Samson & Delilah (Dir. Cecile B. DeMille) 1949
Samson & Delilah is a religious movie directed by Cecile B. DeMille. It is also an adventure, history & drama film. The themes in this film are love, faith, betrayal, trust, & revenge. The film stars Hedy Lamarr (Delilah), Victor Mature (Samson), George Sanders (Saran of Gaza), Angela Lansbury (Semadar), Henry Wilcoxon (Ahtur) & Olive Deering (Miriam). This film has won two Oscars. The budget of this film is approximately $3,000,000 & it received $25,600,000 in the box office, making it the top grossed film in the 1950s.
The director of this film was the founder of Hollywood, his work dates back to 1914. Other religious films he has made are Ten Commandments (1956), The Sign of the Cross (1932), Kings of Kings (1927) & The Crusades (1935).
The first key sequence in this film is when Samson kills the lion with his own bare hands, which makes Delilah even more infatuated with him.
The key sequence in this film is when Delilah becomes jealous of the way Miriam looks at Samson. The reason why this is a key sequence is because Samson's faith is in Delilah's hands & her reaction to Miriam will determine Samson's life.
The mise-en-scene is very important in this film, especially the costume because it differentiated Philistines from the Isralites. Samson is seen wearing rags & the Philistines make fun out of him because he is wearing rags, especially when Samson makes a bet of giving 30 new robes for the Philistines in the wedding. The Philistines assume that Samson would give 30 rags just like his own to them.
There were various shots in this film however the one that was used the most were the close ups. There were a lot of reactions in this film which required close ups so we as the audience could sympathise with the key characters.
Special effects were used in this film, especially for the temple being broken down. The shot used for the temple breaking down was the most expensive shot in the film, it is know to be the "money shot." The shot itself costed $150,000 & it took a year to shoot this specific scene.
The analysis of this is really in depth and looks into the important aspects of what you need to be looking out for (hope that makes sense). To improve the only thing I could say would be to explain the themes and how they come into play within the narrative.
ReplyDeleteGood work keep it up:)