucre at the box office. Not even a month before Ben-Hur bowed, another huge Biblical epic was unleashed in London (it would have to wait until Christmas of 1959 to make its United States debut), one which perhaps (in true Biblical fashion) revealed the “handwriting on the wall” (to purloin a phrase from the Book of Daniel) about the limitations of this once burgeoning genre. Solomon and Sheba was, unlike Ben-Hur, supposedly based on the Bible itself rather than a fictionalized tale woven around historical events and figures. But this final outing by legendary director King Vidor is in fact a rather large load of hooey, an overwrought and florid “reinterpretation” of what is in essence merely a vignette in I Kings in the Old Testament. In Solomon and Sheba, a completely contrived aggregation of plot points is assembled in order to provide a fairly turgid story of supposed forbidden love, one that is somewhat reminiscent of another (early) fifties’ Biblical misfire, David and Bathsheba. Solomon and Sheba was beset with tragedy of almost Biblical proportions during its shooting when original star Tyrone Power more or less dropped dead of a heart attack after having completed a fight scene with his frequent on screen nemesis George Sanders. The film was reportedly more than half completed at this point, and there was understandable confusion about how best to proceed. The upshot of the controversy is that Yul Brynner stepped into the role, and all of the Power material was reshot (evidently with the exception of some battle scenes where the deceased actor couldn’t be easily made out). Vidor himself was supposedly far from pleased with the casting change, feeling that Brynner’s inherent swagger didn’t convey the angst filled ambience Vidor wanted for the character. But some of the blame for Solomon and Sheba’s stumbling has to be shouldered squarely by Vidor himself, for this is a lumbering, clumsy effort that is resolutely silly a lot of the time and provides ample proof of why the Biblical Epic soon fell completely out of favor with that fickle ticket buying public.

Some wag long ago critiqued the Frank Wildhorn-Leslie Bricusse musical version of Jekyll and Hyde, saying it “was all about the hair” (in terms of how the main character changed personae). Some may feel that on some level Solomon and Sheba is all about the headgear, for the film posits a truly peculiar, if admittedly occasionally spectacular, array of cranial adornments that the ancient Israelites (and Shebans, for that matter) supposedly wore. The film’s production design also makes it almost laughably obvious who the Jews are, offering the “tribes” huge shields emblazoned with the Star of David. Aspects like this typically tend to fall into a more subliminal realm of awareness in many films, but the fact that Solomon and Sheba’s screenplay is so historically (and Biblically) precarious perhaps leaves time for more audience rumination about tangential issues than is typically the case.

It’s perhaps instructive that the film’s title seems to want to make “Sheba” a character name, when in fact the character is actually the Queen of Sheba, brought inimitably to life by the incredibly voluptuous Gina Lollobrigida. In the film’s rather fanciful formulation, Sheba (the country, not the “person”) is an ally of Egypt, something that troubles the ruling elite of Israel. When elderly King David (Finlay Currie) decides that Solomon (Yul Brynner) rather than elder brother Adonijah (George Sanders) should ascend to the throne, that sets the main conflict into action, with the scheming Adonijah attempting to figure out how to usurp his sibling’s power. Meanwhile, the Queen of Sheba has decided to attempt to seduce Solomon in order to further her exploits in territorial conquest, something that meets with approval in Egypt. There’s therefore a kind of two pronged assault aimed at Solomon throughout the film, though Solomon and Sheba soon forsakes any real “threat” (at least militarily) from the Sheban forces as the Israeli King and Sheban Queen of course fall deeply, madly in love with each other.

King Vidor was perhaps merely a shadow of his former self this late in his career, a sad fact which is probably only emphasized by the film he made prior to Solomon and Sheba, his equally lumbering treatment of Leo Tolstoy’s epic War and Peace. As with that film, Solomon and Sheba is full of glamorous stars and a few huge set pieces, but it suffers from really listless pacing and a generally silly ambience, one that at times makes it more kin to the Italian sword and sandals knock offs than to the more supposedly “reverent” Hollywood Biblical recreations. Lollobrigida gets to traipse through the film wearing a huge array of gorgeous gowns (those Shebans were style mavens, baby), not to mention both a semi- nude bathing scene as well as a “pagan orgy” which was evidently quite controversial back in the Dark Ages of 1959, but which plays today as a slightly more lascivious music video choreographer’s fever dream. She also gets to cavort into Jerusalem in what looks (in hindsight) like a lo-fi bus and truck presaging of the famous huge set piece which brought Elizabeth Taylor to Rex Harrison (and Richard Burton) in Cleopatra.

Solomon and Sheba Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Solomon and Sheba is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This was one of the first films marketed under the then "new" Super Technirama 70 moniker, a "new, improved" Technirama which itself was meant to compete with CinemaScope, offering what was advertised as a sharper and less grainy alternative to that process. While sharpness is generally commendable if not outstanding in this presentation, it's also quite grainy at times, offering a somewhat rough hewn appearance, as can be seen by viewing the screenshots accompanying this review in full resolution. Colors seem generally accurate, though there is perhaps a very slight tilt toward brown (look at both flesh tones, which are often slightly brownish, as well as some of the "reds" in the screenshots, which to my eyes lapse just slightly toward the orange side of things). There are some changes in the overall color space that happen very quickly a couple of times, reverting back to the "original" look almost as quickly as they change. This anomaly tends to afflict mostly the right side of the frame, as do several twitchy shifts that are minor but noticeable if you keep your eyes glued to the very rightmost edge. Fine detail is quite good in close-ups, offering a lot of visual information about the film's often resplendent costumes. Several outdoor scenes also offer excellent depth of field. Some of the day for night sequences suffer from general murk, as might be expected. There are some minor instances of ringing, but any edge enhancement hasn't been so egregiously applied as to be a major distraction.

Solomon and Sheba Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

According to the IMDb, Solomon and Sheba had a 4 track stereo soundtrack for its 35mm screenings and a 6 track mix for its 70mm engagements, but this Blu-ray offers only a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 option. That may keep the (admittedly sporadic) battle scenes from offering huge immersive capabilities, but fidelity is actually excellent on this track, nicely detailing both the film's often risible dialogue as well as the fun, if occasionally hokey, score by Mario Nascimbene (again according to the IMDb, Malcolm Arnold contributed to the music without receiving credit). Everything is cleanly and clearly rendered, with good prioritization and no damage of any kind to report.

Solomon and Sheba Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Isolated Score Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.


• Original Theatrical Trailer #1 (1080p; 4:01)


• Original Theatrical Trailer #2 (1080p; 3:15)


• MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (1080p; 2:06)

Solomon and Sheba Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Solomon and Sheba so completely reinvents what is in essence a rather brief Biblical vignette that any "scriptural" connection is tenuous at best (this despite the fact that God Himself gets a few lines of dialogue in the film). If taken on its own admittedly silly merits, the film has a certain kitschy appeal, but it's possible that the untimely death of Tyrone Power simply threw this cast and crew into a tailspin from which they couldn't easily recover. The video on this release isn't problem free, but generally speaking technical merits are very good for those considering a purchase.