User Reviews

Although Biblical epics were popular in the fifties and sixties, the tale, originally told in the nineteenth chapter of Genesis, of the patriarch Lot and his sojourn in Sodom and Gomorrah does not seem a prime candidate for such treatment. After all, the one thing every schoolboy knows about the Sodomites is that they gave the word "sodomy" to the English language, and in the days of the Production Code homosexuality was the Abominable Vice, not to be referred to by film-makers. And wasn't there all that unpleasant business about Lot sleeping with his daughters while drunk?

Well, this film tells the story of Sodom and Gomorrah without ever mentioning the sin of Sodom. Or, for that matter, the sin of incest. Whenever the word "Sodomite" is used it is as description of a geographical origin, not of sexual orientation. There is plenty of heterosexual monkey business, and it is vaguely implied that the Queen of Sodom, whose friendships with attractive young slave-girls can be suspiciously close, may have lesbian tendencies, but of male homosexuality there is never a mention. Unless possibly unintentional doubles entendres like "Do not allow yourselves to bend to the Sodomites" count as such.

In this version of the story, Lot is the leader of a wandering Hebrew tribe who settle on land by the Jordan granted to them by Bera, Queen of Sodom. For a tribe of pastoral nomads, the Hebrews show a remarkably advanced knowledge of civil engineering, building a dam to water their land, and for a people who claim to be devoted to peace they have an equally well-developed grasp of military strategy, helping the Sodomites defeat their Edomite enemies. As a result Lot becomes the Queen's trusted adviser. There are also a number of sub-plots; Lot, a widower, falls in love with and marries the slave-girl Ildith, one of Bera's discarded favourites. Astaroth, Bera's brother, who is plotting to overthrow his sister, becomes (unknown to her father) the lover of Lot's attractive daughter Shuah, although the Bible says of Lot's daughters that they "have not known man".

At the centre of the film is a potentially interesting moral dilemma. In the film the major vice of the Sodomites is not sodomy but slavery; their economy is based upon the export of salt, which is mined by slaves. In this version of history, the Hebrews have a fundamental moral objection to slavery, and offer sanctuary to slaves escaping from the city. (In this respect the film deviates from the version of history contained in the Bible, according to which the ancient Hebrews themselves kept slaves- Lot's uncle Abraham is said to have fathered a child by his female slave Hagar). When Lot becomes the Queen's adviser, he hopes that he and his people will be able to use their influence to convert the Sodomites to the worship of the one true God and to persuade them to abandon slavery. The film therefore could have been an exploration of the dilemma (brilliantly explored in Roland Joffe's "The Mission") of whether the virtuous should collaborate with evildoers, in the hope that one can thereby mitigate their evil, or actively oppose them, with the risk that this might provoke them to commit even more wicked acts.

The makers of "Sodom and Gomorrah" intended, essentially, to come to the same conclusion as did Joffe and his scriptwriter Robert Bolt in "The Mission", namely that one should resist evil rather than temporise with it. Lot realises too late that his collaboration with the Queen has not persuaded the Sodomites to become more humane but has rather led to his own people becoming less so and to their becoming corrupted by the sexual temptations on offer.

Yet the film does not work as a moral fable because it takes the ethical values of the Old Testament story at face value. The controversial author Philip Pullman recently described the God of the Old Testament as a "psychotic tyrant". This is a huge oversimplification- some parts of the Old Testament have a far more elevated conception of the Deity- but as far as the God of Genesis 19 goes it seems pretty much on the mark. Smiting four whole cities (according to the Bible God smote not only Sodom and Gomorrah but also Admah and Zeboim) with fire and brimstone because of the sexual proclivities of their inhabitants must count as a massive over-reaction, and the story does not become any more morally edifying if, as here, God is motivated by a dislike of slavery rather than of homosexuality, especially as the slaves perish along with their masters. As for the bizarre episode in which Lot's wife is turned into a pillar of salt for the crime of looking behind her, that seems to reveal God as a tyrant with the soul of a "rules are rules" bureaucrat.

The film was an American/French/Italian co-production, which accounts for some of the odd accents; some of the cast appear not to have spoken English with any fluency. Among them is the Italian actress Pier Angeli (as Ildith) who, by chance, also appeared in the last religious epic I saw, "The Silver Chalice". Pier also appears to have had difficulties in picking the right film, because both films are among the weakest epics ever made, pretentious, bombastic and with an over-inflated sense of their own significance. Of the two, "Sodom and Gomorrah" is slightly the better; it provides more genuine spectacle and Stewart Granger, despite some frequently ridiculous dialogue, does at least have the presence and gravitas to portray a Biblical patriarch, whereas Paul Newman, playing the hero of "The Silver Chalice", looks horribly wooden and out-of-place. By comparison, however, with any of the classics of the epic genre such as "The Ten Commandments" or "Spartacus", "Sodom and Gomorrah" looks very third-rate material indeed. 5/10

For those who wish to watch a Bible movie that is engaging, well acted and visually exciting, you can't do much better than Sodom and Gomorrah, starring Stewart Granger and Anouk Aimee.

