David and Bathsheba | |
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Original film poster
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Directed by | Henry King |
Produced by | Darryl F. Zanuck |
Written by | Philip Dunne |
Starring |
Gregory Peck Susan Hayward Raymond Massey Kieron Moore James Robertson Justice |
Music by |
Alfred Newman Edward Powell |
Cinematography | Leon Shamroy |
Edited by | Barbara McLean |
Distributed by | 20th Century-Fox |
Release date
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Running time
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116 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $2.17 million |
Box office | $7.1 million (est. US/ Canada rentals) |
David and Bathsheba is a 1951 historical Technicolor epic film about King David made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Henry King, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, from a screenplay by Philip Dunne. The cinematography was by Leon Shamroy. Gregory Peck stars as King David and the film follows King David's life as he adjusts to ruling as a King, and about his relationship with Uriah's wife Bathsheba (Susan Hayward). Goliath of Gath was portrayed by 6"8' Lithuanian wrestler Walter Talun.
King David was the second king of Israel and this film is based on the second Old Testament book of Samuel from the Bible. When the Ark of the Covenant is brought to Jerusalem, a soldier reaches out to steady it and is struck dead. While the prophet Nathan declares this the will of God, a skeptical David pronounces it the result of a combination of heat-stroke and too much wine. The scene is echoed later when a repentant David, seeking relief from a drought affecting his people also reached out to touch the Ark. Screenwriter Dunne said he "left it to the audience to decide if the blessed rain came as the result of divine intervention or simply of a low-pressure system moving in from the Mediterranean."
While Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. owned the rights to the 1943 book David written by Duff Cooper, the film is not based on that book. Zanuck also owned the rights to a 1947 Broadway play called "Bathsheba". Seeing the success of C. B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah, Zanuck commissioned Philip Dunne to write a script based on King David. Dunne conceived it as a modern-type play exploring the corruption of absolute power. The film is noticeably devoid of the epic battles and panoramas frequently seen in biblical movies.