Live Film Score: Salomé (1923)

The image of Salomé as a Biblical temptress with John the Baptist’s head on a platter has stirred artists’ imaginations for centuries, from Titian and Caravaggio to Oscar Wilde and Richard Strauss, and from Gloria Swanson descending the stairs in Sunset Blvd. to Rita Hayworth’s fiery dance of seduction in 1953’s Salomé. One hundred years ago it also inspired actress Alla Nazimova to create what has come down to us as a legendary piece of silent-film art. Made in 1922, it still seems avant-garde today.