st-shot This Technicolor extravaganza built around "Gilda" Hayworth's big dance number as a watered down Salome is one dishonest and cowardly piece of commerce to behold. With its attractive stars, superb supporting stage and film actors as well as a highly respected director of epics (Wilhelm Dieterle) and a master cinematographer (Charles Lang) Salome stumbles along for the entire duration with two left feet.Taken from the familiar Biblical story of John the Baptist and later spiced up by Oscar Wilde the producer's (Rita being one) tweak it a little by downplaying Salome's culpability and having the rap to pinned on mom (Judith Anderson) allowing Salome a chance to get religion and Stew Granger as the film ends on a highly solemn and spiritual note with the camera tilting to the sky where the words "This was the beginning" are emblazoned. This after the stunning Miss Hayworth finishes her incestuous two step striptease grinding up a marble staircase in front of her step father, besotted Charley Laughton with Dame Judith smirking approval. The marketers must have thought 'something for the whole family'.Where do we begin? Dieterle who directed Laughton in Hunchback as well as the unique fantasy world of a Midsummer's Night Dream fails to engage or create anything of authenticity or sincerity from performers to the cold barren sets and women draped in fabric colors usually reserved for Christmas wrapping. The B&W mastery of Lang ( Ace in the Hole, The Magnificent Seven) is no where evident in garishly lit scenes dripping gold and bleeding red.Hayworth and Grainger are beautiful and brittle with Rita softening Salome; reducing what should be driving vengeance to limpid piety. Cedric Hardwicke isn't around long enough to chew scenery but Alan Badel as a tripped out JtB is. Laughton's Herod is the biggest travesty of all as he monstrously overacts, spending most of his time waving his arms or gripping Roman columns, his utterances unconvincingly peppered with pregnant pauses and hammy anxious expressions. He along with almost anyone else involved in this pitiful production one might well argue deserve the same fate as the Baptist. Salome is an out an out abomination.

Elswet Chocked full of biblical inaccuracies, this fun free for all lasts for hours and hours. People complain that films are too long today, but those who do the complaining obviously have no idea that these older films even exist. Guess they also never heard of Gone with the Wind or To Kill a Mockingbird, either. LOLAnyway, Rita Hayworth is beautiful in her part as Salome. She's quite possibly the most beautiful Salome ever, though the ambiguity of her character herein is a bit annoying, and the direction taken by this version of the biblical story is a bit odd, but the overall production is fun, nonetheless, though entirely frivolous.All in all? It's entertaining and historically accurate, if not biblically so, which is so often the case.It rates a 7.3/10 from......the Fiend :.

ragosaal Giving it a different focus from what we where taught about hebrew princess Salome, William Dieterle faces this biblical Epic. She is presented here as an innocent victim of his evil mother's wishes.The film is watchable -just once- if you like the genre and consider it was made in the early 50¨s; but no more than that. There is an abuse of fake decorates that look cheap at times, the script is just standard and the acting performances are uneven.Charles Laughton gives an interesting performance as Herod, Judith Anderson looks mean enough as his revengeful wife and Stewart Granger fits enough in a dull character as a Christian roman officer. Alan Badel -John the Baptist- is out of line as a sort of a possessed fanatic transmitting more fear than sympathy. Rita Hayworth looks splendid and does acceptably as the princess of the title in a movie planned to serve her beauty (the famous seven vales dance is a highlight and she looks sensual and most attractive there).A small product in its genre, "Salome" is just a watchable film for its times and no more.

Neil Doyle At thirty-five, RITA HAYWORTH was obviously not the right age to play the youthful Salome, but Columbia knew that audiences would forgive them by making sure that it was well advertised she would do "The Dance of the Seven Veils" long before the film premiered. Taken strictly as a Rita Hayworth vehicle, it manages to be one of her better assignments after returning to films from a broken marriage as a princess.She's still an eyefull in her Salome costumes but the main problem with SALOME is the ludicrous script which has her dancing the famous number in order to save John the Baptist--so that the evil one will be seen as JUDITH ANDERSON (Queen Herodias). Miss Anderson does make a fine villainess and she and CHARLES LAUGHTON at times seem to be overcoming the inadequacies of a dull script. STEWART GRANGER has one of his less rewarding leading man roles but, as usual, looks striking in his period costumes and photographs well with Hayworth.As for her dance--well, it's probably the high point of an otherwise bland film and she does quite a job of undulating gyrations under the lecherous eye of CHARLES LAUGHTON as King Herod. Rita still had all of her dancing abilities well under control and does a nice job of--here at least--trying to spare John the Baptist (ALAN BADEL).It's gaudy and Technicolored and Rita's fans at least got to see her do some exotic work--but the film itself is about as banal as any Biblical drama of the '50s (with the exception of BEN-HUR) with no regard for historical accuracy.