This over­the­top‚ Technicolor spectacular is notable mainly for preserving for posterity Domingo’s splendidly virile‚ quasi­heroic and impassioned Samson. At the peak of his powers in 1981‚ he pours out his generous tones to excellent effect‚ with only his ill­defined French to compromise his splendid reading of the role. Beside him he has Verrett as a seductive yet dignified Delilah‚ whose eyes tell us‚ though infatuated Samson cannot see it‚ that this Delilah is up to no good. She sings in those rich‚ clearly modulated tones that made her so famed in this role and as Carmen. But she is heard to better effect and is much more involved in the contemporaneous performance on video from Covent Garden‚ where she had the benefit of Elijah Moshinsky’s more serious enactment of the biblical drama‚ housed in Sydney Nolan’s highly evocative sets (Castle Vision‚ CVI2026). I do hope that version soon transfers to DVD. Here‚ as Opera magazine’s critic of the day put it: we have ‘an essay in steamy‚ streamlined kitsch’‚ with unwieldy décor‚ unimaginative movement‚ heavy costumes and a general aura of unbelievable make­believe‚ no competition for Moshinsky’s inventive take on the piece. Nor does Rudel match Colin Davis on the rival version for conviction. The pacing here is often slack and the playing not on a level with that of the musicians of the ROH. Kirk Browning’s otherwise sympathetic video direction gives us too many unflattering close­ups of Verrett. The sound perspective is much improved.