Samson and Delilah (1949)
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Honors:
Academy Award for Best Costume Design (Color)
Cecil B. DeMille makes a rousing return to biblical epics in
this expansive adaptation of an Old Testament tale. With all the glory of
Technicolor, magnificent art direction, costume design, special effects, and a
bit of sex Samson and Delilah was the smash hit that dominated theater
box offices as the calendar turned to 1950. A passion project for DeMille that
took nearly decade and a half to bring to the screen the feature turned a small
Bible story into a spectacle that attracted large audiences looking to be wowed
by the power of the cinema.
Samson and Delilah is a Technicolor biblical epic
about a man endowed with superhuman strength and hero to an oppressed people who
is lured and betrayed by love. Strongman hero to the fraught Danite people
Samson (Victor Mature) rises to marry a Philistine noblewoman, Semadar (Angelia
Lansbury), only to witness her death during a Philistines against him. Samson
terrorizes his enemy while the jealous, seductive, and vengeful younger sister
of Semadar, Delilah (Hedy Lamarr), blames Samson for her sister’s death.
Delilah seduces Samson discovering his weakness, linking his God given strength
to a promise to not cut his hair, which she cuts off. Without his hair the weakened Samson is
capture by the, blinded, and enslaved by the Philistines, to the remorse of
Delilah. Ordered by Philistine ruler Saran (George Sanders) is brought to the
temple of the pagan god Dagon to be tortured for Philistine entertainment, but
time enough had passed for Samson to regrow his hair and return his strength. At
the temple with aid of Delilah Samson enacts his and God’s vengeance of the
Philistines by toppling the temple. For the climax Samson requests Delilah to get
away from the temple as he damages the pillars that support the temple,
bringing down large idol and collapsing the vast walls, claiming all within,
including Samson and Delilah who had stayed behind to watch her love.
This feature jumps out of December 1949 like a cinematic
fireworks show as a motion picture full of pomp, bright color and visuals, epic
prestige, and a grandeur that has not been observed since 1939, the golden year
of classic Hollywood. This feature easily inspires the many 1950s biblical/historical costume features that
peppered the decade and for it to emerge in late 1949 it bursts onto the screen
with pageantry of Hollywood yesteryear with the addition of a newly booming era
for American cinema. It is not a spectacular film, especially when compared to
the pictures to come, but it stands out in its time, helping to usher in a new
epic age of Hollywood feature that once again made going to the cinema a theatrical
event.
Cecil B. DeMille had dreams of producing a Samson and
Delilah feature as far back as 1935, after the success of another one of
lavish historical costume dramas Cleopatra (1935). With visions of the
plot being one of the grandest love stories in history DeMille began acquiring
rights to the 1877 French opera of the same name, as well as other literature
about the biblical story sourced from the Old Testament book of Judges. Hoping
to film in the new Technicolor process with stars Miriam Hopkins and Henry
Wilcoxon the project was put on hold for over ten years when in 1946 opportunity
arrived to finally revive the dream project. Paramount lacked enthusiasm for
cinematic retelling a “Sunday school story,” but DeMille would present an
artist rendering of a hulking Samson and a seductive Delilah to manifest the
sultry appeal of his vision earning his project the greenlight.
What Samson and Delilah became was a lavish costume
drama of biblical proportions. With a production that took the plot as
seriously in writing and performance as a Shakespearean play the visuals were
to be big and bright. Technicolor cameras captured the elaborate and sometimes
revealing clothing on their lead actors, most notably Hedy Lamarr. Vast vistas
with hundreds of costumed extras in extravagant color had not been this vast
maybe since Gone with the Wind (1939).
Elaborate special effects using matte paintings, miniature trick
photography and sumptuous controlled chaos brings the excitement audiences had experienced
back when at the premiere of King Kong (1933). This $3.5 million DeMille
feature was going to be the biggest thing he had made to date.
