Sodom und Gomorrha (1922)

When the old multimillionaire Jackson Harber wants to marry the young model Mary, she hesitates, but her mother convinces her that this is her chance to lead a life in luxury and leisure. ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Curtiz (as Mihály Kertész)

Writers:

Michael Curtiz, Ladislaus Vajda

Stars:

Georg Reimers, Victor Varconi, Lucy Doraine

Cast

Cast overview:
Georg Reimers	...	Mr. Jackson Harber
Victor Varconi	...	Priester des Lyzeums - Engel des Herrn (as Michael Varkonyi)
Lucy Doraine	...	Mary Conway / Das Weib des Lot / Lia, Königin von Syrien
Erika Wagner	...	Mrs. Agathe Conway - Marys Mutter
Walter Slezak	...	Eduard Harber - Student am Cambridge-Lyzeum / Ein Goldschmied von Galiläa
Kurt Ehrle	...	Harry Lighton - Bildhauer / Lot
Paul Askonas
Richard Berczeller	...	Lot
Gyula Szöreghy	...	(as Julius von Szöreghy)
Franz Herterich
Béla Balázs	...	Extra
Willi Forst	...	Extra
Leo Slezak
Hans Thimig

Storyline

When the old multimillionaire Jackson Harber wants to marry the young model Mary, she hesitates, but her mother convinces her that this is her chance to lead a life in luxury and leisure. The engagement is celebrated with an extravagant party at his estate, which is a gigantic palace and park in oriental style. His son Eduard arrives from Cambridge, accompanied by a priest, who is his tutor. The priest is disgusted by the bacchanalian reveling and womanizing going on everywhere. Mary's adorer, the sculptor Harry Lighton, tries to convince her to break the engagement. When she refuses, he shoots himself and is seriously injured. Mary falls asleep and is transported in her dream to the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the dream she sees herself as the wife of Lot, leaving her husband to play a central role in the excessive rites of the goddess Astarte. An angel arrives and leads Lot and his wife out of Sodom, just when the city starts to collapse. Lot's wife cannot resist ...

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Plot Keywords:

sodom | sodom and gomorrah | gomorrah | biblical | city in title | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Germany Austria

Release Date:

26 March 1923 (USA)

Also Known As:

Legende von Sünde und Strafe

Filming Locations:

Vienna, Austria

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sascha-Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min (reconstructed)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Walter Slezak's first film.

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Connections

Featured in Az utolsó magyar némafilmszínész (1999)

User Reviews

Lot's Woman

A good Austrian contribution to biblical melodramas, directed by Michael Curtiz, who would repeat the strategy six years later in the bad "Noah's Arc", after relocating to the United States. This film, though less well known than the American production, is more attractive than the story of friends who unite and separate during the war, topped with images of the flood. There's more passion in this story of Mary Conway, a young woman living the "vida loca" during the "jazz age" in London, who plays with the affections of four men. Even the link to the biblical book of Lot is established from the beginning, when we are introduced to the sculptor who has used Mary as a model for sculpting "Sodom", a marble representation of Lot's wife when turned into a statue of salt. An adopted daughter of a woman who uses her to pay the expenses of both, Mary rejects the love of sculptor Harry Lighton, flirts with old tycoon Jackson Harber, seduces her son Eduard who is studying in Cambridge and tries to do the same with his tutor, a fiery Catholic priest. Almost all the action takes place in old Harber's sumptuous mansion during an orgiastic celebration, when student and tutor unexpectedly arrive. In the large rooms, in various pavilions, crowds drink, dance and make love. But when events take a dramatic turn, the script introduces the biblical story, thousands of extras and enormous sets, in the middle of which the conflict focuses on the confrontation between Lot's wife (the same Mary) and the Angel sent by God (the same priest). Of course , true to the precepts of melodrama, Sodom falls and the film finds when it is adjusted to the values of bourgeois society .