Customer Reviews

David & Goliath [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

"Freely adapted" from the Bible, this film takes huge liberties with the stories of Saul, David, and their battle with the Philistines, but is very watchable nonetheless, and for many reasons, one of them just the fascination of its incongruities. The script is in "Olde English", with the "thees and thous" often coming from mouths that are speaking another language (the dubbing is hopeless), with two exceptions: The magnificent speaking of both Orson Welles, who makes a superb tormented Saul, and Edward Hilton as Samuel; it is a pleasure to listen and watch both these actors.

The rest of the cast is somewhat uneven, but the dubbing is partly at fault. Among the best are Ivo Payer, a handsome Croatian actor as David, Massimo Serato as a scheming Abner, and Eleonore Rossi Drago and Giulia Robini as Saul's daughters Merab and Michael. Italian circus muscle man giant Kronos plays Goliath, enjoying every minute of his screen time as he is seduced into action by a bevy of dancing girls.

The score uses Ernest Bloch's glorious "Shelomo" theme for the titles, and Carlo Innocenzi incorporates the melody into parts of the rest of the soundtrack (especially when David is romancing Michael), the scenic design uses Nineveh as its inspiration for Jerusalem, and the location shots were filmed in Israel, and Yugoslavia, where the desert turns into lush green fields as far as the eye can see for the final battle sequence.

I'm a big sword and sandal epic fan, and this 1960 film gets the award for being the most peculiar of the genre. A great curiosity piece for Welles aficionados, who will love his performance; his bloodshot eyes peer from behind the palace columns, a pasty faced mountain of paranoia, a character that is a joy to watch repeatedly. Total running time is 92 minutes.

Even Orson Welles couldn't save this movie. If the had let him direct and edit, maybe . . .

This is a late 1950's-ish biblical epics that rode the wake of "Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur." But is is really a pale comparison.

I am not a grump, so here are the films good points.

1. They try. (Don't worry-this list gets better!)

2. They are smart enough to put Orson Welles in a movie. Admittedly, this is the "Fat Orson" that you see in "The Trial (Le Process)" and "Touch Of Evil," but it is kind of fun to see his largish blue eyes in color.

3. They use the King James English, so it has the pseudo-Shakespearian fell to the dialogue. My denomination uses the King James Bible so I appreciated the poetry and flow of the language. It gives a sense of importance to what is being said, like Yoda's backwards-speak.

4. To their credit, they use the camera correctly, and try (that word again) to do a "deep focus" approach to cinematography. So it is fun to look at.

5. I like casting Ivo Payer as David. He looks like the early Second Century depictions of Jesus Christ. Not like the pious olive complexioned and rather effeminate figure we see nowadays, but more like the robust Apollo. Good job!

Bad points:

1. This film has horrible pacing. It is long and drawn out in all the wrong areas. They could have cut 30 minutes off this film, and it would be fine.

2. The copy is bad and scratchy, so it looks like the old reel-to-reels I used to watch in kindergarten.

3. They spend a lot of time focusing on Goliath, but to not point. It is more to show off special effects. I'm fine with minimal liberties taken with a story, but then need to have a reason for being in a movie.

4. Orson Welles is severely restrained: he is practically asleep as he delivers his lines. For crying out loud! He is the greatest Shakespearian actor America has produced! Can't you do something with him?

So, only if you have a severe like of Orson Welles (like me), or are a poor Sunday school teacher (like me), I don't recommend this film.. Stick with the claymation boy and his dog. OR read the primary text on your own!

I bought this DVD ...and could tell from the packaging it was nothing spectacular. I was right. If you're looking for a better rendition of the story of David and Goliath, though, I'm not sure what to tell you. There aren't many to choose from. I think Orson does okay for Saul and the guy playing Goliath is a giant, but not ridiculously huge. He still looks human, but acts retarded. David, on the other hand does much to ruin the movie as he looks more like an aspiring body builder than a shepherd or musician as he flaunts his way through the film. Also I think it's trite the way he practically becomes Jesus on his first trip to Jerusalem with his persecuted sadness at the sins of the capitol city. The daughters of Saul are pretty and almost make the film interesting as one coaxes Abner to villainy while the other coaxes David to righteousness. The scenes are incredibly drawn out and a 90 minute movie feels like three or four hours. If you put this one on fast-forward, you won't even notice.

{Orson Wells} / David and Goliath in the 1960 DVD Version.
I found this movie to be very mind-numbing I nearly fell alseep, because this movie was so boring and did not meet up to my expetations.
The quality & sound of the DVD was extremly poor, It had no pretense, no guidance, no thrill, no-nothing.

I would not recommend this DVD movie to anyone. I really want even give it a star (even though I had to select a 1 star rating). This is one AWFUL dvd movie that will set up in/on my dvd shelf and collect dust.

Although this movie is considered a classic, I only purchased this movie because of my quest for historical-biblical events transformed into a movie. I await the time for a NEWER version of David and Goliath to be released that has some feelings and a sense of meaning an overall Godliness to it.

