SALOME (1953) Color transparency

Vintage original 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) Kodachrome color transparency, USA. Rita Hayworth, Stewart Granger, Charles Laughton, Judith Anderson, dir: William Dieterle; Columbia. Fine.

Famous story of the Princess Salome who was manipulated to carry out the politics of Tiberius and King Herod in making sure John the Baptist is killed. The spectacular color production gave Rita Hayworth the great dancing scene as she peeled away the seven colorful veils.

Some of the color, and the extent to which the company went in creating sets, can be viewed in this scene still in which a desert camp has been set up for Princess Salome (Hayworth, at upper right), with Stewart Granger as Commander Claudius (who becomes her lover and leads her to Christianity) and Carmen D’Antonio as Salome’s servant fetching water at center in the image. Amongst the Roman guards is Eduardo Cansino, Hayworth’s father.