The Queen of Sheba is a silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 produced by Fox studios about the story of the ill-fated romance between Solomon

Solomon

Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...

, King of Israel, and the Queen of Sheba. Written and directed by J. Gordon Edwards

J. Gordon Edwards

J. Gordon Edwards was a Canadian-born film director, producer, and a writer who began his career as a stage actor and as a stage director. He made his directorial debut on film in 1914's St. Elmo. Soon went on helming all of the Fox studio's mega-budget spectacles, including all of actress Theda...

, it starred Betty Blythe

Betty Blythe

Betty Blythe was an American actress best known for her dramatic roles in exotic silent films such as The Queen of Sheba .-Career:...

 as Sheba and Fritz Leiber

Fritz Leiber

Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright, expert chess player and a champion fencer. Possibly his greatest chess accomplishment was winning clear first in the 1958 Santa Monica Open.. With...

 as King Solomon. The film is well known amongst silent film buffs for the risqué costumes displayed by lead actress Betty Blythe as evidenced by several surviving stills taken during the production. This was a rarity in mainstream Hollywood films at the time. As no print of the film survives

Lost film

A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...

, a final judgment of this production will most likely never be known.

Production

The film was originally intended for Theda Bara

Theda Bara

Theda Bara , born Theodosia Burr Goodman, was an American silent film actress – one of the most popular of her era, and one of cinema's earliest sex symbols. Her femme fatale roles earned her the nickname "The Vamp" . The term "vamp" soon became a popular slang term for a sexually predatory woman...

. However Bara chose not to renew her contract and after making the ill-fated Kathleen Mavourneen

Kathleen Mavourneen

"Kathleen Mavourneen" is a song, written in 1837, composed by Frederick Crouch with lyrics by Marion Crawford. It was popular during the American Civil War...

all but retired from film. While making Mavourneen, construction began on sets for The Queen of Sheba. Not wanting it to go to waste, William Fox chose to put Betty Blythe in the role. The film became a hit but Blythe never matched its success with her later films.

The topless scenes filmed in this movie were seen only in European release versions of the movie.

Status

The film is presumed lost. A 1937 New Jersey vault fire destroyed most of the Fox silent film negatives and prints and it is unlikely a copy of The Queen of Sheba exists.

External links

• July 18, 1937 amateur film of Fox Film fire facility in Little Ferry, New Jersey
  Little Ferry, New Jersey
  Little Ferry is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 10,626.-Geography:Little Ferry is located at ....
  
  in which the camera negative and last prints of The Queen of Sheba most likely perished