Two cities, both filled with hedonism, treachery and lasciviousness, are visited upon by Abraham's nephew Lot and his people. For a price, they settle in across the river from Sodom, a city wrought with slavery, excess and drunkenness. The citizens of Sodom, long since accustomed to their lifestyles, are intrigued by these hard working, morally upright people who call themselves sons and daughters of a desert God. Sodom's ruler sees these people as an opportunity for wealth, while her brother, the King of Sodom, sees the potential for military strength. Either way, the Hebrews are in more danger than they realize, especially when, after an attack by a desert clan, the Hebrews lose everything and must move inside Sodom for protection.

From there it is a downward spiral until the people themselves become like the Sodomites, knowing good but doing evil. And Lot, too, becomes ensconced with this new life of sin and power, until he is brought down by the very ones he obeyed.

It is a powerful movie of redemption and righteous judgment, and it is a wonderful movie to see. I highly recommend "Sodom & Gomorrah". For those of us who love the Biblical epics, it's hard to top.

~John

I love biblical epics and this is one of them, over two and one half hours long. Stewart Granger plays Lot, the Hebrew leader, who somehow is a salt miner and brings the tribe into Sodom where he is unable to persuade those naughty urbanites to behave according to Jehovah's commandments. The result, of course, is a spectacular Hollywood finale where S&G are destroyed by a meteor shower and Lot's wife is turned into a condiment. Lot and his two beautiful daughters escape. For those expecting Biblical authenticity, good luck. Actually after Lot's escape he, while drunk, is seduced by the girls and produces two incestuous bastards, Moab and Benjamin. This might be an idea for the sequel.

As several reviewers have mentioned, it looks like the script writers for this forgotten biblical extravaganza were trying to ride on the coat tails of the prior megahit "The Ten Commandments". This becomes especially evident in the last segment, when Lot leads a multitude of Hebrews and Sodomite slaves into the wilderness, out of harm's way, as God destroys the sinful cities of Sodom and (presumably) Gomorrah. This strongly resembles the exodus from Egypt, lead by Moses. According to the bible, only four people escaped from Sodom: Lot, his wife and 2 daughters, who were carried to safety by angels. The other Hebrews were not in Sodom. In contrast, in this story, they were all in Sodom, having been invited in. Don't know where the Sodomites housed this sudden influx!

I would say the screenplay developed for this film is quite good, if wildly departing from the biblical version. Thus, according to the bible, it was Abraham, not Lot, who led the destruction of the Elamite army, killing their king, after the latter had sacked Sodom and Gomorrah. Also, it was Abraham, not Lot, who was visited by the angels in Sodom, and who extracted a promise by the angels that the cities wouldn't be destroyed if he could find 10 righteous Sodomites(he found none).

The screenplay has Sodom ruled by a deceitful queen, not a king, as in the bible. Her brother, Prince Astaroth, hoped to dethrone her without raising the ire of the populace. Toward this goal, he has formed an alliance with the nomadic Elamites, who want to sack Sodom and Gomorrah. Meanwhile, Queen Bera tries to form an alliance with the newly arrived Hebrews, who settled on the banks of the Jordan River, not far away. She offers to allow them to settle there provided they hand over so many tons of grain per year, and provided they help deflect her enemies, especially the Elamites. This, the Hebrews agree to. She also gives Lot her favorite slave girl, Ildith, as a possible wife, to help cement the alliance. Her thinking is that Ildith may also act as an informer of the doings of the Hebrews, but Ildith refuses. Lot already has 2 marriageable daughters from a previous marriage, who begin to form romantic attachments to Prince Astaroth, and Hebrew Ishmael, respectively.

The Hebrews are attacked by an armored horde of the Elamites. As they only have their staffs for weapons and no armor, they must resort to trickery and to help from Sodom armored forces to hope to defeat these vandals. See the film to find out what trickery they came up with. This is the most exciting part of the film.

As a reward for helping to defeat her greatest external enemy, the queen appoints Lot as her new chief minister, and allows the Hebrews to move into Sodom until they can regrow their crops, which were destroyed in the victory.(Again, where did the Sodomites house this horde??). The Queen hopes that Lot's appointment as minister will cause the prince to be jealous and do something to harm Lot, and that Lot will respond. The prince tells Lot he has slept with both his daughters. This causes Lot to challenge the prince to a duel, which Lot wins, despite having only a staff against a sword. Despite pleading from the downed prince to spare his life, Lot finishes him off with his sword. Thus, Lot has eliminated the queen's chief internal enemy. But, now, perhaps Lot will become a rival. If he is executed as a murderer, this won't happen, and perhaps she can turn the leaderless Hebrews into slaves. He and his 2nd in command are put in a dungeon, awaiting execution, when angels appear and, after talking to Lot, cause their chains to break and dungeon door to open, so that they can escape the imminent destruction of Sodom.

