As several reviewers have mentioned, it looks like the script writers for this forgotten biblical extravaganza were trying to ride on the coat tails of the prior megahit "The Ten Commandments". This becomes especially evident in the last segment, when Lot leads a multitude of Hebrews and Sodomite slaves into the wilderness, out of harm's way, as God destroys the sinful cities of Sodom and (presumably) Gomorrah. This strongly resembles the exodus from Egypt, lead by Moses. According to the bible, only four people escaped from Sodom: Lot, his wife and 2 daughters, who were carried to safety by angels. The other Hebrews were not in Sodom. In contrast, in this story, they were all in Sodom, having been invited in. Don't know where the Sodomites housed this sudden influx!
I would say the screenplay developed for this film is quite good, if wildly departing from the biblical version. Thus, according to the bible, it was Abraham, not Lot, who led the destruction of the Elamite army, killing their king, after the latter had sacked Sodom and Gomorrah. Also, it was Abraham, not Lot, who was visited by the angels in Sodom, and who extracted a promise by the angels that the cities wouldn't be destroyed if he could find 10 righteous Sodomites(he found none).
The screenplay has Sodom ruled by a deceitful queen, not a king, as in the bible. Her brother, Prince Astaroth, hoped to dethrone her without raising the ire of the populace. Toward this goal, he has formed an alliance with the nomadic Elamites, who want to sack Sodom and Gomorrah. Meanwhile, Queen Bera tries to form an alliance with the newly arrived Hebrews, who settled on the banks of the Jordan River, not far away. She offers to allow them to settle there provided they hand over so many tons of grain per year, and provided they help deflect her enemies, especially the Elamites. This, the Hebrews agree to. She also gives Lot her favorite slave girl, Ildith, as a possible wife, to help cement the alliance. Her thinking is that Ildith may also act as an informer of the doings of the Hebrews, but Ildith refuses. Lot already has 2 marriageable daughters from a previous marriage, who begin to form romantic attachments to Prince Astaroth, and Hebrew Ishmael, respectively.
The Hebrews are attacked by an armored horde of the Elamites. As they only have their staffs for weapons and no armor, they must resort to trickery and to help from Sodom armored forces to hope to defeat these vandals. See the film to find out what trickery they came up with. This is the most exciting part of the film.
As a reward for helping to defeat her greatest external enemy, the queen appoints Lot as her new chief minister, and allows the Hebrews to move into Sodom until they can regrow their crops, which were destroyed in the victory.(Again, where did the Sodomites house this horde??). The Queen hopes that Lot's appointment as minister will cause the prince to be jealous and do something to harm Lot, and that Lot will respond. The prince tells Lot he has slept with both his daughters. This causes Lot to challenge the prince to a duel, which Lot wins, despite having only a staff against a sword. Despite pleading from the downed prince to spare his life, Lot finishes him off with his sword. Thus, Lot has eliminated the queen's chief internal enemy. But, now, perhaps Lot will become a rival. If he is executed as a murderer, this won't happen, and perhaps she can turn the leaderless Hebrews into slaves. He and his 2nd in command are put in a dungeon, awaiting execution, when angels appear and, after talking to Lot, cause their chains to break and dungeon door to open, so that they can escape the imminent destruction of Sodom.
There has been considerable debate about what all sins of the Sodomites displeased God. According to the bible, homosexuality was at the top of the list. But any direct reference to this would have been censored out. We might conjecture whether the queen was a lesbian. She evidently had no husband nor offspring and no hint of male partners. But, she was very close to her head female slave, be it the initial Ildith or her replacement: Orphea. Perhaps, God simply didn't want the Hebrews contaminated by these non-believers, with their orgies, and brutality toward slaves and prisoners, etc.. Even Lot's wife: a non-Hebrew and non-believer, is turned into a pillar of salt when she disobediently looks back toward the destruction of Sodom.
Stewart Granger, as Lot, stood out as being a head taller than most of the other players, although he was only 6'1"....Pier Angoli was charming as Ildith, her 'little girl' voice being endearing or distracting.....Anouk Aimee, as Queen Bera, was quite adequate.... Stanley Baker reportedly relished his role as Prince Astraroth.
