Samson and Delilah (1949)

Samson and Delilah (1949), produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille.

As a Judge of Israel, Samson doesn't put much into the job and seems awfully susceptible to female charms, but when the chips are down he can summon the strength to pull down the temple, destroying his enemies and the oppressors of his people.

This has DeMille's characteristic stiff performances and lovely storybook backgrounds. The exception among the actors is acerbic George Sanders as the king: he's in a better film than the others.

The story gets a bit better when Delilah repents after Samson is blinded and enslaved. He forgives and tries to save her in the end...

Hedy Lamarr was known for her beautiful face and figure, limited acting ability, notorious litigiousness, and for inventing and holding a patent on Frequency-hopping spread spectrum radio control, originally intended as an anti-jamming technique for torpedoes, later the basis for Spread spectrum telecommunications.

Note that one of the posters features quite a bit of her underboob, pretty saucy for the time:

Edith Head is one of five costumers. Part of the set was rebuilt so that DeMille could appear as himself directing the picture in Sunset Blvd. (1950).

Available on Blu-ray. The rich color scheme looks very similar to The Ten Commandments (1956). Detail is good, if not quite as fine as for the later film.