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David and Bathsheba (film)
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = David and Bathsheba
| image = David Bathsheba.jpg
| caption = Original film poster
| director = Henry King
| producer = Darryl F. Zanuck
| writer = Philip Dunne
| starring = Gregory Peck
Susan Hayward
Raymond Massey
Kieron Moore
James Robertson Justice
| music = Alfred Newman
Edward Powell
| cinematography = Leon Shamroy
| editing = Barbara McLean
| distributor = 20th Century Fox
| released =
| runtime = 116 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $2.17 million
| gross = $4.72 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)
}}
'David and Bathsheba' is a 1951 historical Technicolor epic film produced by 20th Century-Fox and starring Gregory Peck as King David. It was directed by Henry King and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, with a screenplay by Philip Dunne and cinematography by Leon Shamroy.
The film follows King David's life and his relationship with Uriah's wife Bathsheba, played by Susan Hayward. Goliath is portrayed by Lithuanian wrestler Walter Talun.
Plot
King David is the second king of Israel and returns to Jerusalem after a military victory over the Philistines. When the Ark of the Covenant stumbles on a cart, a soldier reaches out to steady it and is struck dead. While the prophet Nathan declares this the will of God, a skeptical David pronounces it the result of a combination of heat-stroke and too much wine. David becomes attracted to Bathsheba who is the wife of Uriah, one of David's soldiers.
The attraction is mutual although both know an affair would break the law of Moses. When Bathsheba discovers she is pregnant from the affair, David sends for Uriah hoping he will spend time with his wife to cover her pregnancy. David's wife Michal, who is aware of the affair, tells David that Uriah did not go home but slept at the castle as a sign of loyalty to his king. Frustrated, David orders Uriah to be placed on the front line and for the troops to withdraw leaving him to die. Uriah is reported dead and David sends a dispatch to tell Bathsheba so they can plan their marriage.
Nathan advises David the people are dissatisfied with his leadership and desire his sons to rule. Nathan tells David he has forgotten that he is a servant of the Lord. Shortly after David marries Bathsheba, a drought hits Israel and the couple's newborn child dies. Nathan returns to tell David that God is displeased with his sin. However, he will not die as the law demands, but he will be punished through misfortune in his family. David takes responsibility as he insists Bathsheba is blameless, but the people want Bathsheba killed. David makes plans to save Bathsheba, but she tells David she is not blameless as they are both at fault.
David is reminded of the Lord and quotes Psalm 23 as he plays his harp. David tells Bathsheba she will not die and is willing to accept God's justice for himself. Repentant, David, seeking relief from the drought and forgiveness, reaches out to touch the Ark presuming that he will die like the soldier. A clap of thunder is heard and there are flashbacks to David's youth depicting his anointing by Samuel and his battle with Goliath. King David removes his hands from the Ark as rain falls on the dry land.
Cast
Production
and Susan Hayward
While Twentieth Century-Fox owned the rights to the 1943 book 'David' written by Duff Cooper, the film was not based on that book. Darryl F. Zanuck had owned the rights to a 1947 Broadway play called 'Bathsheba'. After the success of Cecil B. DeMille's 'Samson and Delilah' (1949) for Paramount Pictures, Zanuck commissioned Philip Dunne to write a script based on King David.
Dunne's original concept was for a film that would encompass David's life in three main chapters: David as a boy fighting Goliath; a more mature David and his friendship with Jonathan ending with his affair with Bathsheba; and an older David and his relationship with his son Absalom. Dunne estimated that his treatment would make a four-hour film, but Zanuck was not enthusiastic. Dunne then pitched the idea of a film solely based on David and Bathsheba, which Zanuck loved. Dunne conceived the story as a modern play exploring the corruption of absolute power. The film is noticeably devoid of the epic battles and panoramas frequently seen in biblical movies. Zanuck opted to use stars already under contract with Twentieth Century-Fox. Filming took place entirely in Nogales, Arizona from November 24, 1950 until January 1951 (with some additional material shot in February).
The musical score was written by Alfred Newman. For the bucolic scene with the shepherd boy, Newman used a solo oboe in the Lydian mode, drawing on long-established conventions linking the solo oboe with pastoral scenes and the shepherd's pipe. To underscore David's guilt-ridden turmoil in the Mount Gilboa scene, Newman employed a vibraphone, which Mikls Rzsa had used in scoring Peck's popular 'Spellbound' (1945).
Release
'David and Bathsheba' premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on August 14, 1951. The film subsequently opened in Los Angeles on August 30 before opening widely in September. During the film's worldwide release, the film was banned in Singapore as the country's censorship board were troubled by the unflattering portrait of David, an important prophet in Islam, as a hedonist susceptible to sexual overtures.
