MovieChat Forums > Solomon and Sheba (1959) Discussion > Blu-ray coming 3/10/15 - Updated

Blu-ray coming 3/10/15 - Updated

posted 9 years ago by hobnob53
2 replies | jump to latest

Twilight Time will release Solomon and Sheba on Blu-ray on March 10, 2015.

As of the date of this post (December 23, 2014) there are as yet no details. Normally TT discs cost $29.99, are all-region, have an isolated score track and come with a booklet about the film. Sometimes there are other extras. Twilight Time discs are only available from Screen Archives Entertainment or Movies Unlimited.

When details come out nearer the release date I'll post an update here. As with all TT titles, this Blu-ray will be a limited edition of 3000 copies.

Update: The Blu-ray is available for pre-order from SAE as of February 25, 2015, with release still set for March 10. No word at this time when it might become available through MU, though their price for TT Blu-rays is $39.99, ten dollars higher than from SAE. However...

The bad news is that the only extras are the usual TT features: liner notes, the theatrical trailer and the isolated score. Unfortunately, they do not include as an extra any of the footage Tyrone Power filmed before his death while shooting the movie's climactic duel with George Sanders.

Frankly, the failure of TT to include any of the Power scenes isn't surprising, but it is disappointing, as this Blu-ray was really the last chance for any such footage to be made available to the public. (There were no extras at all on the bare-bones DVD.) So it seems that the extensive work Power did on this film before his sudden death, which does still exist, will remain largely or entirely unseen by audiences.

Another missed opportunity.

[–] mattohmss 9 years ago

I dearly wish they would put the footage of Ty Power currently rotting in the vaults to some use, and make -- however long it would take -- an alternate edit of this film, with all of Power's scenes included. If they need a Yul Brynner scene or two in order to bridge gaps and have the film make sense, so be it -- I just hope the footage is still salvageable. 

[–] hobnob53 9 years ago

While I don't think creating an alternate version is feasible, I've been hoping they'd rescue and restore any extant Power footage and include it as an extra. The only time I know where any of Power's scenes were ever shown was on the syndicated TV program That's Hollywood in 1974. It was just a scene or two, and the narrator (Tom Bosley) said that this was the first time the footage had ever been shown, but nothing's been broadcast in the decades since.

I hope the film Power shot is still salvageable, but even if it is I'll take any bet that none of it will show up on this upcoming release. Distributors really keep missing the boat on this one. I'm sure sales would be much higher if Power's footage was included as an extra.

Incidentally, besides having Yul Brynner substitute for Power, there was another cast change when they resumed filming. Actor Noel Purcell had played King David in the original film but was unavailable for the re-shoot, so Finlay Currie was brought in for the part. Overall I think this was better casting, as Purcell in real life was only 6 years older than George Sanders and 14 than Ty Power, while Currie was more realistic as their father (at 28 and 36 years older, respectively). On the other hand, for a production that had just lost its 44-year-old star to hire an 81-year-old to replace a 58-year-old was really taking a gamble! (As it turned out, Currie lived until 1968, dying at age 90.)

Producer Edward Small had tried to sign Power to a two-picture deal for Witness for the Prosecution and Solomon and Sheba but while Power was interested in the former he didn't want to do another costume epic and initially turned the offer down. Brynner was then approached about playing Solomon, but Small still wanted Power for both films and sweetened the deal by bringing Power's production company, Copa, into Solomon for a share of the profits. Power's partner in Copa, Ted Richmond, persuaded him to take the role as a way of raising cash for their company's projects, and Power agreed. Richmond became the film's producer but was so distraught after Power's death (blaming himself for pushing Power to take the part) that initially he wanted to withdraw from the project, but was persuaded to stay on. Richmond remained in Europe for the rest of his life, becoming a successful producer of mainstream fare, and died in Paris in 2013 at the age of 103.

Solomon and Sheba's director, King Vidor, who never made another film, always thought the movie was what he called "an insignificant, nothing sort of picture" because he thought Brynner had played Solomon as a standard, uninteresting hero. Vidor said, "With Power, it would have been a marvelous movie", which is debatable but reflected Vidor's happiness with Power's more nuanced and vulnerable interpretation of Solomon. For that reason alone I'd like to see some examples of his work in this film on the forthcoming Blu-ray. But I doubt we will.