Shocking. Revolting. Human. Those three words may sound like the description of a flop, but in reality those words describe the brilliance of this movie. Set in a theater-stage atmosphere akin to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, this movie sucks you in to a devilish plot dripping with intrigue. It leaves you feeling a bit dirty, too, like you've had a secret fling behind your spouse' back.
Glenda Jackson ("Herodius") absolutely shines in this production; a temptress of the same flavor as Joan Collins in Dallas. If I had four hands, this movie would get all four thumbs up. (Not for the squeamish - or the uppity prude).
Important notes: contrary to the false comments made by other people here about this film... The actress playing Salome is indeed a FEMALE - Imogen Millais-Scott - not a male in drag. Furthermore, some have said that the movie made a discrepancy by having Oscar Wilde arrested for "sexual crimes" on Guy Faulks Day (the day of the movie's setting) when in fact he was not arrested on that day - the actual truth being that the arrest in the film WAS FICTIONAL... in this movie he is arrested with everyone else in the brothel because the man playing Herod tells the centurion, "Kill that woman!" and he actually hurls a spear at Salome and murders her, and she falls off the stage impaled by the spear and the police find her dead body. As everyone is being tossed into the paddy wagon, Glenda Jackson attempts a defense by saying, "She wasn't murdered! She slipped on a banana peel!"
Glenda Jackson ("Herodius") absolutely shines in this production; a temptress of the same flavor as Joan Collins in Dallas. If I had four hands, this movie would get all four thumbs up. (Not for the squeamish - or the uppity prude).
Important notes: contrary to the false comments made by other people here about this film... The actress playing Salome is indeed a FEMALE - Imogen Millais-Scott - not a male in drag. Furthermore, some have said that the movie made a discrepancy by having Oscar Wilde arrested for "sexual crimes" on Guy Faulks Day (the day of the movie's setting) when in fact he was not arrested on that day - the actual truth being that the arrest in the film WAS FICTIONAL... in this movie he is arrested with everyone else in the brothel because the man playing Herod tells the centurion, "Kill that woman!" and he actually hurls a spear at Salome and murders her, and she falls off the stage impaled by the spear and the police find her dead body. As everyone is being tossed into the paddy wagon, Glenda Jackson attempts a defense by saying, "She wasn't murdered! She slipped on a banana peel!"