cynthiahost Review of Sodom and Gomorrah

Sodom and Gomorrah (1922)

combination of Intolerance and The ten commandments

[10/10 · 10 December 2014]

I don't know if intolerance came to The Austrian-Hungary Empire,but, Michael Curtis seemed to be a Cecile B.Demille and D.w. Griffith,in this epic film.It combines with a moral tale tied with a Biblical story. The main female character is Mary,portrayed by Lucy Doraine, who at the time was married to Curtis, portrays Mary.Her mother Agathe,portrayed by Erika Wagner is in debt and pressures Her daughter to marry a wealthy man name Harber ,portrayed by George Reimers, to pay the mother debts off.The daughter does not like this,cause she has a boy friend next door ,who is a sculptor,Harry ,played by Kurt Ehrle.Once she tells him he is heart broken.The engagement party Turns out to be a big subtle orgy.Sadistically Harry is invited to the party.He tries to persuade her to cancel the engagement ,but, she refuses to.He ends up shooting himself.This put her in more shame.A young lean Walter Slezak, portrays Harber's son Eduard,who is seduced By Mary.His friend ,a priest,portrayed by Victor Varconi.She tries to makes play on him too , which cause him to think of lustful thoughts.He start to doubt himself,as in later scene he is talking over the incident with his bishop.When discovering Habers son she too tries to seduce him.This lead to a father and son fighting over her,in which she gives a knife to Eduard to kill his father.with the aid of his priest friend,Eduard confess she gave him the knife.She ends up in prison sentenced to death,hanging.When the priest shows up again she tries to seduce him until she sees the hanging place being built ,then fear hits her.This is when it transfers to the Sodom and Gomorrah story.The set are huge and elaborate .This version of Lot an his wife,you have Harry playing Lot and Lucy playing his wife.In this case she is part of a temple orgy cult.Lot wants to get her out of this and leave the city.The avenging angel ,played by Varcony, helps him to get him and his wife out.When Lots wife she can't seduce the angel.She tries to have him burnt at the stake,in her 1922 fashion orgy dress,. Instead the whole city starts to burn .Lot manages to get our of the city with her,but,she looks back and turns into stone.Back to the prison,She's about to be executed screaming and hollering against it .All of a sudden she finds her self in bed.It was a bad dream.She regularizes that she has to go back to her boyfriend.The real father and son is begging to fight each other ,but, the priest stops it.Eduard mad at his father for his decadence and leaves with his priest friend.Mary goes back to the hospital to visits Harry and reunite .Very excellent Austrian silent film classics. 12/10/14