Sodom and Gomorrah

Sodom and Gomorrah (also known as The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah in the United States) is a 1962 epic film directed by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by Hugo Butler and Giorgio Prosperi, loosely based on the Biblical reading of Sodom and Gomorrah. An international co-production between France, Italy and the United States, the film stars Stewart Granger, Pier Angeli, Stanley Baker, Rossana Podestà, Rik Battaglia, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart and Anouk Aimée. Plot 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.