“Among the more astounding spectacles in ‘Solomon and Sheba’ are the PAGAN REVELS… the WINE-BATHED ORGY… before the GRAVEN IMAGE. The shameless FERTILITY RITES… as recorded in the BOOK OF KINGS!”

If I had been around in 1959, I would have bought a ticket for this one so fast. I just love Biblical epics that purport to teach a moral lesson and instill a reverence for the awesome power and majesty of the Almighty, while juicing up the action with as much sex and violence as humanly possible.

What red-blooded male could ever forget Gina Lollobrigida as the Queen of Sheba? What connoisseur of toupées could ever forget Yul Brynner as Solomon?

The composer is Mario Nascimbene, the poor man’s Miklós Rózsa. Rózsa, of course, achieved a career high that year with his music for “Ben-Hur.” “Solomon and Sheba” is no “Ben-Hur.”

Spectacle like this transcends wisdom. Take my 46 cents (the average price of a movie ticket in 1959), please!

R.I.P., Gina.