Sodom and Gomorrah

Mammoth, colorful and entertaining French-Italian Biblical spectacle chronicling the wars surrounding--and eventual demise of--the twin cities. Stewart Granger plays Hebrew leader Lot, caught in the middle as his people's village is burned to the ground, leaving just one place left to go: across the lake where the wicked and tempting reside. Battle sequences and an impressive flood are worthy of DeMille, though the melodramatics are just as heavy and silly, with the subtext of sexual evil tiptoed around. Good performances, excellent usage of Moroccan locales, and with an unflagging direction by Robert Aldrich (who reportedly fired his 2nd unit director, Sergio Leone, mid-production). **1/2 from ****

Not quite sure why I am bothering to right anything about this film here tonight, perhaps to give myself a break from finishing my daughter's ancient history assignment which has all but fried my brain!

Have read the majority of critiques here and with the possible exception of Steve Reeves' impressions which follow this (I think he should stick to playing Hercules!) and which are arguably intelligent, there is not much more to be added. It was neither the best nor the worst of the Biblical yarns but much as I liked it, the latter was nearer the mark. A spaghetti epic was never likely to cause waves at the Academy Awards and so the era came to a halt after this.

Having said all that however, I would like to make these observations. Over the years, so many films have yielded up memorable one-liners, which run the gauntlet of emotions from sad, funny, sicko, to tearful, powerful, even chillingly awesome ("Look behind you Dr Floyd" from 2010!) Lines such as Drax in MOONRAKER, speaking to an underling "Take Mr Bond away and see that some harm comes to him," make it all worth-while. Two lines which remain indelibly ingrained in my head for all time, are that which Charlton Heston (as Moses) speaks atop the rock overlooking the Red Sea in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, "Behold the power of the Lord" and Stewart Granger as Lot at the very conclusion of THE LAST DAYS OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH when he sees his wife turning round, "Ildith, DON'T look back!" It makes up for every critical aspect of the previous 152 minutes. Both scenes were imbued with a quality that did something extraordinary for me.

Yep THE LAST DAYS OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH was certainly low on sin, script and biblical accuracy but it remained watchable enough, even if the girls (as one contributor quite correctly pointed out) appeared to all have had make-overs from Max Factor! Even the sex angle was highly restrained by comparison to current levels of acceptability. It remains though the ONLY film I ever watched at the local theater 5 days running. OK, so I have no taste? Gimme a break, I was only 15!

I have to admit that I've never been able to see this film in one sitting all the way through, partly because I happen to just channel surf on TV and stumble upon it after its started and partly because I seem to catch it about an hour before I go to bed and miss the ending. Still, from what I've seen, this is a very good film about Lot, who led the Hebrew people to a fertile land on the border of the cities of Sodom and Gomorroah. Anouk Aimee does a great job portraying the queen of the cities, and Stewart Granger plays a great Lot. The supporting actors and actresses contribute quite a bit of talent as well, but what really struck me was the costumes. For a 1962 biblical film, some of the outfits that the actresses wore were a bit racy, but that is intentional as it shows the sinful ways of the city-dwellers as opposed to the practical costumes of the hard-working free Hebrews (in fact, Lot has a discussion with a slave girl who is struggling to adapt to the ways of field work and field dress after living a captive life as a well-kept palace servant). The fight scenes are particularly well done, employing a cast of thousands as opposing armies and refugees. The scene where the Hebrews defend themselves by first lighting a pit of oil and then breaking a dam to flood a valley are well done. Even though the story may not follow the tale as told in the Bible, there's enough of it there that the viewer comes away with the overall concept of the story. But - I feel that this movie could be redone to stick a bit closer to the original tale. While the queen and her brother may have been evil, there just wasn't enough evil in the cities (limited by 1962 values, I suppose) to warrant their destruction. A good film for the whole family. No nudity, no harsh language.

With the filming of Sodom and Gomorrah, Stewart Granger began a phase of his career on the European continent. Not that Sodom and Gomorrah is any great film, but it was certainly better than some of those spaghetti westerns he did in the Sixties to pay for his hedonistic life style. Something like the one they allegedly lived down Sodom way.

Of course Sodom and Gomorrah doesn't stick to the biblical version of the tale, but then neither did those DeMille epics, Samson and Delilah and The Ten Commandments. Nor is homosexuality singled out as THE sin that got the Deity all upset that he wanted to destroy the place. Then again it isn't even in the Bible.

Lot as portrayed by Stewart Granger doesn't take just his family there, he leads a whole tribe of Hebrew people there after he parts from Uncle Abraham. Pretty soon he gets all tangled up in Sodomite politics and gets a bit entangled himself with Pier Angeli who is a slave girl to Queen Anouk Aimee.

Villain of the piece is Stanley Baker who always improves every film he was ever in. He's Anouk's brother and he's got the idea he ought to be running things. He's also got an eye for Lot's daughters.

There's a very nicely staged battle sequence with the Hebrews defending the land granted them by Anouk. But the script is definitely out of the Cecil B. DeMille school of arcane Victorian writing.

Still it's entertaining in many respects.

An overlooked movie of a whole genre of films that was popular during its era. Like most biblical epics of this type they sometimes wonder away from the scriptural story as recorded in the Bible and this may be its one drawback. In a way it drifts just a little to far away from the scriptures so most bible purists will have trouble accepting this film as a close representation of the scriptures. However, overall it's an interesting and entertaining film.