There has been considerable debate about what all sins of the Sodomites displeased God. According to the bible, homosexuality was at the top of the list. But any direct reference to this would have been censored out. We might conjecture whether the queen was a lesbian. She evidently had no husband nor offspring and no hint of male partners. But, she was very close to her head female slave, be it the initial Ildith or her replacement: Orphea. Perhaps, God simply didn't want the Hebrews contaminated by these non-believers, with their orgies, and brutality toward slaves and prisoners, etc.. Even Lot's wife: a non-Hebrew and non-believer, is turned into a pillar of salt when she disobediently looks back toward the destruction of Sodom.

Stewart Granger, as Lot, stood out as being a head taller than most of the other players, although he was only 6'1"....Pier Angoli was charming as Ildith, her 'little girl' voice being endearing or distracting.....Anouk Aimee, as Queen Bera, was quite adequate.... Stanley Baker reportedly relished his role as Prince Astraroth.

You may downgrade or outright reject this film for its flagrant deviation from the biblical story. I would rather have a more interesting story than one that rigidly sticks to historical facts, especially of something that happened so long ago. At 2 1/2 hours, it's a bit long, but "The Ten commandments" is an hour longer. Clearly, its production values are not up to the standard of the latter film. It's a bit cheesy, but perhaps worth your time.

Thankfully, the screenplay didn't continue with the next biblical episode in Lot's life, in which he retires to a cave, and, while drunk, is raped by his 2 daughters, who hope they will produce males, so that Lot's lineage will not die out. Maybe they picked up this idea from the Sodomites?

I just completed watching the original 154-minute version of this film.

Aside from the fact that it features a character named Lot, along with his wife who is ultimately transformed into a pillar of salt, Lot's two daughters, the brief appearance of what we assume to be two Angels, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, there is very little in the storyline which adheres to or resembles the account which we find in Genesis 18:16-19:38 in the Bible. In short, 99.9% of this movie is pure fiction.

Let me give you a few examples.

In the Scriptures, it is the Patriarch Abraham who has a conversation with the Lord and two of His Angels, and who begs the Lord to spare the two wicked cities if even ten righteous men can be found in them. However, in this movie, it is Lot who has this conversation. Furthermore, while Abraham is briefly mentioned once or twice, he is nowhere to be seen whatsoever.

In the Bible, Lot's two daughters are both already married when it comes time to flee from Sodom. Furthermore, when Lot warns their husbands to leave Sodom, they both mock him. As a result, only Lot, his wife and his two daughters flee from Sodom, escorted by the two Angels. In contrast, in this movie, Lot leads a whole band of obedient Hebrews out of Sodom just prior to the city's destruction, and the two Angels are nowhere in sight.

While the Bible makes clear that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexuality -- for example, see Genesis 19:4-8 where the word "know" implies engaging in sex -- this is not made evident in the movie. There is some evidence in the film which suggests sexual immorality. For example, in the opening frames we see people -- male and female -- laying all over the place, suggesting that they have just engaged in an orgy. Later on, it is also implied that the queen of Sodom has engaged in a lesbian relationship with one of her dancers. Finally, we are given to understand that the queen's brother has sexually abused both of Lot's daughters. Nevertheless, there is no outright hint that the people of Sodom engaged in homosexuality.

There are other problems with the plot in regards to the Scriptures, but I will leave it at that.

Aside from the fact that most of the movie is pure fiction -- including the long-drawn-out battle seen -- another problem I had is that I simply did not connect with any of the characters. I felt no empathy for any of them. As a result, because I had no emotional investment in any of them, even when Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt, it really didn't affect me in the least.

Regarding the actors' performances, I didn't find any of it outstanding; not even Stewart Granger's or Pier Angeli's.

In conclusion, if you view this film with a low expectation that it will adhere closely to the Bible, you may possibly enjoy it. However, if you are like me and Biblical accuracy is important to you, you may watch it once out of curiosity, but then never watch it again.

The first hour is rather dull, probably because it focuses more on the righteous Hebrews than the fun-loving Sodom and Gomorrah folks; but then the film hits its stride, with a series of spectacular sequences: the battle of the Hebrews with a nomadic tribe (almost rivaling the battle scenes in "Spartacus"), the water dam break, the slave revolt, the long one-on-one fight between Stewart Granger and Stanley Baker, and of course the destruction of the cities by the hand of God. Even Robert Aldrich's direction becomes more dynamic. Of course the censorship of the times restricts what can actually be shown on the screen, and what is shown barely justifies the infamy of the title cities, but there are some mildly kinky moments, mostly courtesy of Stanley Baker, who suggestively bites the finger of his sister and asks Podesta "Do I remind you of your father?" while he's kissing her. *** out of 4.

This movie does not even come close or does justice to the story in the Bible about Soddom and Gomorrah. It was only Lot, his wife, and two daughters who escaped, not the hundreds of people the movie shows leaving leaving.

The writers, directors and producers took a great deal of poetic license with the amount of changes to the story.

Save yourself over two hours and read the original story in The Bible.