Salome

Schroeters virtuosic staging of the Oscar Wilde tragedy is a complex montage of image and sound filmed on the grand steps of Baalbeck the ancient Roman temple in Lebanon and interweaving Lebanese and German folk songs with the music of Verdi Wagner Strauss Mozart Bellini and Donizetti Elfi Mikesch the cinematographer of Schroeters later films designed the films sumptuous costumes A contemporary critic for Le Monde wrote admiringly of Schroeters depiction of the deadly struggle between dark Christian morality and luminous paganism