‘Salome’ (1953): A Classic Film versus a Famous Opera

American actor Rita Hayworth fans out the skirt of her harem-style costume while posing in an entranceway with marble columns and drapes in a still from director William Dieterle's film "Salome" from 1953. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Commentary

Salome ranks with Jezebel and Delilah as one of the most notorious temptresses in the Bible, if not all history and literature. Although she is unnamed in the New (or Old) Testament, first century historian Flavius Josephus identified the daughter of King Herod as Salome III in his “Jewish Antiquities.” She has been immortalized in paintings, poems, plays, ballets, operas, and films.

Hollywood has never been able to resist adapting a famous story multiple times. There were two silent movies about Salome, from 1918 and 1923, but after the second treatment, the story wouldn’t be adapted for another thirty years. The 1953 “Salome” was the first sound and the first color version of the story. A Columbia Picture, it starred Rita Hayworth in the title role. Although it was the top-earning film of the year, this movie is now rather obscure. Perhaps the most famous artistic work about the Jewish temptress is now Richard Strauss’s 1905 one-act opera “Salome.”

This story was not an easy one to make into a 1950s Hollywood film. At the time, the Motion Picture Production Code was strictly enforced by the Production Code Administration (PCA), and it had conservative policies regarding lust, violence, costumes, dancing, and religion. “Salome” is a story of great possibilities, offering violations in all those categories! However, it used those elements rather than abusing them, resulting in a more sensitive, family friendly, yet still deeply dramatic take on the story. Let’s consider how and why this film is different than the famous Strauss opera of the same name.

Poster of the opera "Salome" by Richard Strauss in 1910. Public Domain

The Stories

The story of the opera “Salome” was based on Oscar Wilde’s 1890s one-act play of the same name. Salome is the daughter of King Herod’s wife, Herodias, and his brother. The vain, selfish girl is very beautiful and enjoys trifling with men. Narraboth, Captain of the Guard, grows inflamed with love for her. John the Baptist, called Jochanaan in the opera, has been imprisoned by Herod for denouncing Herod’s marriage to Herodias as adulterous. Fascinated by Jochanaan’s voice, Salome tempts Narraboth to defy her stepfather’s orders by bringing him to her. The young princess is instantly infatuated with the prophet, begging to touch his skin and hair and kiss him. He rejects her and denounces her wickedness, while Narraboth kills himself because he can’t bear to hear her lusting after another man. At a feast, Salome agrees to dance for the lustful Herod when he offers her anything she wants in exchange. After performing the enticing “Dance of the Seven Veils,” she demands Jochanaan’s head on a silver platter. Herod reluctantly fulfills her wish, but he is horrified when she proclaims her love to the severed head and kisses it like a living man. He orders his guards to kill her.

When the movie begins, Salome (Hayworth) is living in Rome, where she spent most of her childhood. She is banned from the city by Caesar Tiberius (Sir Cecil Hardwicke) because she wants to marry his nephew, and the emperor considers her foreign background inferior. She returns to Israel, escorted by the new governor, Pontius Pilate (Basil Sidney), and handsome young Commander Claudius (Stewart Granger). Meanwhile, her stepfather, King Herod (Charles Laughton), lives in terror of John the Baptist (Alan Badel), who he thinks is the Messiah. Although the prophet continually denounces Herod and Herodias (Judith Anderson) for their adulterous marriage and wicked ways, Herod is afraid to punish him because of a prophesy that he will die in agony if he harms the Messiah.

When Salome arrives in Palestine, Herod lusts after her. Frantic to destroy John before he incites the people to kill her, Herodias decides to manipulate her fickle husband with her daughter’s beauty. Salome begins returning Claudius’s love for her, despite her aversion to Romans, but she doesn’t know that he is a close friend and follower of John the Baptist. Herod imprisons John to keep Herodias from assassinating him. The queen asks her daughter to dance for the king to entice him, but Salome refuses, knowing that would make her his possession. However, when Claudius brings her to John’s dungeon and tells him that he has seen the Messiah performing miracles, she feels convicted of her evil ways. She dances the “Dance of the Seven Veils” for Herod to persuade him to release John, but Herodias demands John’s severed head instead. Salome screams in horror when she realizes what her mother has done. She and Claudius escape together, and the film ends as they listen to Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount.

American actor Rita Hayworth fans out the skirt of her harem-style costume while posing in an entranceway with marble columns and drapes in a still from director William Dieterle's film "Salome" from 1953. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The Code Handles Controversy

The 1953 film was not based on Oscar Wilde’s play “Salome,” as the 1923 film had been, which makes its story quite different from the opera’s. Although a Code film feasibly could have been made of the controversial play, many problems were avoided by using an original story treatment by Jesse Lasky Jr and Harry Kleiner. The most problematic element of the opera’s plot was the romantic undercurrent between Salome and John the Baptist. Although the prophet resists the temptress, her lustful advances toward a religious man were considered blasphemous. In the film, Salome has no romantic designs on the Baptist.

