by Nathaniel R
With 49 days left of fervent prayers from contenders hoping to be among The Chosen on January 23rd, is it any wonder that Samson & Delilah (1949) popped into mind... shortly before Blade Runner 2049 (This is how my brain works -- my deepest apologies).
Biblical movies were once favorites of Oscar voters, especially in the mid 20th century. One might call them the sci-fi blockbusters of the day in terms of both their audience popularity and their difficulty being truly respected outside of "craft" categories. Samson & Delilah was, according to Wikipedia, the year's biggest box office hit in 1949... though that makes little sense. Apparently it was only released in NYC in 1949 and then hit Los Angeles in 1950 to become Oscar eligible for the 1950 Oscars instead of the 49 Oscars...
It won two of its eventual five Oscar nominations, the Moulin Rouge! prizes as we like to call them (Art Direction & Costume Design).
I dont know if you know of this craziness (I did not) but the Samson story is coming back to cinemas via PureFlix in just two months in a new version that looks just as bad and bloodthirsty and female-phobic as other recent biblical epics or remakes (Ben-Hur. shudder)
Like, where is Delilah? I mean there's no topping Hedy Lamarr, but still. Shouldn't she have a more than a cameo in the story?
Because this will surely be a stoopid revealing exercize in "different times" let's watch both trailers shall we?
THE 1949 CECIL B DEMILLE EPIC
THE 2018 PUREFLIX MOVIE OPENING THIS FEBRUARY DURING OSCAR SEASON - TEEHEE
VICTOR MATURE OR TAYLOR JAMES?
