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The Queen of Sheba (1921) is a silent drama film produced by Fox studios about the story of the ill-fated romance between Solomon, King of Israel, and the Queen of Sheba. Written and directed by J. Gordon Edwards, it starred Betty Blythe as the Queen and Fritz Leiber Sr. as King Solomon. The film is well known amongst silent film buffs for the risqué costumes worn by Blythe, as evidenced by several surviving stills taken during the production. Only a short fragment of the film survives.[1]

Queen of Sheba
Poster for the film.
Directed by	J. Gordon Edwards
Written by	J. Gordon Edwards Virginia Tracy
Produced by	William Fox
Starring	Betty Blythe
Cinematography	John W. Boyle
Distributed by	Fox Film Corporation
Release date	April 10, 1921 (1921-04-10)
Running time	9 reels
Country	United States
Languages	Silent film English intertitles

Cast

Production

The film was originally intended for Theda Bara. However Bara chose not to renew her contract and, after making the ill-fated Kathleen Mavourneen, she all but retired from filmmaking. 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.^{[citation needed]}

Preservation

The film is presumed lost.[2][3] 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 still exists. However, in May 2011, a 17-second fragment was found,[4] and initially mistakenly identified as from Cleopatra (1917), though comparison with stills from the movie have since led to it being identified correctly.[5]

See also

• List of incomplete or partially lost films
• List of lost films
• Nudity in film

References

External links

• Media related to The Queen of Sheba (film) at Wikimedia Commons
• The Queen of Sheba (1921) at IMDb
• Synopsis at AllMovie
• 17 second fragment from the film at the Internet Archive
• July 18, 1937 amateur film on YouTube of Fox Film fire facility in Little Ferry, New Jersey, in which the camera negative and last prints of The Queen of Sheba most likely perished
• Foreign release lobby poster

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