# Salomé (1923 film)

Salomé is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by Charles Bryant and Alla Nazimova, who also stars. It is an adaptation of the 1891 Oscar Wilde play of the same name. The play itself is a loose retelling of the biblical story of King Herod and his execution of John the Baptist (here, as in Wilde's play, called Jokanaan) at the request of Herod's stepdaughter, Salomé, whom he lusts after.
Salomé is often called one of the first art films to be made in the United States. The highly stylized costumes, exaggerated acting, minimal sets, and absence of all but the most necessary props make for a screen image much more focused on atmosphere and on conveying a sense of the characters' individual heightened desires than on conventional plot development.

## Plot

The film starts by giving context for the banquet that is about to unfold. The Tetrarch is said to have murdered his brother to obtain the throne and for access to his brother's (now his) wife and daughter.
At some point after this coup, Jokanaan arrived from the desert and prophesizes the coming birth of Christ. He reveals the infidelity of Herodias, the Tetrarch's wife. With his wife furious, t⅞7th Tetrarch locks Jokanaan away to protect him from great mobs.
Salomé, daughter of Herodias, is described as "... An uncontaminated blossom in a wilderness of evil", but despite this, is known as a girl who is unafraid to kill and does it as a form of affection."
A new scene opens at Herod's palace, where the Tetrarch displays his intense obsession with Salome, his stepdaughter and niece, thus angering Herodias. Salomé leaves this and enters the courtyard from the banquet hall. She charms a young guard to allow her to see Jokanaan.
He is brought up from his prison below. Salomé displays a deep obsession for the Prophet. After he ignores her affections, she expresses her intent to kiss him. The young guard Salomé had previously charmed takes a blade to his own chest. Unnerved by this, Salomé continues to pester Jokanaan,±± causing him to retreat back to his prison. This infuriates Salomé, and she waits just outside his cell door. Seeking his stepdaughter, the Tetrarch stumbles out into the courtyard and finds the body of the young guard. He is horrified, as he did not order for anyone to be killed.
After the initial horror subsides, the Tetrarch orders the banquet to be served outside, so Salomé is visible while he eats. He begs her to join and dance for him and his guests, promising anything she desires. Salomé realizes she can use this to kill the man she loves, Jokanaan. She knows her stepfather would keep him removed in his cage otherwise, and her mother also despises him.
Salomé performs The Dance of the Seven Veils, which greatly pleases The Tetrarch. In return, Salomé asks for Jokanaan's head to be delivered to her on a silver platter. The Tetrarch is horrified by this request and offers multiple alternatives.
Cheered on by her mother, Salomé insists on the head of Jokanaan. When delivered the head, Salomé hides it under her long train and kisses it, which she had desired from their first meeting.
Seeing this, the Tetrarch orders the execution of Salomé. Guards rush her with spears. The final card shows the words "THE MYSTERY OF LOVE IS GREATER THAN THE MYSTERY OF DEATH!"

## Cast

* Alla Nazimova as Salomé, Stepdaughter of Herod
* Mitchell Lewis as Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Judea
* Rose Dione as Herodias, wife of Herod
* Earl Schenck as Narraboth, Captain of the Guard
* Arthur Jasmine as Page of Herodias
* Nigel De Brulier as Jokanaan, the Prophet
* Frederick Peters as Naaman, the Executioner
* Louis Dumar as Tigellinus

## Production

Despite the film being only a little over an hour in length and having no real action to speak of, it cost over $350,000 to make. All the sets were constructed indoors to be able to have complete control over the lighting. The film was shot completely in black and white, matching the illustrations done by Aubrey Beardsley in the printed edition of Wilde's play. The costumes, designed by Natacha Rambova, used material only from Maison Lewis of Paris, such as the real silver lamé loincloths worn by the guards.
No major studio would be associated with the film, and it was years after its completion before it was released, by a minor independent distributor. It was a complete failure at the time and marked the end of Nazimova's producing career.

## Gay cast rumor

There is a longstanding rumor, which seems to have started while the film was still in production and has been asserted by chronicler of Hollywood decadence Kenneth Anger, that the film's cast is composed entirely of gay or bisexual actors in an homage to Oscar Wilde, as per star and producer Nazimova's demand.
It is, of course, impossible to say, but one of the extras in Salomé reported that a number of the cast members—both featured and extras—were indeed gay, but not an unusual percentage of them, and certainly not all of them. What can be said is that Nazimova herself was usually thought of as a lesbian (despite occasional flings with men including Paul Ivano), the two guard characters (who, next to Salomé, have the most screen time) are at least played very stereotypically gay, and several of the female courtiers are men in drag.
According to Vito Russo's The Celluloid Closet, some scenes in which homosexuality was exposed more explicitly were cut out, including one showing the relationship between two Syrian soldiers.

## Critical reception and legacy

A reviewer for Screenland described Salomé as "a painting deftly stroked upon the silversheet" and that "poets and dreamers will find imaginative delights in the weird settings and the still more weird acting, depressing at times to ordinary folks. And it is worth something to watch Nazimova balance her Christmas-tree headdress!"
Photoplay did not know quite what to make of the film. Calling Wilde’s original story “a hot-house orchid of decadent passion,” the review was skeptical of the film adaptation: "We are not sure whether we like Madame Nazimova’s idea of Salome as a petulant little princess with a Freudian complex and a headdress of glass bubbles. We rather believe such a Salome would not have stirred men so in those good old pagan days. You have our warning: this is bizarre stuff."
Salomé was screened in 1989 at the New York International Festival of Lesbian and Gay films and in 1990 at the New York Gay Experimental Film Festival.
In 2000, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 2006, Salomé became available on DVD as a double feature with the avant garde film Lot in Sodom (1933) by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber.
In 2013 Salomé was screened at the Ojai Music Festival, where the Bad Plus performed a live improvised soundtrack.
The film was nominated in 2001 by the American Film Institute for AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions.