Taglines: The cities that mocked the very name of God… The vengeance that tore the Earth asunder!
Sodom and Gomorrah movie storyline. The twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah prosper because of their great deposits of salt, which are mined by an army of slaves. The decadent citizens, who have become wealthy by trading salt, live in luxury and use slaves as servants and for violent games of entertainment.
After a night of revelry, Astaroth (Stanley Baker), the Prince of Sodom, tells slave girl Tamar (Scilla Gabel) to carry a message to the king of the Elamites, with whom he plans to overthrow his sister, Bera, Queen of Sodom (Anouk Aimée). Returning from her meeting in the desert with the Elamite leader, Tamar is captured by a Sodomite patrol. Queen Bera demands the name of her co-conspirator. Tamar refuses to speak under interrogation and Bera has her and her two young sisters killed.
Meanwhile, Lot (Stewart Granger) leads his family and a Hebrew tribe through the desert, hoping that he can find a permanent home for his people along the fertile banks of the River Jordan. By contrast with the people of the twin cities, the Hebrews are presented as a pious and austere people with high moral standards.
As the Hebrews approach their destination, Lot meets the beautiful Ildith (Pier Angeli), who luxuriates in a litter while a group of slave girls in chains precede her over the rocky terrain. Lot assumes that Ildith owns these women. She tells him that she is also a slave, albeit the chief of the Queen of Sodom’s body slaves. Lot tells her that owning slaves is evil. The following dialog ensues:
Ildith: “Evil? How strange you are. Where I come from, nothing is evil. Everything that gives pleasure is good.”
Lot: “Where do you come from?”
Ildith: “There, not far. Just ahead: Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Once Lot and his people reach the Jordan, he negotiates the use of the land on one side of the river with Queen Bera, promising her both grain and defense should Sodom’s desert enemies attack. In a surprising turn, she gives Lot Ildith, who does not wish to leave the queen or her life of luxury in Sodom. Astorath is disgusted and baffled by his sister’s easy terms with the Hebrews. However, he soon turns his attentions to Lot’s flirtatious daughter, Shuah (Rossana Podestà).
Ildith dislikes the rough conditions of the Hebrew camp, but soon befriends Lot’s daughters. She and Lot also fall in love and plan to marry. Meanwhile, Shuah and Astaroth begin a secret affair. Lot’s other daughter, Maleb (Claudia Mori) and his headstrong lieutenant, Ishmael (Rik Battaglia) also plan a marriage.
Lot and Ildith’s wedding day celebrations are interrupted by an Elamite attack. Although the Hebrew farmers and the Sodomite soldiers fight valiantly, they are nearly defeated by the fierce nomadic warriors. In a last, desperate measure, Lot orders that the dam that the Hebrews have built be broken. His quick thinking saves the twin cities and the Hebrews, but the camp and the crops are destroyed.
However, the flood waters reveal that the Hebrew camp is also the site of a vast salt deposit. Lot now believes that the Hebrews can move out of the wilderness and live among the Sodomites (“Separate, but in their full view”, he cautions) by selling salt. (In the original Roadshow prints, this is where the theatrical intermission occurred.)
Some time later, Lot and Ildith now live in luxury in Sodom. Sodomites and Hebrews both revere Lot and seek his judgment. Ishmael however, believes that Lot has succumbed to luxury and instead should liberate Sodom’s mine slaves. Lot disagrees and advises Ishmael to wait, believing that the Sodomites will change their ways in time. Ishmael does not heed Lot and unsuccessfully tries to set the slaves free, believing that the Hebrews will harbour them.
Instead the slaves shut their doors on the desperate escapees who are soon recaptured and sentenced to death. As the newly appointed minister of justice, Lot must now sentence Ishmael. However Ishmael is only one of Lot’s problems, as he is confronted by the jealous Astaroth, who tells him that not only has he slept with both of Lot’s daughters, but that Ildith had known and kept the affairs secret. An outraged Lot kills Astaroth.
Sodom and Gomorrah — known in the United States as The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah — is a DeLuxe Color 1962 epic film which is loosely based on the Biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah. The film was a Franco-Italian-American co-production made by Pathé, SGC and Titanus. It was directed by Robert Aldrich and produced by Maurizio Lodi-Fe, Goffredo Lombardo and Joseph E. Levine. The screenplay was by Giorgio Prosperi and Hugo Butler, and the music score was composed by Miklós Rózsa.
Sodom and Gomorrah (1962)
Directed by: Robert Aldrich
Starring: Stewart Granger, Anouk Aimée, Pier Angeli, Stanley Baker, Rossana Podestà, Rik Battaglia, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Scilla Gabel, Anthony Steffen, Gabriele Tinti, Enzo Fiermonte, Daniele Vargas, Claudia Mori
Screenplay by: Giorgio Prosperi, Hugo Butler
Production Design by: Ken Adam
Cinematography by: Alfio Contini, Silvano Ippoliti, Cyril J. Knowles, Mario Montuori
Film Editing by: Mario Serandrei, Peter Tanner
Costume Design by: Giancarlo Bartolini Salimbeni
Set Decoration by: Gino Brosio, Emilio D’Andria
Music by: Miklós Rózsa
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: October 4, 1962 (Italy), January 23, 1963 (United States)
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