Review – Solomon and Sheba

It’s hard to say exactly where this goes wrong. They picked a racy story from the Old Testament. They got Yul Brynner (with hair, no less). Extravagant sets and costumes. Epic cast. Sure, King Vidor isn’t Cecil B. DeMille. But that wasn’t the problem. The major failing here is that this is just boring. For starters, the pacing is abysmal. For example, a pagan orgy ceremony dance number toward the end goes on forever without achieving much beyond spectacle that is at best tame by current standards. Further, the plot deals far too extensively with the machinations of two brothers vying for the throne of King David. Sure, that’s the story from the Bible. But on screen it plays like a half-baked blend of The Ten Commandments and C-Span. Snore. Mildly amusing