Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Photo of the Day

The royal representatives of Ethiopia, the King (Woody Strode) and his sister, Princess Tharbis (Esther Brown), in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

"Great King, I will ask but one favor of your friendship. This green stone from our mountains... that I may give it to your prince of Egypt, for he is kind as well as wise." says the Princess to the King.

Today is a mini TEN COMMANDMENTS festival!

Esther was a student at UCLA when she did this film and didn't appear in many films afterwards but Woody Strode would have a solid career after this 1956 film, including playing a slave in SPARTACUS. I like this scene and always wished their roles were expanded but black folks in super-productions were rare 60 years ago in Hollywood. Strode didn't have any dialogue but he didn't need to. A PEPLUM with an entire black cast would be cool.

2 comments:

orsh549 said...

First movie that I remember Strode in was BRIDE OF THE GORILLA. He had a small role , but it was a speaking one as he played a policeman who worked for a constable (Lon Chaney,Jr.) in a jungle province in S.A. Yes I have this on DVD!!

Iron Chef Kosher! said...

Woody Strode OWNED that set the second he stepped onto it. Just watching him walk up to the Pharaoh is one of my favorite moments of the whole film. Just the way he walked OFF the set was masterful. Such a shame his talents had to be so under-utilized.