Well, let's take a look at the writing credits:
Samson and Delilah (1949)
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Writing credits:
Jesse Lasky Jr. & Fredric M. Frank (screenplay)
Harold Lamb original treatment &
Vladimir Jabotinsky (novel "Judge and Fool, aka Samson the Nazarite, Samson & Prelude to Delilah") uncredited.
Yep,
The film gave radical early Zionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky his sole Hollywood filmmaking credit.
And it won two Oscars.
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4 comments:
I like what Groucho Marx said about the film, "It'll never be a hit, because Victor Mature has much bigger knockers than Hedy Lamarr."
Actually Steve Reeves was sought for the role but they wanted him to tone down his muscle structure. Poor Heddy, pre-silicon era although Angela Landsbury wasn't bad.
Much less well known is the fact that Meir Kahane was the script doctor for Love Story.
Okay, let me explain. De Mille had been sued on "Ten Commandments" by several novelists claiming that he had stolen the idea.
I'm not kidding.
These are known as nuisance suits. The studio usually ends up with an out of court settlement, but it's a huge pain because these suits can hold up the release of a film, which can mean millions in lost revenue.
De Mille, from then on, bought most any novel that touched on his story line. Jabotinsky had nothing to do with the film and his novel served as the basis for, well, nothing in the script.
Hedy Lamarr was half Jewish, and used some very unusual methods to secure the role of Delilah.
But that's another story.
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