Samson and Delilah (1949)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Samson and Delilah |
| Original title | Samson and Delilah |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1949 |
| length | 131 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Cecil B. DeMille |
| script |
Fredric M. Frank Jesse L. Lasky, Jr. Vladimir Jabotinsky (template) Harold Lamb (template) |
| production | Cecil B. DeMille |
| music | Victor Young |
| camera | George Barnes |
| cut | Anne Bauchens |
| occupation | |
| |
Samson and Delilah is an American monumental film directed by Cecil B. DeMille from 1949 . It is a film adaptation of the biblical text by Samson and Delilah , in which Hedy Lamarr plays Delilah and Victor Mature Samson.
action
The judge Samson was chosen by God to free the Israelites from the Philistines , a warlike people with Gaza as their capital, who have occupied the land of Canaan, homeland of the Israelites, for 40 years. However, Samson is in love with the Philistine Semadar, who wants to marry Prince Athuro (Orig. Prince Athur ) who, like her, belongs to the Philistines.
With his bare hands, Samson kills a young lion for the King of the Philistines in order to be able to become engaged to Semadar. Before the wedding he poses a riddle to the wedding guests. The envious Prince Athuro forces Semadar to reveal the solution to the riddle in order to humiliate Samson. A tumult ensues, which spreads and ultimately leads to Semadar being murdered by her own compatriots. Samson therefore rebels against the Philistines and inflicts great losses on them.
Semadar's younger sister, Delilah , already rejected by Samson once, becomes the king's mistress. On behalf of the ruler, Delilah begins an affair with Samson and is able to elicit the secret of his strength, which is based on his long hair. The young woman uses this knowledge to cut off Samson's braid while he sleeps. So it becomes easy prey for the Philistines. During his capture, he is also blinded and degraded to a slave and has to endure daily abuse. However, his hair grows back and the longer it gets, the more of its strength it gets back.
When he is finally brought to the Great Temple for public demonstration, Delilah decides to help Samson because she regrets what she has done to him. As requested, she leads him to the pillars of the temple, which Samson with his regained strength brings to the bursting point that they can no longer bear the burden of the temple and everything collapses. In addition to Samson's own death, this also means the end of Delilah, who wanted to die with him, but also the death of thousands of Philistines, including the entire religious, political and military leadership of this people.
It is implied that this event will throw the Philistines into complete chaos and will have to give up Canaan to deal with it. Samson also fulfills his God-imposed fate to free his people from the Philistines and is therefore mourned and honored accordingly by them.
Production, background, publication
In addition to the text from the Old Testament , the script was also based on the novel Richter und Narr , which Zeev Jabotinsky had published in 1926 under the pseudonym Altalena . As with all monumental films of the time, biblical Israel was reconstructed in a studio in Los Angeles . Great buildings and colorful costumes convey Hollywood flair, but less authenticity.
Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr weren't the first choice when casting . First, Burt Lancaster was supposed to play Samson ; Cecil B. DeMille , however, found him too young. Henry Wilcoxon was asked, but found himself too old. Betty Hutton was originally supposed to appear in front of the camera as Delilah .
The German premiere was on November 2, 1951. In Austria it took place on September 26, 1952.
Reviews
“Between glowing love and abysmal hatred, their fate unfolds in the context of Jewish history up to the most famous catastrophe in film history, the collapse of the Philistine Palace (...) Colossal film director DeMille (...) presents action, suspense and the most magnificent historical fashion show in this classic. (Rating: 3 out of 4 possible stars - very good) "
"Filming (...) in the American show style, ie you see a modern romance novel in a strange setting."
“(...) a naive costume spectacle with good crowd scenes that reduces the original theme to a tragically ending love affair. As a film historical document of some interest. "
“(…) I don't like films in which men's tits are bigger than women's. "Well, there's just one problem, CB No picture can hold my interest where the leading man's tits are bigger than the leading lady's." "
Awards
1951 Samson and Delilah was honored with a Golden Globe in the category "Best Camera". In the same year, the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, of which it ultimately won two awards.
Nomination:
- Best camera
- Best special effects
- Best music
Award:
- Best equipment
- Best costume design
literature
- Altalena : judge and fool. Novel . Meyer & Jessen, Munich 1928, 382 pp.
Web links
- Samson and Delilah in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Samson and Delilah in the online film database
- Samson and Delilah , full synopsis and review on Peplumania.com
Individual evidence
- ^ "Lexicon of International Films" (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz: Lexicon "Films on Television" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 699
- ↑ 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958 . Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 368
- ^ "Lexicon of International Films" (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041838/trivia
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/aug/11/guardianobituaries