Salomé (1923): chapter 10 - Salomé’s Dance

Salomé’s Dance - from Charlie Barber’s score for percussion and voices featuring the 1923 film starring Alla Nazimova Salomé (1923) is a rarely seen curiosity from the silent era of film. Based on an idea of artist and Hollywood 1920s bohemian Natacha Rambova, the film was produced by and starred the flamboyant Russian actress, Alla Nazimova and directed by Charles Bryant. Nazimova’s intention was to produce a piece of work that would raise the artistic levels of American film. Filmed in 1923, it might be considered one of the first ’arthouse’ films to be made. An adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name, it has, like the play, always been surrounded by controversy. Before it had even been completed rumours took hold that Nazimova had demanded an all gay and bi-sexual cast in homage to the playwright. Adding to its notoriety is the film’s undoubted aura of loaded eroticism, heightened by the melodramatic, highly stylised performances of the cas