SLAVES OF BABYLON (1953) ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: William Castle
Richard Conte, Linda Christian, Maurice Schwartz,
Terrance Kilburn, Michael Ansara, Leslie Bradley,
Ruth Storey, John Crawford, Julie Newmar
Before he made all those gimmicky, low-budget horror movies, William Castle directed this storybook biblical epic based on the Book of Daniel. It doesn't look too bad, despite the fact that Castle wasn't exactly Cecil B. DeMille and had to get by with a cast of dozens rather than thousands. Richard Conte, who didn't do a lot of period movies, manages to keep a straight face most of the time, though his Jersey City accent slips through now and then, suggesting that maybe he's not from ancient Babylon, after all. The six-pointed stars the slaves all wear have a particular resonance in a film released less than a decade after the end of World War Two.
