Musings!

Sheba (Gina Lollobrigida) dances up a paganistic storm in SOLOMON AND SHEBA (1959)

A movie plagued with production issues, with the biggest being the unexpected death of Tyrone Power on the set. Power was eventually replaced by Yul Brynner. The movie looks great and has some interested set pieces but overall the movie is sorta...lifeless...well except for this dance number which is the highlight of the movie. Gina was a great dancer (see her as Esmeralda in HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME - 1956) and even though the dance here is more on the 'pagan' side (more wild than coordinated) it's still fun to watch. 

One thing that really irks me about this movie (aside from the ending...) is the fact that her name in the movie is Sheba but the country she ruled was called Sheba. Historically, she never had a known name even though she's sometimes referred to as Makeda. In the Italian production, THE QUEEN OF SHEBA (1952), she's called Balkis.