Salome

Screen siren Alla Nazimova heats up the screen with sexuality and lust as Oscar Wilde's classic play, Salome, is hauntingly brought to life in director Charles Bryant's 1923 motion picture production. Although 42 years of age when she played the teenage temptress, Nazimova's highly stylized performance is now considered a classic. The striking set designs which evoke Aubrey Beardsley illustrations, are the work of art director Natacha Rambova, notorious for her incendiary marriage to Rudolph Valentino. Hollywood legend surrounds this production such as the unproven rumor that the Nazimova and her art director insisted on an entirely gay cast and crew. Although greeted with scandal and box office failure when it was finally released, its aesthetic and historic significance earmarked it for preservation by The Library Of Congress in the year 2000.

BONUS MATERIAL:

• History Brought to Life: Cecil B. DeMille goes behind the scenes to show how Hollywood magic brings ancient empires and distant times to life with stunning accuracy and realism.
• Let's Go To The Movies: The birth of motion pictures is featured in this rare short subject. George Melies, John Barrymore, Al Jolson and Mary Pickford appear in archival footage.