Samson and Delilah is a 1949 American epic romantic biblical drama film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and released by Paramount Pictures. It depicts the biblical story of Samson, a strongman whose secret lies in his uncut hair, and his love for Delilah, the woman who seduces him, discovers his secret, and then betrays him to the Philistines. It stars Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr in the title roles, George Sanders as the Saran, Angela Lansbury as Semadar, and Henry Wilcoxon as Prince Ahtur.
Pre-production on Samson and Delilah began as early as 1935, when Harold Lamb wrote an original film treatment based on chapters 13–16 of the biblical Book of Judges. Production was postponed for a decade. DeMille also bought the film rights to Vladimir Jabotinsky's 1926 novel Samson the Nazirite, and the final screenplay was written by Jesse L. Lasky Jr. and Fredric M. Frank. Principal photography officially commenced in 1948.
Upon its release, the film was praised for its Technicolor cinematography, lead performances, costumes, sets, and innovative special effects. After premiering in New York City on December 21, 1949, Samson and Delilah opened in Los Angeles on January 13, 1950. A massive commercial success, it became the highest-grossing film of 1950, and the third highest-grossing film ever at the time of its release. Of its five Academy Award nominations, the film won two for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. In 1952, DeMille won the Film français Grand Prix for Best Foreign Film of 1951.
Plot Samson, a Danite Hebrew placed under Nazirite vows from birth by his mother Hazelelponit, is the leader and protector of the Danites, who are under Philistine rule. He plans to marry a Philistine woman named Semadar, who is also being courted by Ahtur, the military governor of Dan. While sneaking at Semadar's house before a Philistine lion hunt, Samson meets Semadar's younger sister, Delilah, who is enamored with him. When Samson is left behind by the hunting party, Delilah offers to help him reach the hunting spot first. They ride there together and are accosted by a young lion, whom Samson kills with his bare hands. The Philistine entourage arrives along with the Saran of Gaza and are told by Delilah of Samson's feat. After proving his strength once more by beating the Saran's champion, Samson asks for the Saran's blessing in taking Semadar as his wife. The Saran accepts, disappointing both Delilah and Ahtur.
At the wedding feast, Samson asks his guests a riddle based on his fight with the lion for a wager of thirty garments. Angered by the riddle's difficulty and after being coaxed by Delilah, the guests have Ahtur threaten Semadar to get the answer out of Samson. Semadar succeeds, and the guests humiliate Samson with the answer before the wedding’s conclusion. In anger, Samson goes out and attacks thirty Philistines to strip them of their garments and pay the wager, only to find upon his return that Semadar’s father Tubal had married her off to Ahtur. Tubal offers Delilah as a replacement, but Samson rejects her. When Samson attacks Ahtur in Semadar's chambers, a fight ensues, resulting in the deaths of Semadar and Tubal. Samson swears revenge and leaves to start burning the Philistine fields. An embittered Delilah also vows vengeance for Samson's rejection and the death of her family.
Now a hunted man, Samson continues his vendetta against the Philistines by raiding their caravans. In response, the Saran imposes heavy taxes on the Danites, promising to lift them only if they give up Samson. This works, and the frustrated Danites hand over Samson to Ahtur and a large regiment of Philistine troops. During a stopover en route to Gaza, Samson prays for strength and rips apart his bonds. He topples Ahtur's war chariot and uses a donkey's jawbone to club numerous Philistine soldiers to death.
As the Saran and the Philistine lords ponder how to defeat Samson, Delilah comes up with the idea of seducing him to learn the secret of his superhuman strength and deliver him for punishment in exchange for a large payment of silver. After encountering Samson in the valley of Sorek, Delilah spends days forming a romance with him until she eventually learns that his hair is the source of his strength. She asks him to run away with her but is foiled by the arrival of Saul and Miriam, Samson's friends, who tell him that his parents have been captured and tortured by the Philistines. Samson prepares to leave with them, but Delilah subdues him with spiked wine and cuts off his hair. When the weakened Samson awakes, he is captured by Ahtur and the Philistines, who blind him and put him to slave work.
Delilah relishes Samson's downfall at first but becomes remorseful upon finding out that he was blinded. After being tormented by her guilt for weeks, she decides to make amends by visiting Samson in prison, where they learn that his strength has returned. After the two of them reconcile, Delilah offers to spirit Samson away, but he learns that he will be brought to the temple of Dagon the next day as part of his public humiliation and torture. He decides to stay and warns Delilah not to come to the temple.
Despite Samson's warning, Delilah attends the feast at the temple, where Samson is brought out in front of a massive Philistine crowd. Miriam arrives with Saul and begs the Saran and Delilah in vain for Samson's freedom. Under the pretense of humiliating him, Delilah guides Samson to the temple's two main pillars at his behest. Once he stands between them, he tells Delilah to flee, but she remains, unseen by him, as he prays for strength and pushes the pillars apart. The pillars give way and the temple collapses, burying Samson, Delilah, the Saran, and hundreds of Philistines under the rubble. Saul and Miriam mourn Samson's death, remarking that "men will tell his story for a thousand years."
