History Film / SodomAndGomorrah

The twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah have grown wealthy from their salt mines, but the wealth is built on the backs of [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil brutal slave labour]], and the citizens have become [[WretchedHive decadent and corrupt]], none more so than [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Bera]] (Anouk Aimée) and her brother, Prince Astaroth (Stanley Baker). Astaroth is conspiring with the neighbouring Elamites to [[TheStarscream overthrow Bera]] and rule Sodom himself. The lives of the Sodomites are interrupted by the arrival of a tribe of Hebrews, led by Lot (Creator/StewartGranger), the nephew of the Hebrew leader Abraham. Lot persuades Bera to sell the Hebrews the land on the opposite side of the River Jordan to Sodom, despite warnings that said land is barren and will be hostile to their attempts to grow crops and raise livestock. In exchange, the Hebrews will pay an annual tribute of grain and aid in the defence of Sodom against the Elamites. To seal the compact, Lot is given Ildith (Pier Angeli), Bera's personal slave. Despite the warnings, the land prospers thanks to a dam built by the Hebrews across the Jordan, and while Ildith finds the simple farming life a high price to pay for her freedom, she and the widowed Lot fall in love and marry.

* OverprotectiveDad: Lot is fiercely protective of the virtue of his daughters, Shuah and Maleb, so when Astaroth taunts him with the revelation that he has seduced both of them, Lot flies into a murderous rage and [[DuelToTheDeath fights Astaroth to the death]].

The twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah have grown wealthy from their salt mines, but the wealth is built on the backs of [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil brutal slave labour]], and the citizens have become [[WretchedHive decadent and corrupt]], none more so than [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Bera]] (Anouk Aimée) and her brother, Prince Astaroth (Stanley Baker). Astaroth is conspiring with the neighbouring Elamites to [[TheStarscream overthrow Bera]] and rule Sodom himself. The lives of the Sodomites are interrupted by the arrival of a tribe of Hebrews, led by Lot (Stewart Granger), the nephew of the Hebrew leader Abraham. Lot persuades Bera to sell the Hebrews the land on the opposite side of the River Jordan to Sodom, despite warnings that said land is barren and will be hostile to their attempts to grow crops and raise livestock. In exchange, the Hebrews will pay an annual tribute of grain and aid in the defence of Sodom against the Elamites. To seal the compact, Lot is given Ildith (Pier Angeli), Bera's personal slave. Despite the warnings, the land prospers thanks to a dam built by the Hebrews across the Jordan, and while Ildith finds the simple farming life a high price to pay for her freedom, she and the widowed Lot fall in love and marry.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sodomandgomorrah_6.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the L[-ORD-] exceedingly."\\
--Genesis 13:13 (King James Version)'']]

''Sodom and Gomorrah'' (known in the United States as ''The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah'') is a 1962 Franco-Italian-American biblical epic, co-produced by Maurizio Lodi-Fe, Goffredo Lombardo, and Joseph E. Levine and directed by Creator/RobertAldrich from a screenplay by Giorgio Prosperi and Hugo Butler, (very) loosely based on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah from the Literature/BookOfGenesis.

* TheCorrupter: The Hebrews are usually typically pious Old Testament followers of Jehovah's word. But once Queen Bera agrees to let them live among the Sodomites as salt merchants instead of outside the city walls as farmers, the easy access to money and pleasures of the flesh soon makes them all forget about their faith, culminating in Lot murdering Astaroth, Bera's brother, after disarming him during a DuelToTheDeath. At this point, Jehovah has enough and sends angelic messengers to Lot to tell him to get the Hebrews out of the cities, as they have been marked for destruction.

The twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah have grown wealthy from their salt mines, but the wealth is built on the backs of brutal slave labour, and the citizens have become decadent and corrupt, none more so than Queen Bera (Anouk Aimée) and her brother, Prince Astaroth (Stanley Baker). Astaroth is conspiring with the neighbouring Elamites to overthrow Bera and rule Sodom himself. The lives of the Sodomites are interrupted by the arrival of a tribe of Hebrews, led by Lot (Stewart Granger), the nephew of the Hebrew leader Abraham. Lot persuades Bera to sell the Hebrews the land on the opposite side of the River Jordan to Sodom, despite warnings that said land is barren and will be hostile to their attempts to grow crops and raise livestock. In exchange, the Hebrews will pay an annual tribute of grain and aid in the defence of Sodom against the Elamites. To seal the compact, Lot is given Ildith (Pier Angeli), Bera's personal slave. Despite the warnings, the land prospers thanks to a dam built by the Hebrews across the Jordan, and while Ildith finds the simple farming life a high price to pay for her freedom, she and the widowed Lot fall in love and marry.

