Tuesday, February 4, 2020

By the Gods!


Scenes from WAKEFIELD POOLE'S BIBLE! (1974)

A low budget movie based on the Bible and was sold as quasi-porn when in fact it's more art film than porn. Personally speaking, I like it. It's an anthology. There's no dialogue. There's only music and a big chunk of the movie was shot in slow motion. There's plenty of nudity throughout which makes it difficult to choose specific scenes for screengrabs. The film is broken down in 4 short stories: Adam & Eve, David & Bathsheba, Samson & Delilah, and it ends with a brief scene of Mary and an angel in the desert. 

The two first screengrabs are the Samson & Delilah segment. Samson is played by Brahm van Zetten and Delilah by Gloria Grant. They're both fully naked in most of this story. Samson's revealing costume wouldn't look out of place in a PEPLUM movie. The third screengrab is from the David & Bathsheba story.

It's like a very low budget Fellini's SATYRICON (1969). Oddly enough, its frank aspect towards nudity make it more realistic than most big budgeted epics.

The best story is the Samson & Delilah one. The Adam & Eve story is stunning but sorta boring. More like a coffee table book than story.

The exterior scenes are beautifully shot. The entire movie was filmed in 16mm with a budget of $100,000. Locations include British Virgin islands (Adam & Eve), desert in Yuma, Arizona (Mary & Angel), and a garage in Manhattan used as a studio (presumably all the interior scenes).

Definitely not for everyone but I appreciate it for its artistic value.

I give it 7 out of 10.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've always wanted to see this. Wherever did you find a copy?

PEPLUM TV said...

It's available from Vinegar Syndrome

Bible