Helmer Michael O. Sajbel occasionally pushes too hard, especially when he bedecks Hamen with a swastika-like herald to underscore the plotter's anti-Semitism. (Fortunately, the obviousness of the symbolism doesn't mar Callis' effective performance.) And as often happens in this sort of epic, characters are given to flowery flights of speechifying.

However, the well-cast players infuse even borderline-campy dialogue with persuasive conviction. Sharif, in a small but key role, sounds aptly impassioned when he asks: "Is the past so mighty that we must destroy of brethren to escape its grasp?" And the mountainous Lister conveys a ineffably teddy-bearish likeability as he rumbles lines -- "You think a eunuch cannot know love?" -- that would choke most other actors.

Despite his prominent billing, Peter O'Toole appears in only one scene -- with a nicely explosive flash of righteous fury -- as the prophet Samuel.

As Esther/Hadassah, Dupont exudes charm, grace and (when necessary) gravitas, along with a hint of incipient star power. Goss is appropriately regal, Rhys-Davies is heartily formidable. Noble slices the ham generously as the hiss-worthy is Admantha.

Filmed on location in India, "One Night With the King" maintains a steady but never stodgy pace while flaunting an opulence that belies its reported $20 million budget. Credit cinematographer Steven Bernstein ("Like Water for Chocolate"), costumer Neeta Lulla and production designer Aradhana Seth for providing sufficient movie magic to help revive a genre that, in recent years, has been relegated to broadcast and cable TV.