Who are we to believe?

Question

In the movie 'Samson and Delilah', to rid him of his strength, Hedy Lamarr cuts off Victor Mature's nuts but in the book, Delilah gets her handmaiden to cut off Samson's hair and that does it.

(Until the end when Samson finds enough strength to push aside pillars and bring the whole edifice crashing down on everyone)

Answer 1

The story is from before recorded time and was written down centuries later by somebody who probably put his own slant on it to convey his ideas. It was then translated multiple times and changed through these translations both through this process and through mistakes.

You might as well ask whether Red Riding hood was eaten by a wolf or whether her granny was a lycanthrope.

Who indeed are we to believe? The church hierarchy who are supposed to be moral and honest and trustworthy, but would have us believe this fairy story is true or Hollywood who admits they omit from and add to stories for dramatic effect? (However, the t******e bit wasn’t in the film. But I make the bold assumption that the detail of the question is not as important as the overall issue.)

Answer 2

Try reading the Bible instead of watching Hollywood.

Answer 3

well,it's cinema.

cutting off hair doesn't get bums on seats.chop off someone's knackers and they're flying through the door.

poor old samson,perhaps he was an old hippy and slashing his locks deprived him of his "mojo".

or something.

Answer 4

I remember going to see this 1949 film as a young boy and being extremely impressed with it, Hedy Lamarr does not cut off Samson's nuts only his hair.

In the end gets his strength back because his hair has grown back to it's original length.

I have the common sense to believe which parts of the bible I can accept as the truth, and those that I cannot, what you want to believe is your own choice, I wanted to put you right on an epic film.

This is film's plot from a report on the web:

"Samson and Delilah is Cecil B. DeMille's characteristically expansive retelling of the events found in the Old Testament passages of Judges 13-16. Victor Mature plays Samson, the superstrong young Danite. Samson aspires to marry Philistine noblewoman Semadar (Angela Lansbury), but she is killed when her people attack Samson as a blood enemy. Seeking revenge, Semadar's younger sister Delilah (Hedy Lamarr) woos Samson in hopes of discovering the secret of his strength, thus enabling her to destroy him. When she learns that his source of his virility is his long hair, Delilah plies Samson with drink, then does gives him the Old Testament equivalent of a buzzcut while he snores away. She delivers the helpless Samson to the Philistines, ordering that he be put to work as a slave. Blinded and humiliated by his enemies, Samson is a sorry shell of his former self. Ultimately, Samson's hair grows back, thus setting the stage for the rousing climax wherein Samson literally brings down the house upon the wayward Philistines. Hedy Lamarr is pretty hopeless as Delilah, but Victor Mature is surprisingly good as Samson, even when mouthing such idiotic lines as "That's all right. It's only a young lion". Even better is George Sanders as The Saran of Gaza, who wisely opts to underplay his florid villainy. The spectacular climax to Samson and Delilah allows us to forget such dubious highlights as Samson's struggle with a distressing phony lion and the tedious cat-and-mouse romantic scenes".

Answer 5

The movie director certainly brought more daring to the scene.  Why do you need to believe one story over the next?  The stories in the Bible have a life history of their own before they were cast in stone.  Why not change and alter a good story?

Answer 6

Hedy Lamar doesn't do that to him in the film, ha ha, she cuts his hair off.

Although how the Romans were supposed to be so stupid as not to realise that it would grow back, I don't know:)

Answer 7

Perhaps you are eating too many smoked oysters before bed time. That never happened in the movie.

Answer 8

Believe God.

Answer 9

Believe what you like - or toss a coin.

Answer 10

Go seek for Truth instead.