One notable TV airing of the movie was on the American network NBC during 'The NBC Monday Movie' on September 7, 1964 (which was Labor day that year). During one of the commercial breaks was the one and only official airing of the 'Daisy' political advertisement by the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential campaign in the run-up to the 1964 United States presidential election. The commercial aired at 9:50 p.m. EST. It was a family film though most children living in the EST time-zone were gone to bed by then, leaving the children's parents to watch the commercial. The commercial stars a little girl (played by Monique Luiz) who is shown counting petals of a daisy which was then followed by an ominous male voice counting down to zero. During the countdown, the screen zoomed up the girl's eye in such a way whereby the parents would imagine their children there instead of the girl. The next scene was a nuclear explosion with the voice of Johnson asking for peace. The commercial ended with a message for viewers to vote for Johnson in the election. The commercial implied that if Johnson's opponent, Barry Goldwater won the election, Goldwater would recklessly start a nuclear war that would kill the girl (and by extension, the viewer's own children) although Goldwater's name was not mentioned, his voice in not heard and his image was not shown during any point of the commercial. This commercial and its airing was a major factor in Johnson's landslide victory over Goldwater, with Johnson receiving 486 electoral votes to Goldwater's 52.
Reception
Box office
'David and Bathsheba' earned $4.72 million in theater rentals from the United States and Canada.Critical reaction
A. H. Weiler of 'The New York Times' described the film as "a reverential and sometimes majestic treatment of chronicles that have lived three millennia." He praised Dunne's screenplay and Peck's "authoritative performance" but found that Hayward "seems closer to Hollywood than to the arid Jerusalem of the Bible." Abel Green of 'Variety' wrote: "This is a big picture in every respect. It has scope, pageantry, sex (for all its Biblical background), cast names, coloreverything. It's a surefire boxoffice entry, one of the really 'big' pictures of the new selling season." Philip K. Scheuer of the 'Los Angeles Times' wrote that the film "leaves little to be desired" from the standpoint of production values with Peck "ingratiating" as David and Hayward "a seductress with flaming tresses, in or out of the bath, and only her final contrition is a little difficult to believe."Scheuer, Philip K. (August 31, 1951). [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91803376/philip-k-scheuers-review-of-david/ David and Bathsheba' Dark Saga of Sin and Atonement"]. 'Los Angeles Times'. Part I, p. 12 via Newspapers.com.Richard L. Coe of 'The Washington Post' wrote: "On the whole, the picture suggests a Reader's Digest story expanded into a master's thesis for the Ecole Copacabana." 'Harrison's Reports' wrote, "The outstanding thing about the production is the magnificent performance of Gregory Peck as David; he makes the characterization real and human, endowing it with all the shortcomings of a man who lusts for another's wife, but who is seriously penitent and prepared to shoulder his guilt. Susan Hayward, as Bathsheba, is beautiful and sexy, but her performance is of no dramatic consequence." 'The Monthly Film Bulletin' commented that the film had been made "with restraint and relative simplicity" compared to other historical epics, "and the playing of Gregory Peck in particular is competent. The whole film, however, is emotionally and stylistically quite unworthy of its subject." Philip Hamburger of 'The New Yorker' wrote that "the accessories notwithstanding, something is ponderously wrong with 'David and Bathsheba.' The fault lies, I suppose, in the attempt to make excessive enlargements of an essentially-simple story."
Commentary
Jon Solomon, author of 'The Ancient World in the Cinema,' found the film rather slow-paced in the first half before gaining momentum, and Peck "convincing as a once-heroic monarch who must face an angry constituency and atone for his sins." He noted that this was different from other biblical epics in that the protagonist faced a religious and philosophical issue rather than the overdone military or physical crisis.Theologian David Garland and his wife Diana argued: "Taking remarkable license with the story, the screenwriters changed Bathsheba from the one who is ogled by David into David's stalker. ... [T]he movie 'David and Bathsheba', written, directed and produced by males, makes the cinematic Bathsheba conform to male fantasies about women." However, religious historian Adele Reinhartz found that by giving Bathsheba a more active role, "it reflects tensions and questions about gender identity in America in the aftermath of World War II, when women had entered the work force in large numbers and experienced a greater degree of independence and economic self-sufficiency. ...[Bathsheba] is not satisfied in the role of neglected wife and decides for herself what to do about it." Susan Hayward was later quoted as having asked why the film was not called 'Bathsheba and David'.
Awards and nominations
References
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