Paulette Goddard as Jezebel in SINS OF JEZEBEL (1953)
If there's a story from the Bible that needs to be made in a grand scale, it's the one about Jezebel and King Ahab. It's quite the story. This small production barely covers her story or the many interesting and diabolical aspects of it all. It's not bad but it's stilted and slow. It's like a Sunday School production. Everyone is too old as well. Jezebel was supposed to ba a young bride. Paulette was 43 when this was made. Ahab is shown as a very old man. The cast is mainly actors from Westerns.
In this scene, there's a mysterious shadow moving around the Baal statue when they are chanting (1950s a cappela-like) which comes from god knows where. Was it intentional? Was it something else altogether? Did Baal visit the set? No. A few seconds later, a dancer pops out from the flames. Still, the effect is spooky.
1 comment:
Around the time Sins of Jezebel was made two other studios had announced their films based on the same story. Sadly Sins beat them to the punch and the others were cancelled. It's a great story and deserves much better treatment than this cheap Lippert version.
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