Solomon And Sheba (1959)

Solomon’s rise to the throne enrages his more warlike brother while the queen of Sheba conspires with the Egyptians to bring about the downfall of the new king.

This historically dodgy and generally stodgy epic is the film in which a black-wigged Yul Brynner courts scantily clad Gina Lollobrigida in days of biblical yore.

While Ben-Hur (1959) and El Cid (1961) show how good epics can be, Solomon and Sheba has all the weaknesses of the genre, notably a script brimming with non-sequiturs and inane Americanisms.

Despite some eye-catching designs and photography by Freddie Young (who later shot Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago for David Lean, winning Oscars for both), this picture was probably doomed when the original star, Tyrone Power, died on the set.

That disaster, together with a critical drubbing and poor audiences, caused director King Vidor to abandon the movie business for good.

Solomon
Yul Brynner
Magda, Queen of Sheba
Gina Lollobrigida
Adonijah
George Sanders
Abishag
Marisa Pavan
Pharaoh
David Farrar
Joab
John Crawford
Hezrai
Laurence Naismith
Ahab
José Nieto
Sittar
Alejandro Rey
Baltor
Harry Andrews
Zadok
Julio Peña
Nathan
William Devlin
King David
Finlay Currie
Bathsheba
Maruchi Fresno
Josiah
Jack Gwillim
Takyan
Jean Anderson

Director
King Vidor