Watch David and Bathsheba For Free

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

While a slew of biblical films came out of the 1950s, the universal favorites are Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments. Even though two powerhouse actors star in the film adaptation of King David's story and it was really successful at the time, David and Bathsheba might not be one you'll want to watch every year. It's just a little corny, dated, and over-the-top in a bad way. It could have easily starred Victor Mature, and then no one would have ever remembered this movie was even made.Gregory Peck stars as King David, a man with many wives and the love of his people, but is still unsatisfied. Will rejoining his troops on the front lines of battle restore his old passions, or does he just need the love of a good woman to make him feel alive? As he ponders this one evening, he walks out on his balcony and sees Susan Hayward taking a bath in her house—with the windows open. I guess that answers that question.To me, the most memorable aspect about this movie is what it was able to sneak past the Hays Code. The kisses were longer than three seconds, there were blatant discussions about sex, and in one scene, both leads are lying down and Gregory Peck covers her body with his own as he kisses her! All these steamy elements were violations of the Hollywood censorship code, and I'm pretty amazed that this movie was released with a seal of approval.So, even though Gregory Peck is handsome and Susan Hayward is beautiful, this isn't my favorite of either of their films. Susan Hayward is one of my all-time favorite actresses, but I was forced to focus on how fantastic she looked to spare any criticism of her overpowering Brooklyn accent and the mediocre quality of the rest of the movie.

...however, if anybody tried to get an understanding of the Bible by watching this and other films of the 50's based on Biblical stories, they would be very misinformed.In this film King David (Gregory Peck) is introduced to us as a man, who in spite of his many wives, is misunderstood and ultimately mate-less, poor guy. The film at first zeroes in on Michal, daughter of Saul, and David's first wife. She is complaining that he is cold to her, he says that he no longer loves her and only keeps her as a wife to keep certain parts of Israel loyal to him. He cites her earlier dis-loyalties to him.Then he steps out on his terrace and sees Bathsheba (Susan Hayward) bathing and finds her beautiful. He orders her to be brought to him. Now the Bible is devoid of details, but it is assumed that David intended to sleep with Bathsheba and then discard her, in spite of his many valid outlets of sexual expression, in spite of the fact that David knew she was married to a soldier in his service, in spite of the fact that Bathsheba's consent might have been a non issue to a king of Israel.But this film paints a much different picture. Here, apparently, David has been set up by Bathsheba! She has plotted and planned to be bathing in plain sight of David, and thus the two enter into some kind of "strange marriage" in which she is his constant companion and soul mate and he ignores the dozens of wives he has in favor of her.Then, as in the Bible, disaster strikes - Bathsheba is pregnant, her husband, Uriah, has been away for a year, and when her condition becomes known she will be stoned as an adulteress according to Jewish law. Just as in the Bible, David tries to trick Uriah into sleeping with Bathsheba so he will consider the child his, and when that doesn't work he gets Uriah killed in battle and marries Bathsheba.However, the child dies shortly after birth. Hollywood has also added some extra punishments. There is a kind of dust bowl that forms causing massive starvation and then rebellion among the people. Nathan the prophet comes and brings - not only the promises of punishment for David's crime mentioned in the Bible, but says that God demands the stoning of Bathsheba for adultery, which actually never happened because the actual Bathsheba was probably being treated as property by everybody - she had no say in what the king did to or with her. She was not this Virginia Slim girl of the B.C. as portrayed by Hayward.So a major portion of the last half of the film is good, it just never happened - as David tries to find a way to save Bathsheba from execution. I'll let you watch and find out how that happens. Let's just say the film is full of spectacle befitting the times.Now some asides - Gregory Peck looked every inch a king here - he did a good job as always. But David was "a man after God's own heart" yet several times Nathan approaches David about this issue or that and David basically tells him "I'll let you handle all of that God stuff". Huh? How can David be after God's own heart if he treats the prophet of God as though David was a CEO and Nathan were the head of HR bothering him with paper-pushing minutia? Hayward is good, but she always said she did not like the fact that, as Bathsheba, her part was just to react to whatever David was doing.If you are looking for a good example of a Biblical epic in the 50's tradition, look no further. Just realize that like every other such film of the times, the facts are being played with fast and loose. Heck, if you watched 1956's "Ten Commandments" you'd believe that Pharoah not letting the Israelites go was the result of a love triangle! Recommended for the acting and the spectacle of it all.

In the 1950s, Hollywood was in love with making religious epics. The films made money and all sorts of salacious material could be mixed in...all in the name of Christianity! It was much worse in the 1940s, when the films were often much more sexual and inappropriate. Instead, in the 50s the sex was a bit more implied and the dialog a bit goofier. For every excellent religious film from Hollywood, such as "Ben Hur" or "Demetrius and the Gladiators" there were some really awful films like "Solomon and Sheba" or "David and Bathsheba". Perhaps it's because the prior films were not based on Biblical stories but were more about Biblical times--- so staying faithful to the Bible was not a serious issue. With the latter two films, however, there just isn't much in the Bible about these folks. "Solomon and Sheba" was based on just a few verses and "David and Bathsheba" only a small portion of one book. So, to make up for this, the writers took creative liberty with the stories-- embellishing them wildly and giving them some laughably bad and stilted dialog. As for "David and Bathsheba" it's also burdened by ridiculous casting. After all, Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward?!?! Yup...there sure must have been a lot of extremely well coiffed red-heads back in the times of King David!!So what does the film have going for it? Well, it's in color and the print looked really nice.

It would have been nice if the screen writer would have read the Bible first... This is ridiculous and much of the dialogue ludicrous... I found myself laughing. Michael berating her husband. She would have been dead for entering his chambers without an invitation. But my two favorite stupid lines: 1st Bathsheba: "Perhaps you would prefer truth to honesty, Sire". Time to get out the thesaurus! And 2nd, King David: "That soldier who laid his hands on the Ark - he was only trying to be helpful". Seriously stupid lines! Some of the movie is cute like David showing off for Bathsheba by trying to hit a tree with a rock in his sling. But overall, it's a love story of sorts, with adultery, murder, battles and David freaking out - but not Bible based. Susan Hayward is lovely and of course a great actress although I've never thought of Bathsheba as a red-head! Ha! Gregory Peck is charming as ever and makes a handsome David. It's a nice story just not based on fact. If you want to see real Bible stories watch the new Bible Series (2013).