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 ****

While there isn't much in this movie that is Biblically correct I still thought it was an enjoyable film all the same. Essentially, "Lot" (Stewart Granger) has decided to relocate his followers and herds to the lush plain of Jordan in which the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are located. It is at this point where Hollywood takes over and everything is radically different from the Scriptures. Be that as it may, "Bera" (Anouk Aimee), the Queen of Sodom and Gomorrah, recognizes that the Elamites are a threat to her cities and is desperate to protect her position at all costs. So when the Hebrews (led by Lot) enter the plain of Jordan she hastily forms an alliance with them. Lot agrees due in large part to his naive assumption that he can eventually convince the people of Sodom and Gomorrah to abandon their wicked ways. What he doesn't consider is that the Hebrews are also capable of adopting the ways of Sodom and Gomorrah as well. At any rate, rather than spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it, I will just reiterate that what follows is not found in the Book of Genesis. But it is an exciting film with good acting by Stewart Granger, Pier Angeli (as Lot's wife "Ildith") and the aforementioned Anouk Aimee. It also has some nice scenery and some pretty good special effects for its time. However, it is rather long (154 minutes) and the manner in which the writers transform Lot into a combination of both Abraham and Moses is a bit far-fetched. But that's Hollywood I suppose. Slightly above average.

Sodom and Gomorrah was a big flop when it was released and has been almost forgotten since then. This is a shame. It's certainly no classic like Ben Hur or Spartacus,and it has the obvious flaws many films like this share-corny dialogue,women's make-up and hair which betrays the decade the film was made in,to name but two-but if you like this kind of film it's very entertaining and worth a watch. At times you could swear De Mille directed it,but it was actually directed by Robert Aldrich,a real curio in his career.

The first hour does dawdle along a little,but the middle of the film contains a very lengthy battle sequence which is extremely impressive. In these days of CGI,it's great to see hundreds of REAL people fighting on the screen,and it's great the way the battle is in stages and shows various tactics by the two sides instead of just being a chaotic mess. The climatic destruction {well,it's based on a well known Bible story, so I don't think this is a spoiler!} of the twin cities of Sodom and Gommorah {although we only seem to see Sodom} is still quite a well achieved spectacle,in fact technically the film still generally holds up,except for a few very unconvincing shots when an army is engulfed in water.

Those who find some of the film a little heavy can enjoy the odd touch of vivid sadism {people on a wheel lowered into fire,a prisoner threatened by a blind man whose armour produces spikes when he breaths} and plenty of references to the 'sins' of the Sodomites-nothing is explicit,but things such as incest,sexual servitude and lesbianism are certainly hinted at. Yet the Hebrews,by comparison,are such a dull humourless lot,one might occasionally sympathise with the Sodomites,and this was maybe intended. As with most of Aldrich's films,it's actually quite cynical,and doesn't take easy sides.

Stuart Granger is fine as Lot but it's the underrated Stanley Baker,as the scheming Astorath who chases anything in a skirt, who gives the stand-out performance,memorably corrupt. One should also mention Miklos Rozsa's superb score which ranks along side his other classic scores for related films like Ben Hur and El Cid. He superbly evokes the period and setting whilst providing a gorgeous love theme and a number of other great themes. Of course it's very melodramatic,but it suits the film!

Sodom and Gomorrah exists in several heavily cut down versions which may quicken the pace but are extremely choppy,often cutting into scenes when they are obviously half way through. The full 155-odd minute version is sometimes shown,and is available in some countries on DVD,but really demands a proper,remastered,etc. release. It's really worth seeing,as long as you like this kind of stuff of course!

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.

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.