Sodom und Gomorrha
| Sodom und Gomorrha | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Michael Curtiz (Mihaly Kertész) |
| Produced by | Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky |
| Written by |
Michael Curtiz (Mihaly Kertész) Ladislaus Vajda |
| Starring |
Lucy Doraine Walter Slezak Richard Berczeller |
| Music by | Giuseppe Becce |
| Cinematography |
Franz Planer Gustav Ucicky |
| Distributed by | Sascha-Film |
|
Release date
|
13 October 1922 |
|
Running time
|
180 minutes; (restored: 98 minutes) |
| Country | Austria |
| Language | Silent German intertitles |
Sodom und Gomorrha (subtitle: Die Legende von Sünde und Strafe, translated Sodom and Gomorrah: The Legend of Sin and Punishment; English title: Sodom and Gomorrah, or in full Queen of Sin and the Spectacle of Sodom and Gomorrha) is an Austrian silent epic film from 1922. It was shot on the Laaer Berg, Vienna, as the enormous backdrops specially designed and constructed for the film were too big for the studios of the production company, Sascha-Film, in Sievering. The film is distinguished, not so much by the strands of its often opaque plot, as by its status as the largest and most expensive film production in Austrian film history. In the creation of the film between 3,000 and 14,000 performers, extras and crew were employed.
The cast of thousands also included among the extras: Paul Askonas, Willi Forst, Béla Balázs, Hans Thimig, Franz Herterich and Julius von Szöreghy.
Mary, a young girl exposed from her infancy to evil influences, is in love with Harry, a sculptor, but for the sake of financial gain becomes engaged to be married to the rich banker Jackson Harber, a much older man, and the former lover of her mother. Harry attempts suicide. By her abandoned behaviour, including her attempted seduction not only of Harber's adolescent son, Eduard, but also of Eduard's tutor, a priest, Mary drives Harber to the verge of suicide as well. The first historical sequence shows Mary as the Queen of Syria who cruelly executes a young goldsmith and jeweller (played by the same actor as Eduard). Back in the present, Mary has arranged an assignation with both Harber and Eduard, neither knowing of the intentions of the other, at night in a summerhouse. While waiting for them she falls asleep: an Expressionist dream shows Harber and Eduard fighting over her, and Eduard killing his father. This is succeeded by the main historical sequence, the wickedness and destruction of Sodom, in which Mary now appears as Lea (Lia), Lot's wife. The dreams shock Mary into a realisation of the true nature and consequences of her behaviour, and she returns in penitence to Harry.
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