Poseidon-3 Review of Esther and the King

Esther and the King (1960)

More a testament to Brillcreme and Aqua-Net than to The Bible!

[31 March 2004]

There isn't a whole lot to distinguish this middling biblical epic from the sea of others that came out in the mid-50's and early 60's, but it offers a certain degree of entertainment. Egan (decidedly miscast) plays the King of Persia (with Brillcremed hair and a standard American accent) who returns from a long battle to find that his wife has been enjoying the services of one or more of his men. He excuses himself from her and sets out to find a new virgin bride, choosing from all the maidens in his kingdom. Virginal Jewess Collins (yes...that's right) is the title character. She is snatched away mere moments before becoming wed to Battaglia and is taken to the palace to be groomed for the selection process. Once there, she is protected by her uncle O'Dea (who entreats her to hide her Jewish heritage) and is targeted by Fantoni who is Egan's right-hand man. Fantoni has another lady in mind for the throne so he can use her to his own ends of taking over the kingdom. Eventually, Collins realizes that she and only she can spare her people from destruction and she decides to leave behind her dreams of a life with Battaglia and pursue Egan. Egan, still in very good shape physically, makes a handsome king and gives an okay performance. He is just patently contemporary in his look and delivery. Collins is very attractive throughout (complete with heavy bouffant 60's hair!) and does an adequate job as well, but is always more interesting as a villainess than as a docile young maiden. O'Dea lends able support as her wise and stalwart uncle. It would be difficult to summon up a more virile, hirsute, hunk of man than Battaglia as Collin's abandoned lover. Seeing him, one can understand the torment she had at having to turn her back on her past and move on. The location work, fancy sets, pageantry and gauzy costumes keep this from being too dull, but there is an awful lot of chatter and hand-wringing in between the action sequences. Stay awake for the scene in which Egan gifts Collins with a tiger cub and then immediately steps over to a lyre and plunks out what sounds like the opening strains of "Born Free"! As expected, considerable liberties have been taken with the original story, yet it doesn't result in that much more spectacular a film.