Over a decade removed from the initial concept the casting of
stars obviously had to change. For Samson DeMille had described the character
as a combination of Tarzan, Robin Hood, and Superman. Burt Lancaster turned
down the role due to a back injury and plans for bodybuilder turned actor Steve
Reeves failed to meet the needs of DeMille and his producers, eventually leading
to the casting of 20th Century-Fox actor Victor Mature as the
legendary strongman. Barrell chested,
ever striking a pose similar to a comic book hero Mature took on the project as
his greatest opportunity following a steady rise in his career since the end of
the war. Despite the big actor having severe fears on set, including of the
set’s wind machine and the possibility of wrestling a tamed and toothless lion,
a job left stunt man to rather poor effect, DeMille gets a decent performance
out of his star with direction that only a master filmmaker could get from a
troubled actor.
The true appeal of the movie comes from its female lead in
Hedy Lamarr. The role called for character as beautiful and seductive as Lana
Turner and as jealous and cunning as Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind.
Many did not know how vastly intelligent Lamarr was due in part of his
seductive good looks utilized as a traditional vamp style, but Lamarr knew how
to work herself to best effect for the role as Delilah. A character that vastly
exaggerates on the biblical tale Lamarr is tantalizing, treacherous, and
finally sympathetic in a performance delivering a vast amount of mass appeal to
the motion picture.
Apart from Delilah the antagonist of the tale would go to
George Sanders’ performance as Saran. Sanders downplays the villous role with a
new kind of mastery. It was more common to see over the top performances for
such roles, but Sanders plays his part in a cool and calm manner of a man more
inwardly plotting than outwardly expressing. His performance gained a great
deal of praise and would inspire many historical drama villains to come with
his calm delivery and smooth British accent.
Angela Lansbury would make an appearance as Delilah’s older
sister, despite being younger than Lamarr, in a role she fills in rather nicely
after actress Phyllis Calvert fell ill. Henry Wilcoxon, one of DeMille’s
favorite actors and the original vision for Samson in the 1930s, remains in the
picture as Ahtar, a direct Philistine rival to Samson manifesting the quarrel between
Philistine and Danites, the tribe term used to avoid the use of Israel or Jews to
make the film more conservative at the time .
Samson and Delilah would premiere in New York City
with vast reverence, including as a televised event. An opening musical overture
and closing composition gave the film a presentation a more theatrical feel of grandeur.
The film would run as a roadshow event for a month in New York before having
the event moved to Hollywood in advance of the general release in late March
1950. Viewing this film was meant to be an event and with all the pageantry the
film provided it would have very well felt that way. Samson and Delilah
quickly became the highest grossing film released in 1949. Eventually it rise
to become the highest grossing feature in Paramount Pictures history and for a
short time the third on the all-time list of box office income following Gone
with the Wind and The Best years of Our Lives (1946). The critical
success earned the picture two Academy Awards that generally praised it of its
lavish nature as a color feature, manifesting how the film lacked to supply
anything grand as an actual drama.
Cecil B. DeMille was peaking once again in post war
Hollywood and helped to usher in a new era of biblical/historical epics to the
motion picture screen. With the advent of television as free home visual
entertainment lavish color costume dramas would be one of many formulas
Hollywood would utilize in the 1950s to keep audiences coming to the theater. Respect
was given to Samson and Delilah as DeMille made his cameo performance in the
upcoming drama Sunset Boulevard (1950) during the making of this feature.
In the scene DeMille, as himself, appears at work on the set from Samson and
Delilah when he greets Gloria Swanson’s character on a visit to the
Paramount Pictures studios. DeMille would outdo himself with his next features The
Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and remake of The Ten Commandments
(1956) showing just how he could keep turning out some of the best pictures of
the day. His work would inspire the industry to produce many more features in
the same vein resulting in classic epics as Ben-Hur (1959) and Spartacus
(1960) following his death.
Clearly Samson and Delilah was a major influence on
Hollywood. As a film based on a few small chapters for the Bible it is rather
entertaining. Its lasting impact was DeMille’s vision to push movies back into
the realm of cinematic spectacle that Hollywood was celebrated for. European cinema
may have begun to inspire a darker, noir drama angle in American movies, but
DeMille reminded audiences of the simple joy of being taken on a journey to see
lavish settings and amazing visuals, allowing movies to be fun and
awe-inspiring.
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