Orson Welles gets the top billing in this 1960 movie adaptation of the classic Biblical story, but Welles doesn't portray either one of the title characters. Instead he portrays (and perhaps fittingly so) Saul, the first King of Israel who disobeyed God so many times and lived with a divided heart. In some ways, Welles' life as the wunderkind of cinema parallels that of the life of King Saul. Whatever the case, it is Welles' performance that makes this 1960s sword-and-sandal-epic-wannabe worth watching.

The story is based upon the Biblical story, but except for the names of the characters, the film strays a great deal from the Bible story. Everyone knows that David was a shepherd boy who slain the giant Goliath with a slingshot and some stones and David did sing and play songs for Saul to sooth his troubled spirit. With one or two other exceptions, though, that's about the only thing DAVID AND GOLIATH that's accurate with Biblical writings. For instance, though David had served Saul, he wasn't an emissary to the Philistines at the time he killed Goliath. In fact, when David killed Goliath, Saul didn't even have a recognition of who he was. Also, Saul didn't slay Abner (Abner was later slain by Joab in revenge for his brother's death) and neither did David give Goliath's sword to Saul; he gave it to the priest instead.

Despite these discrepancies, DAVID AND GOLIATH isn't too bad of a film. The acting is decent and includes some excellent performances from both Welles and Hilton Edwards as the prophet Samuel. Samuel supposedly was the only person in all of Israel that Saul feared and in the movie Edwards seems to be the only actor that Welles fears. The movie does a decent job at giving some characterization and back story to the famed giant Goliath as well as fleshing out the character of David a bit (he once loved a woman who died tragically).

Yet, even with all the positives that it has going for it, DAVID AND GOLIATH doesn't live up to being a Biblical epic or a true swords-and-sandals film. Some of the characters are just miscast, for instance Ivo Payer seems more like a Greek god rather than a shepherd boy and future great king of Israel. Also, the movie leads up to the climatic battle between the forces of Israel and the forces of Palestine, but when the battle finally erupts there really isn't much of a battle. I realize part of this is because of the film code, but the climatic scene of the movie should last longer and be more exciting than a bunch of horses running around and a few men seeming to have a fist fight with bendable weapons.

DAVID AND GOLIATH isn't a terrible movie. Fans of sword-and-sandal pieces might enjoy it because it is a different type of movie in that genre. People who enjoy Bible stories might enjoy it, though some will not like it at all because it so freely adapts the Bible and roves from the source material. I do highly recommend it for Welles' fans, though. He delivers a fine performance and though he shows signs of the behemoth he was to become, he also displays through his performance why he was one of the greatest American actors to grace a stage, screen, or studio.

A bible story like it was never told. All Israel looks like 1960's Italians. And when Goliath (Kronos) first appears they use 60's sci-fi music. I'm not sure but I think King Saul (Orson Welles) mumbles in Italian. The story has slightly changed and So David (Ivica Pajer) gets the girl and congratulations from Old King Saul. His rival (no not Goliath) Abner (Massimo Serato) gets the shaft.

The only real sad part was the scene where poor innocent cutie shepherd girl gets electrocuted.

I can not avoid saying "Read the Book"

Samson

Released as David And Goliath, this is a very enjoyable classic Bible story. On the cover it is billed as an Orson Wells picture, however, Wells does not take the prominent focus. This movie explores the opposite side of the Philistenes gearing up for war against Israel, an aspect not usually covered in Bible stories. If you like classic film, this is definitely one that should be seen.

Think of all the stereotypes one could conjure up about these Italian sword-and-sandal pictures, a good primer would be the Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Bill Murray as a chubby Hercules. Awful dubbing, sets draped in gaudy colors, and sluggish action sequences. DAVID & GOLIATH has all these in spades, in the parlance of our time. I could just see the marquee now: "A film so bad, it needed TWO directors!" Keep in mind though that I'm actually a fan of the genre. But this film is utterly charmless and completely lacking in any energy and exuberance. Sadly, Orson Welles personifies many of these traits in his somnabulent performance as King Saul. He spends what little screen time he has shuffling around with a goblet of wine in hand and mumbles most of his lines. I know that he was doing this for the money so I just try to focus my mind on all the great films he directed. Ivo Payer plays a bland and athletic-looking David, Kronos is an equally poor Goliath, slow and ungainly. Massimo Serato, who has a long list of villainous roles, plays Saul's scheming advisor Abner with ease. Not bad, but not too special either. Worse yet, this production wavers between solemn Biblical tale and two-bit comic book action, and fails in both departments. The original story is dumbed down and robbed of much its complexity. But I don't object to that. I'm not a stickler for faithful literary adaptations. But DAVID & GOLIATH'S aforementioned lethargy accounts for its failure even as a simple adventure flick. Truly, this film was a David & Goliath struggle to get through.

Aside from any other problems, this version of the film is butchered to ribbons. Originally released at an hour and 53 minutes, this disc contains only an houord and 35 minutes. The visual aspect of 2.35:1 has been mutilated to 1.33:1. It's hard to believe the amount of irresponsible greed behind this wanton violence. May its perpetrators suffer the fate of old nitrate film left out in the sun.

It is well perform, but has many discrepancies regarding the truth of the Bible. Otherwise to replace other movies that do not bring moral and faithfulness to someone it is good, as entertainment.