Samson and Delilah

Cecil B. DeMille's film adaptation of Samson and Delilah is Biblical epic as grand and excessive as the Ten Commandments, loosely based on events recounted in the Old Testament.

Samson (Victor Mature), the hero of the Israelites, wins the hand of a Philistine woman, Semadar (Angela Lansbury), in a contest of strength. When she is killed during a conflict on her wedding night, however, Samson becomes a hunted man whom the Philistines, including Semadar's sister, Delilah (Hedy Lamarr), want to punish. Her quest for pure vengance becomes complicated, however, when Samson suddenly acquires God-given superpowers, and Delilah's true feelings for Samson surface.

This Biblical epic showcases costume design at a grand scale — in addition to seductive metallic gowns worn by star Hedy Lamar, Edith Head's costume team dressed hundreds of extras that populate the battle and court scenes.

Samson and Delilah is the final film in our fall film series "Costumes by Edith Head", presented in collaboration with the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection. 

“In bringing the Samson episodes to the screen, we were dramatizing a story that has been a bestseller for 3,000 years. What book has sold more copies than the Bible?”

– Cecil B. DeMille, Autobiography

“Samson and Delilah is a fantastic picture for this era in its size, in its lavishness, in the corniness of its story-telling and in its old-fashioned technique. But it adds up to first-class entertainment. The smarties and the hinterlanders will view it from diametrically opposed standpoints, but whether laughing at it or with it, neither the hepsters nor the squares will find any of its two hours and eight minutes dull or unenjoyable. As for the kids, Samson is the greatest invention since Superman.”

– Weekly Variety, October 26, 1949

Samson and Delilah screens as part of our "Costumes by Edith Head" series. Courtesy of Swank Motion Pictures.