Maciste_Brother
Robert Aldrich directed some classic films, like WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE, but he also directed not so great classics, like the stunningly bad but entertaining LEGEND OF LYLAH CLARE. SODOM AND GOMORRAH is neither a good nor entertainingly bad film. It's just plain bad. The production values, though sorta grand, are awful. Everything looks grubby. The actors are totally miscast. The characters are not memorable or even interesting at any level whatsoever. The acting is awful. The action scenes are overdone and do not seem to gel with the rest of the leaden drama. The movie is all around sloppy and it's filled with many technical goofs, like visible tire tracks in the desert. No one, and I mean no one's heart was into this project. And it shows on screen.The mesmerizing Anouk Aimée is totally miscast as the evil Queen. Playing a lesbian, she wasn't believable on any level, as a Queen or someone evil or as a lesbian. Stewart Granger was blah (certainly compared to his excellent turn as Apollodorus in CAESAR & CLEOPATRA). I suspect Aldrich hated either the character or Granger the actor because Lot came across as someone virtuous and yet totally stupid. Like some sort of Dudley Do Wrong.Aldrich's penchant for things crude and quasi-trashy are in evidence throughout the movie. He certainly loves showcasing evil lesbians in his films (LYLAH CLARE, KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE, etc) and changing the actual ruler of Sodom from a King to a Queen, in order to indulge in his fetish, pointed to me that the director wasn't interested in anything to do with facts or creating a compelling dramatic story. Because of this, this grand epic looks no grander than your average Sword & Sandal film. In fact, Peplums are more fun than this because they rarely take themselves as seriously as this misguided project. There are some moment of great unintentional cheese/camp here but the film is way too long and tedious to make it worthwhile. Skip it.
morgana-31
This really was terrible. I have seen a lot of Biblical epics and of course they get a lot of it wrong. But this didn't get anything right!First of all we have Lot moving his family and goods away from his Uncle Abraham, because the land couldn't support them all. In the Bible we are told that Lot picked the lush, fertile land; leaving the arid land to his uncle. In this film Lot gets an arid place as well but builds a dam. Then there is the battle. Lot does valiantly, although he has to destroy his dam in order to attain victory. Could have sworn he was taken captive in Genesis and Abraham had to come and sort it.Sodom had a king - not a queen.Only 4 people left the city after the angel of Lord informed Lot that it would be destroyed. In the film the 'exodus' would have done Moses proud. With the number of people willing to leave, it's a wonder God destroyed it at all.I could go on but you get the idea.But I'm really amazed that several of the other comments I've read about this film state that the Bible doesn't specifically mention homosexuality as the sin that displeased God. It does, loud and clear. Perhaps these contributers are not aware that the King James Version "Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us that we may know them." does not refer to going out for a game of darts and a pint of lager at the pub. The word "know" in the Biblical sense, means to have sexual intercourse.I had to give this a 1 because zero wasn't an option.
moonspinner55
Mammoth, quite colorful and entertaining French-Italian Biblical spectacle chronicling the wars surrounding--and the 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 and the only place to go is across the lake with the wicked and the tempting. 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 ****
ptb-8
Well, we went to Sodom, full of Sodomites, but where were all the Gommorans? And if it is a location of TWIN cities, where was Gomorrah? All we saw was the one mudbrick city. There weren't two or a sprawling double-burg. All everyone did was be a Sodom person and live in Sodom-ville. Nobody at any time said "oh He's from Gomorrah, it's over the wall" or anything like that. In fact nobody mentioned Gomorrah and it's inhabitants at all. I especially liked the after-interval renovation Sodom palace enjoyed, fresh striped paintwork and snazzy new outfits for everyone, and even a dance of the seven veils dance number to settle everyone down after we plundered the foyer candy bar. The Lesbian Queen getting flattened by a massive phallus pillar in the last reel caused a mighty laugh. Stewart Grainger in Moses-hair was a treat, all suntanned and en-un-ci-at-ing his lines like he was on Safari in Kenya (like he probably was the week before). Very gruesome pillage and torture and several excellent battles (one with lots of burning oil) makes S&G a real treat. As the Queen said to the visiting horde in reel three: "I'd like to welcome you... Lot" . Fantastic for all the right and wrong reasons.
AD
