Product Details

• Released on: 2003-12-09
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: NTSC, Import
• Original language: English, Italian
• Running time: 95 minutes

Synopsis
Very loosely based on its Biblical source, this standard Italian sword-and-sandal action film stars Orson Welles as an intense, inward-turning King Saul, deteriorating at the same time that David is rising in renown. The shepherd David (Ivo Payer) is sent to the Israelite forces with supplies for his older brothers when he first discovers who Goliath is -- the giant over nine feet tall that challenges any single warrior to meet him one-on-one in battle. If someone takes up his challenge, it would decide whether the Israelites or Philistines are victorious in their current stand-off. David's one-shot victory turns the tide and hastens Saul's decline. The monarch's lithesome daughters Merab and Michal are played by Eleonora Rossi-Drago and Giulia Rubini, his son Jonathan is portrayed by Pierre Cressoy, and Goliath by Kronos, a muscular "giant" of European circus and music hall circuits. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

DVD Menu

• Side #1 --
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DVD Chapters
Side #1 --
1. Chapter 1 [14:49]
2. Chapter 2 [16:34]
3. Chapter 3 [13:09]
4. Chapter 4 [15:46]
5. Chapter 5 [16:22]
6. Chapter 6 [14:52]

Customer Reviews

Only the names are the same
A bible story like it was never told. All Israel looks like 1960's Italians. And when Goliath (Kronos) first appears they use 60's sci-fi music. I'm not sure but I think King Saul (Orson Welles) mumbles in Italian. The story has slightly changed and So David (Ivica Pajer) gets the girl and congratulations from Old King Saul. His rival (no not Goliath) Abner (Massimo Serato) gets the shaft.

The only real sad part was the scene where poor innocent cutie shepherd girl gets electrocuted.

I can not avoid saying "Read the Book"

Great story
5 stars for Orson, sure he mubbles his way through, but it's still Orson, and in colour. 5 stars for the story, God triumphs through this man.

Gives peplum a bad name
Think of all the stereotypes one could conjure up about these Italian sword-and-sandal pictures, a good primer would be the Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Bill Murray as a chubby Hercules. Awful dubbing, sets draped in gaudy colors, and sluggish action sequences. DAVID & GOLIATH has all these in spades, in the parlance of our time. I could just see the marquee now: "A film so bad, it needed TWO directors!" Keep in mind though that I'm actually a fan of the genre. But this film is utterly charmless and completely lacking in any energy and exuberance. Sadly, Orson Welles personifies many of these traits in his somnabulent performance as King Saul. He spends what little screen time he has shuffling around with a goblet of wine in hand and mumbles most of his lines. I know that he was doing this for the money so I just try to focus my mind on all the great films he directed. Ivo Payer plays a bland and athletic-looking David, Kronos is an equally poor Goliath, slow and ungainly. Massimo Serato, who has a long list of villainous roles, plays Saul's scheming advisor Abner with ease. Not bad, but not too special either. Worse yet, this production wavers between solemn Biblical tale and two-bit comic book action, and fails in both departments. The original story is dumbed down and robbed of much its complexity. But I don't object to that. I'm not a stickler for faithful literary adaptations. But DAVID & GOLIATH'S aforementioned lethargy accounts for its failure even as a simple adventure flick. Truly, this film was a David & Goliath struggle to get through.