David and Bathsheba
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Movie Reviews of David and Bathsheba
Movie Review: My DVD Video
Summary: 5 Stars
The DVD that I purchased was in excellent conditiona and the price was very reasonable.Movie Review: Above average 50s Biblical epic
Summary: 4 Stars
There's no shortage of bad dialog in David and Bathsheba - "I was quite a hand with a slingshot," "The King of all Israel out there in the darkness exposing himself to the enemy" (full marks to Dennis Hooey for delivering that one with a straight face), "Go and sit with the concubines." And somehow I doubt a bored David ever told the prophet Nathan "Whatever you say." He even tries the old "My kingdom doesn't understand me" routine on desperate housewife Bathsheba at one point. So it's probably a tribute to Henry King's direction that the film isn't at all bad despite the pitfalls much of the first third provide.
Maybe it's to play down the censor-baiting nature of the plot - a married man kills a femme fatale's husband and gets away with it! - but King brings out the growing moral and theological complexities in Phillip Dunne's script rather than upping the sin and sandals hokum. This is the conflicted David on the downhill slope, abandoned by a vengeful God he no longer understands, and the film doesn't back away from the awkward unanswerable questions about why a loving deity would choose to wreak vengeance on the innocent rather than the guilty. It even offers a genuinely surprising criticism of the sexual inequality of the law, where the failings of husbands result in the punishment of their wives.
Unlike King David, which sidelined the king in favor of the admittedly more interesting Saul, David is firmly at the center of the drama and despite an interesting display of shoulder twitching and a frankly gormless overlong close-up when visiting the site of Saul and Jonathan's death, Gregory Peck's performance grows in stature as David shrinks. Susan Hayward is pure Hollywood pro, Raymond Massey is an appropriately theatrical prophet (why be naturalistic when you've got a voice that makes the very heavens quake?) and Kieron Moore's Uriah such an intransigent unreconstructed chauvinist that you can't exactly blame David for putting him in harm's way, but despite threatening to soft peddle the film doesn't allow David a moral get out of jail free card over his death. With surprisingly strong but subdued design and Technicolor photography this is definitely a cut above most 40s-50s Biblical epics.
Fox's new DVD is a good transfer, including an incredibly hokey `candid' behind-the-scenes short and a trailer with brief shots deleted from the film's sole battle scene.
Movie Review: David and Bathsheba
Summary: 4 Stars
In August 1951, Twentieth Century Fox released David and Bathsheba--a bold, colorful depiction of the fateful love affair between a chosen king and the woman who would bear his successor. Adultery, intrigue, murder and divine judgment play their roles in this biblically based saga.
Alfred Newman's musical score is that type of grand orchestration which touches the soul. Without music, there is no inspiration.
Phillip Dune's script gave the movie audiences a fine portrayal of a an aging king who allowed his obsession and passion for a beautiful woman, who was married to one of his bravest and truest warriors, to bring disgrace on his name and divine wrath on Israel. Like his later scripts (The Robe, The Agony and the Ecstasy...), Dune's focus was on the characters and what made them, what drove them, and what were their inner conflicts. Their moments of joy and moments of sadness, and eventually, their decisions and the effect of those decisions on themselves and those around them were explored in full circle.
Raymond Massey's Nathan is a wilderness prophet in the true tradition of Old Testament prophets. He gave the word of the Lord unequivocally without fear of the consequences.
Gregory Peck, with his impeccable voice, and Susan Hayward, with her graceful beauty, gave life to David and Bathsheba on the screen. From the first moment of their encounter in his chamber to the last scene in his chamber, the story unfolds from forbidden love to forgiveness. As the rains pour from the heavens to refresh the earth, they refresh David's soul and rekindle the spark of what made him-a man after God's own heart.
"In war time the best are always the first to die." David's words to Uriah were fortuitous.
David had Joab sacrifice Uriah in order to cover his own sins against his God and his fellow man. Uriah would have died for David without hesitation. However, to take Uriah's life in order to have his wife was a crime which David the shepherd boy would never had done. However, the king whom David had become had no hesitation in making it happen.
The theme in this film is that David the king rediscovers David the shepherd boy and his faith in God. The quality of this DVD is outstanding.
Movie Review: Love versus circumstances.
Summary: 4 Stars
King David, the hero of Israel, is performed very well by Gregory Peck, who falls in love with Bathsheba ( Susan Hayward ), a beautiful woman married to one of his army captains Uriah ( Kieron Moore ). David decides to send Uriah into a hard battle to get rid of a disturbing husband. This film is the story of a sin and a redemption, though nowadays more than 3000 years later, that sin would not exist, I think, and for this there would not be any reason to send Uriah to battle, besides going to battle was one of the best gifts that a warrior as Uriah could receive.
An abandoned married woman Bathsheba lives by King David and at times both of them can see by chance the other one at home, besides Bathsheba has no company, no love and no sex for years, because his busy husband likes to be at the war against the Philistines ( ancient inhabitants of Palestine ), and behaves as if his wife were only a flowerpot. After being a long time at the war front Uriah comes back only for a day and decides to sleep at the barracks of the army instead of staying at home that night with his wife, a big humiliation for his wife indeed!, unfortunately their marriage were settled by their parents. Both David and Bathsheba like each other, so David only wants to get that abandoned flower at his best before it withers. A bit aggresive and superstitious prophet Nathan ( played well by Raymond Massey ) fights for justice and accuses David of living in sin, of causing the destruction ( ?! ) of Israel, and moves the mob to trow stones at Bathsheba, according to law. The ending of the movie is fair and nice, both lovers are forgiven by God's love and can live as a true married couple for ever.
The technicolor of the film is wonderful.
Movie Review: Less Opulent 1950's Biblical Drama With Some Interesting Performances
Summary: 4 Stars
At first glance I found Gregory Peck an odd choice to play one of the great characters from the Bible in "David and Bathsheba". For most movie fans he is associated much more with modern day dramas such as "On The Beach", "To Kill a Mockingbird", and "The Omen", and always seems to possess a decidely modern screen persona. However I found as the story progressed that he seemed to fit in better with the character and gave David an interesting slant that I had never thought about before. "David and Bathsheba", was one of Twentieth Century Fox's biggest productions for 1951 and while it is lavish in construction and boasts a fine cast it is not your typical Cecil B. DeMille type of biblical epic so common in the 1950's. Apart from the construction of the walls of Jerusalem in the Californian desert, and David's throne room there are really no lavish set pieces so the interest in th emovie is definately on th echaracterisations and the dialogue which for th emost part are first rate. Interestingly David is not painted as a living saint in "David and Bathsheba", as is so often the way in these stories but instead as a man with weaknesses to which he succumbs on occasion. This different and seemingly more adult approach to retelling a famous story of the Bible makes for interesting viewing and despite the fact that the talented Susan Hayward as Bathsheba, has like Gregory Peck a largely modern screen persona, she as always delivers an interesting interpretation of this "scarlet woman" who almost toppled david's throne.