Cast
Hedy Lamarr as Delilah Victor Mature as Samson George Sanders as The Saran of Gaza Angela Lansbury as Semadar Henry Wilcoxon as Prince Ahtur Olive Deering as Miriam Fay Holden as Hazelelponit Julia Faye as Hisham Russ Tamblyn as Saul William Farnum as Tubal Lane Chandler as Teresh Moroni Olsen as Targil Francis McDonald as Storyteller Wee Willie Davis as Garmiskar John Miljan as Lesh Lakish Arthur Q. Bryan as Fat Philistine Merchant Laura Elliot as Spectator Victor Varconi as Lord of Ashdod John Parrish as Lord of Gath Frank Wilcox as Lord of Ekron Russell Hicks as Lord of Ashkelon Boyd Davis as First Priest Fritz Leiber as Lord Sharif Mike Mazurki as Leader of Philistine Soldiers Davison Clark as Merchant Prince George Reeves as Wounded Messenger Pedro de Cordoba as Bar Simon Frank Reicher as Village Barber Colin Tapley as Prince Charles Evans as Manoah (uncredited) Harry Woods as Gammad (uncredited) Gordon Richards as Guide (uncredited) Cecil B. DeMille as Narrator (uncredited) Tanner the Lion as Lion (uncredited)
Production
Development
In late March 1934, Miriam Hopkins and Henry Wilcoxon were said to be DeMille's choices to play Samson and Delilah. In April, Paramount Pictures announced that its next "big picture" and DeMille's follow-up to Cleopatra (1934) would be Samson and Delilah. The film was eventually postponed and DeMille decided to produce and direct The Crusades (1935).
In May 1935, Motion Picture Daily informed that Samson and Delilah was "slated to start five weeks after the completion of The Crusades." Paramount bought the film rights to the music and libretto of the 1877 opera Samson et Dalila. DeMille paid $10,000 to historian Harold Lamb to write a film treatment of the biblical story of Samson and Delilah, which DeMille regarded as "one of the greatest love stories of all time." Jeanie MacPherson was also hired to do research and collaborate with Lamb on the screenplay. In July, Parsons reported that the director wanted to borrow James Cagney from Warner Bros. for the role of Samson. In November, actresses Dolores del Río, Paulette Goddard, and Joan Crawford were suggested for the part of Delilah, a role Grace Bradley wanted to play and also campaigned for.
By February 1936, DeMille had plans for two new films, Samson and Delilah and The Plainsman, and was also negotiating a new contract with Paramount. He considered filming Samson and Delilah in the new three-strip Technicolor. In April, DeMille thought dancer Sally Rand could be "the perfect beautiful brute" as Delilah. In October, after the release of The Plainsman, DeMille signed a new contract with Paramount and said he was making a deal with Charles Bickford for Samson and had asked Claudette Colbert to play Delilah. In November, DeMille and Paramount planned to film Samson and Delilah the following year. In December, the film was "indefinitely" shelved and DeMille started pre-production work on The Buccaneer.
Nine years later, on August 15, 1946, DeMille publicly stated that Samson and Delilah would be his next project after Unconquered (1947). DeMille later recalled in his autobiography that the Paramount executives had doubts about financing a "Sunday school tale." They approved the project when DeMille showed them a sketch by artist Dan Groesbeck depicting a "big, brawny" Samson and a "slim and ravishingly attractive" Delilah. He initially planned to film it in 1947, but in October 1947, he said he would produce the film the following year with a "budget to be based on the anticipated world gross at that time."
In spring of 1948, DeMille hired illustrator Henry Clive to paint the "ideal Delilah" on canvas. He had studied paintings of Delilah by Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Gustave Doré, and Solomon Joseph Solomon, but wanted her to look modern. DeMille said his Delilah "must have a dangerous capacity for vengeance. Warm, soft, cunning. A combination of Vivien Leigh and Jean Simmons with a dash of Lana Turner." In July, he hired Henry Noerdlinger as a research coordinator.
Writing Samson and Delilah is based on chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16 of the Book of Judges. These four chapters tell the story of Samson, one of the judges of Israel. Samson's origin and Nazarite status are described in chapter 13. An angel announced Samson's birth to his mother: "For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." Although chapter 13 is not depicted in the film, it is alluded to when Samson says, "A long time ago, I was dedicated to Him. Many of the vows, I've broken, but one I've kept." In chapter 14, Samson falls in love with and marries an unnamed Philistine woman from Timnath, but after she provokes Samson's anger by revealing the answer to his riddle, her father gives her to Samson's friend. In chapter 15, Samson's father-in-law, the Timnite, offers his unnamed younger daughter as a new bride, but Samson rejects her and burns the crops of the Philistines; the Philistines retaliate and burn Samson's wife and her father. In chapter 16, it is said that Samson "loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah", but she discovers the secret of his great strength and betrays him to the Philistines.