Salome (1922)

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(290 ratings)

Seeking to bring High Art to the American hinterlands, silent film star Alla Nazimova sank a great deal of her own money into her 1922 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Salome. Art director Natacha Rambova (notorious as the contentious second wife of Rudolph Valentino) based her set designs on the works… More Seeking to bring High Art to the American hinterlands, silent film star Alla Nazimova sank a great deal of her own money into her 1922 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Salome. Art director Natacha Rambova (notorious as the contentious second wife of Rudolph Valentino) based her set designs on the works of fin-de-siecle artist Aubrey Beardsley. The story remains as always: Salome is coerced by her mother Herodias (Rose Dione) to demand the head of John the Baptist on a platter. She performs an erotic dance around the head, then is crushed to death by Herod's guards. Legend has it that everyone in the supporting cast and production crew of Salome was homosexual--hand-picked by Nazimova, who reportedly believed that only a gay aggregation could do full justice to her bizarre, excruciatingly stylized cinematic vision. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 54 min.
Directed By: Charles Bryant
Written By: Oscar Wilde, Natacha Rambova
Genres: Drama, Classics, Special Interest

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1922 Wide

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Featured Audience Ratings

Stella D

tres avant-garde but really fascinating... if you're into silent films, that is. the art direction by valentino's wife, natacha rambova, is remarkable and meant to reflect aubrey beardsley's illustrations for wilde's play. the notorious nazimova is a bit over the… More
tres avant-garde but really fascinating... if you're into silent films, that is. the art direction by valentino's wife, natacha rambova, is remarkable and meant to reflect aubrey beardsley's illustrations for wilde's play. the notorious nazimova is a bit over the top but in this extreme setting it mostly works. this was her own production and she was already well into her 40s when she played the teenage salome, but she's quite convincing, except maybe in close-up. the film was roundly condemned and was a huge flop and nazimova lost a fortune and soon returned to broadway. the whole film is on youtube here >http://youtu.be/LDaZNqag8uQ
jay n

More of an interesting artifact then a good film. The sets and costumes are impressive the acting for the time was probably condidered emotive and deep but know seems overripe and hammy.