But on Lot and Ildith's wedding day, the Elamites attack Sodom and destroy the Hebrew camp; the Hebrews win the fight by breaking the dam and flooding the valley, revealing that their land is rich in salt. Lot proposes that they should become salt merchants instead of farmers and herdsmen, and live among the Sodomites, whom he hopes to convert to belief in the Hebrew god, Jehovah. But it is the Sodomites who prove to have a greater influence on the Hebrews, and they become as selfish and greedy as their hosts; even Lot himself kills Astaroth in a rage when taunted with the revelation that the prince has seduced both of his daughters, Shuah and Maleb. Horrified at what he has become, Lot prays to Jehovah for guidance, and receives a startling message about what lies in store for Sodom and Gomorrah...

* BatmanGambit: Queen Bera lays a trap for both Astaroth and Lot by naming the latter as her first minister after he finishes paying off the Hebrews' tribute to Sodom years ahead of schedule. The ambitious Astaroth, who wants that position for himself (the better to eventually overthrow Bera), provokes Lot into a DuelToTheDeath by revealing that he has [[RelativeButton seduced his daughters.]] Lot soon overpowers Astaroth and kills him despite his pleas for mercy... whereupon Bera reveals that she orchestrated the whole thing in order to get rid of Astaroth and his threat to her rule. Every step of her plan relies on Lot and Astaroth behaving exactly as she expected.

* DepravedBisexual: This being 1962, the filmmakers couldn't be too explicit in depicting the "practices" most associated with Sodom and Gomorrah, but they drop very strong hints that Bera is sexually attracted to both men and women - including her own brother - as part of her "Anything that brings pleasure must be good" ethos. She behaves very amorously toward Astaroth, particularly in one scene where they play bite each other's fingers, while she spends most of her scenes with her slave girl Orphea exchanging amorous looks with her or taking her by the hand.

* WretchedHive: This being 1962, the filmmakers couldn't be overly explicit in depicting Sodom and Gomorrah's sexual depravities (the most we get is some leering and hints that the queen has both lesbian and incestuous inclinations, although this was still enough to get the film slapped with an X certificate in the United Kingdom), but the fact that the citizens watch slaves being tortured to death for entertainment and would rather murder each other for valuables than escape the destruction of their city paints a vivid enough picture of just how horrible they are. The longer the Hebrews stay in Sodom, the more corrupt they become, until they slam their doors against the revolting slaves led by Ishmael instead of offering them sanctuary, and when Ishmael is brought before Queen Bera, none of the Hebrews present - not even Lot - intervene on his behalf.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Lot and the Hebrews are portrayed as despising slavery, saying it's an abomination (even freeing slaves where they can). In the Bible, they display no such sentiments, and own slaves themselves (not Lot personally, but Ahraman does, along with Hebrews generally). This was ubiquitous among Middle Eastern cultures then. Lot is also portrayed as very protective with his daughters. In Genesis, he offers them instead of his guests to the Sodomite mob for rape.
* AdaptationalVillainy: The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are only vaguely described in the Bible. Here, the film omits any homosexuality (per censorship at the time) aside from it being implied with Bera and her handmaid. Drunkenness, greed, sadistic punishments, selfishness and slavery take its place (some of which are at least somewhat implied in the Bible's later references to the cities, but not elaborated on).

* CardCarryingVillain: After Jehovah frees him from Sodom's dungeons, Lot makes one last appeal to Bera's better nature, telling her that if she and her citizens don't repent their sinful ways, Jehovah will destroy them all. But she ''has'' no better nature to which to appeal; as she tells Lot, "What you call sin, to me is virtue. And all-powerful Death, whom you hate, I worship." She thoroughly enjoys working and/or torturing the salt mine slaves to death, and encouraging the same avarice and wickedness in her subjects. Her main motivation for allowing the Hebrews to live in Sodom in the first place is to take delight in corrupting them, then nudging Lot toward killing her brother Astaroth to allow her to rule unchallenged.

* RedemptionRejection: After receiving a message from Jehovah about the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot tries to appeal to Bera and her subjects to repent their sinful ways and join the Hebrews in following Jehovah to spare them from His vengeance. But none of the Sodomites are interested (one in particular tells Lot he's happy in Sodom and throws a goblet of wine in his face), while Bera tells Lot that she feels she has nothing to repent, thus sealing her doom.
-->'''Bera:''' What you call sin, to me is virtue. And all-powerful Death, whom you hate, I worship. I turn my back on you, Lot. ''[stands up]'' On you... and your ''impotent'' god.