The Queen of Sheba (1921 film)
Queen of Sheba | |
---|---|
Fox Film Corporation | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 9 reels |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Budget | $479,000[1] |
Box office | $1,121,000[1] |
The Queen of Sheba is a 1921 American
Plot
This article needs a plot summary. (February 2024) |
Cast
- Betty Blythe as Queen of Sheba
- King Solomon
- Claire de Lorez as Queen Amrath
- George Siegmann as King Armud of Sheba
- Herbert Heyes as Tamaran
- Herschel Mayall as Menton
- G. Raymond Nye as Adonijah
- King David
- Genevieve Blinn as Beth-Sheba
- Pat Moore as Sheba's son
- Joan Gordon as Nomis, Sheba's sister
- William Hardy as Olos
- Paul Cazeneuve as Pharaoh's Envoy
- John Cosgrove as King of Tyre
- Nell Craig as Princess Vashti
- Al Fremont as Army Captain
- Earl Crain as Joab
- Frederick Kovert as Peacock
- Al Hoxie as Charioteer (uncredited)
- Robert Livingston (uncredited)
Production
The film was originally intended for Theda Bara. However Bara chose not to renew her contract and, after making the ill-fated Kathleen Mavourneen (1919), she all but retired from filmmaking. While making Mavourneen, construction began on sets for The Queen of Sheba. Not wanting it to go to waste, William Fox chose to put Betty Blythe in the role. The film became a hit but Blythe never matched its success with her later films.[1]
The highlight of the film were the chariot races. The hippodrome set for the chariot race was constructed on the north end of the Fox Hollywood studio lot.[1] It was a 1250 feet by 3100 feet elipse. Western star Tom Mix staged and directed the all-female chariot race between the Queen of Sheba and Princess Vashti using 10 chariots, 40 horses, and a cast of 3,500.[4] Mix convinced actresses Blythe and Nell Craig to take the reins and drive their chariots, and in the first of the races Mix drove one himself while wearing Roman robes.[5]
The risqué costumes of Blythe made by Margaret Whistler (1888 - 1939), a former character actress who shifted to working in the wardrobe department, included see-through gossamer robes and one costume essentially consisting of strands of pearls.[6] The topless scenes filmed for this movie were seen only in the European release versions.[citation needed]
Reception
Although the film received good reviews, its premiere run disapointed Fox, and its road show was cancelled. In December 1921, Fox announced that the film could be booked by regular exhibitors in the next season.[7] Regardless, on a budget of $479,000 The Queen of Sheba still grossed $1,121,000 in worldwide rentals.[1]
Preservation
The film is presumed lost.[8][9][10] A 1937 New Jersey vault fire destroyed most of the Fox silent film negatives and prints, and it is unlikely a copy of The Queen of Sheba still exists. However, in May 2011, a 17-second fragment was found,[11] and initially mistakenly identified as from Cleopatra (1917), though comparison with stills from the movie have since led to it being identified correctly.[12]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7864-6286-5.
- ^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Queen of Sheba at silentera.com
- ^ CBS News. Lost Films: Queen of Sheba. Accessed July 20, 2020
- ISBN 978-1-107-04260-5.
- ISBN 1-893121-05-4.
- ISBN 978-0-7624-5807-3.
- ISBN 978-0-8143-3008-1.
- ^ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Queen of Sheba". silentera.com.
- ^ The Queen of Sheba at TheGreatStars.com; Lost Films Wanted Wayback Machine). Retrieved July 21, 2018
- ^ Carey, Gary; Museum of Modern Art (New York, N. Y. ) (1970). Lost films. Internet Archive. New York, The Museum of Modern Art; distributed by New York Graphic Society, Greenwich, Conn. p. 31.
- ^ 17 second fragment from the film at the Internet Archive
- ^ "So Is this for Real?". NitrateVille.com forum. See image comparison.
External links
- The Queen of Sheba at IMDb
- Synopsis at AllMovie
- 17 second fragment from the film at the Internet Archive
- July 18, 1937 amateur film on YouTube of Fox Film fire facility in Little Ferry, New Jersey, in which the camera negative and last prints of The Queen of Sheba most likely perished
- Foreign release lobby poster Archived March 18, 2014, at the Wayback Machine