The most troublesome relationship in the film was between Herod and Salome. When he first sees her, the lecherous ruler immediately lusts after his wife’s beautiful daughter. His pursuit of her is not only adulterous but incestuous, since Salome is both his stepdaughter and his niece. It’s never stated that Herod is her uncle, but it’s mentioned in the dialogue that Herodias was previously married to Herod’s brother. No one could be more convincing as a slimy, lecherous ruler of the ancient world than Charles Laughton. The situation with Herod and Salome is a brilliant example of how much meaning could be conveyed in Code films without explicit statements. Although very little is said, it’s obvious from Laughton’s expressions that he is positively drooling over Salome, and she realizes his attentions are far from fatherly. This scenario was daring, but I found it Code-compliant because it is mostly implied rather than blatantly stated.

Dance of Salome / of the Seven Veils from 1898 by Armand Point. Public Domain

Oscar Wilde’s play coined the name “The Dance of the Seven Veils,” which has been used in most subsequent versions, even those not specifically based on his work. Although the play didn’t refer to her removing the veils during the dance, it has often been interpreted this way. The dance is very climactic in the opera, making it challenging for companies to stage without using a separate dancer. As the bombastic strains grow more and more intense, some productions end with Salome in simulated or actual nudity. Although the 1953 film was not based on Wilde’s play or the opera, it made Salome’s final dance a “Dance of the Seven Veils.” This let Rita Hayworth display her impressive dancing technique in what she later called “the most demanding of my career.” The dance movements are very exotic and seductive, riding the line of Code acceptability, but she avoided using “hip bumps and grinds,” which was what the PCA usually found objectionable. Her costume consists of a series of veils in different colors, which she removes one by one. She ends up in a daring beige wrap, which covers just enough to be acceptable. The dance ends with John the Baptist’s severed head being presented. Rather than kissing it, as in the opera, she screams in horror. Although this is a shockingly gory moment, it is a dramatic condemnation of numerous evils. Salome compromised herself with good intentions, but one evil can only lead to another.

The Characters

Both the film and opera include a guard who is in love with Salome, whom the princess tries to manipulate into doing her bidding regarding John the Baptist. The opera’s guard is Narraboth, the Jewish Captain of the Guard at Herod’s palace, while the movie’s guard is Claudius, a Roman soldier. In the opera, Salome successfully seduces Narraboth into bringing John to her from his prison cell, but Claudius refuses to arrest John at Salome’s request. Narraboth is destroyed by his unrequited love for Salome because he is consumed by earthly matters. Claudius remains strong no matter what he faces, since he has faith in a Higher Power. Unlike his Roman comrades, he has found the truth of salvation in a Messiah who preaches peace, as taught to him by his friend John. Although he avoids professing his faith for a long while, it motivates his actions, as he risks his own life many times to keep the Baptist and his followers safe.

Karl Perron as Jochanaan in the opera "Salome," cropped from a postcard published in 1907. Public Domain

This film dealt with very controversial material and included daring content. These elements were allowed because they weren’t extraneous or included merely for shock value. They were necessary “for plot or proper characterization,” to use a phrase found throughout the Code. In addition, the whole film was given a moral tone because of the inclusion of “compensating moral values.” This is a phrase which Joseph Breen frequently used in the breening process, and it refers to characters, scenes, and scenarios which condemn evil and show the contrast of right living in word or action.

The compensating moral values in this picture are the fervor of John the Baptist but especially the faith of Claudius. When Pontius Pilate flippantly mentions a carpenter who is performing miracles, Claudius knows He must be the Messiah. He seeks Him out and watches Him heal a blind man. He risks his life to return to Herod’s palace and tell John that he has seen the Messiah. The look of wonder on John’s face as he hears the miracles of his Savior is inspiring. Meanwhile, these declarations pierce the hardness of Salome’s heart and make her realize that she too wants to follow the Messiah. It’s not pure fiction when she is shown as a Christian disciple at the film’s end. The early Christian text “Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ” referred to one of the women who went to Jesus’s tomb as “Salome the temptress.” This may have led some Christians to believe that Salome Herodias later became a follower of Jesus, although it’s clear from Biblical records that the disciple named Salome was an entirely different woman with the same name.

Throughout the film, Jesus’s face is never shown, but His white-robed outline and soothing voice make the message of righteous living very clear. Instead of ending with the evils of Herod’s palace, this Code film ends on an inspiring message of hope.