Leofwine_draca An Italian sword and sandal flick with a tenuous Biblical connection and an American director in Robert Aldrich. SODOM & GOMORRAH should ideally deserve epic status, given the effort and expenditure so clearly having gone into its production, but somehow it works out as less entertaining than even a cheesy Maciste movie.The problem with this film is its screenplay, which is all over the place. The Biblical tale of the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah provides the overarching storyline, but along with that we get battles, duels, rivalry, romance, and plenty more besides. Despite all this intrigue and adventure, the production is still far too long, bloated and sluggish rather a film which pulls you in and carries you along with it.The openly wooden Stewart Granger stars as the square-jawed Lot who leads his people to Sodom to do battle with the villainous prince, Astaroth (a slumming Stanley Baker, who deserves a lot better than this). Along the way he hooks up with his wife, a pillar (pun intended) of the local community and played by the exceptionally gorgeous Pier Angeli. Familiar Italian players lurk around in the background (Rik Battaglia, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Gabriele Tinti) while the foreground scenes are preoccupied with scenery-spitting actors.When SODOM & GOMORRAH moves, it gets entertaining, and the inevitable climax is at once rousing and packed with drama, filled with the kind of excellent effects that they just don't produce anymore. Earlier battle scenes and a bit involving a flood are also decent, so it's just a shame that what goes on between the incident is so dull. No amount of women in skimpy attire or beautiful backdrops can change that, unfortunately.

argamenor2012 I like this movie "THE LAST DAYS OF SODOM AND GHOMORRA", (all the actors are good enough), but not the way is told, because there are many mistakes in the sequences related in the movie, far apart from the book "Genesis" if you read chapters 13 till 19, you will see what I mean. the techniques and effects they employed are magnificent, considering the year the movie was done, but we must remark that God send fire from heaven to destroy the two cities like is related in Genesis. the two cities were discovered in 1973, near the Salt sea (Dead sea). Stewart Granger one of my favorite actors is well done his performance as Lot and credible, also Stanley Baker is very good in his role of Astaroth. Pier Angeli is here very charm and sweet as Ildith and Rossana Podesta as Shuah. I think that this kind of movie would do best for Cecil B.deMille expert in epic movies like "The ten commandments" Sansom and Delilah, Cleopatra, The sign of the cross, The greatest show on earth, etc.

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.

DrLenera 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!