You may downgrade or outright reject this film for its flagrant deviation from the biblical story. I would rather have a more interesting story than one that rigidly sticks to historical facts, especially of something that happened so long ago. At 2 1/2 hours, it's a bit long, but "The Ten commandments" is an hour longer. Clearly, its production values are not up to the standard of the latter film. It's a bit cheesy, but perhaps worth your time.
Thankfully, the screenplay didn't continue with the next biblical episode in Lot's life, in which he retires to a cave, and, while drunk, is raped by his 2 daughters, who hope they will produce males, so that Lot's lineage will not die out. Maybe they picked up this idea from the Sodomites?
I would say the screenplay developed for this film is quite good, if wildly departing from the biblical version. Thus, according to the bible, it was Abraham, not Lot, who led the destruction of the Elamite army, killing their king, after the latter had sacked Sodom and Gomorrah. Also, it was Abraham, not Lot, who was visited by the angels in Sodom, and who extracted a promise by the angels that the cities wouldn't be destroyed if he could find 10 righteous Sodomites(he found none).
The screenplay has Sodom ruled by a deceitful queen, not a king, as in the bible. Her brother, Prince Astaroth, hoped to dethrone her without raising the ire of the populace. Toward this goal, he has formed an alliance with the nomadic Elamites, who want to sack Sodom and Gomorrah. Meanwhile, Queen Bera tries to form an alliance with the newly arrived Hebrews, who settled on the banks of the Jordan River, not far away. She offers to allow them to settle there provided they hand over so many tons of grain per year, and provided they help deflect her enemies, especially the Elamites. This, the Hebrews agree to. She also gives Lot her favorite slave girl, Ildith, as a possible wife, to help cement the alliance. Her thinking is that Ildith may also act as an informer of the doings of the Hebrews, but Ildith refuses. Lot already has 2 marriageable daughters from a previous marriage, who begin to form romantic attachments to Prince Astaroth, and Hebrew Ishmael, respectively.
The Hebrews are attacked by an armored horde of the Elamites. As they only have their staffs for weapons and no armor, they must resort to trickery and to help from Sodom armored forces to hope to defeat these vandals. See the film to find out what trickery they came up with. This is the most exciting part of the film.
As a reward for helping to defeat her greatest external enemy, the queen appoints Lot as her new chief minister, and allows the Hebrews to move into Sodom until they can regrow their crops, which were destroyed in the victory.(Again, where did the Sodomites house this horde??). The Queen hopes that Lot's appointment as minister will cause the prince to be jealous and do something to harm Lot, and that Lot will respond. The prince tells Lot he has slept with both his daughters. This causes Lot to challenge the prince to a duel, which Lot wins, despite having only a staff against a sword. Despite pleading from the downed prince to spare his life, Lot finishes him off with his sword. Thus, Lot has eliminated the queen's chief internal enemy. But, now, perhaps Lot will become a rival. If he is executed as a murderer, this won't happen, and perhaps she can turn the leaderless Hebrews into slaves. He and his 2nd in command are put in a dungeon, awaiting execution, when angels appear and, after talking to Lot, cause their chains to break and dungeon door to open, so that they can escape the imminent destruction of Sodom.
There has been considerable debate about what all sins of the Sodomites displeased God. According to the bible, homosexuality was at the top of the list. But any direct reference to this would have been censored out. We might conjecture whether the queen was a lesbian. She evidently had no husband nor offspring and no hint of male partners. But, she was very close to her head female slave, be it the initial Ildith or her replacement: Orphea. Perhaps, God simply didn't want the Hebrews contaminated by these non-believers, with their orgies, and brutality toward slaves and prisoners, etc.. Even Lot's wife: a non-Hebrew and non-believer, is turned into a pillar of salt when she disobediently looks back toward the destruction of Sodom.
Stewart Granger, as Lot, stood out as being a head taller than most of the other players, although he was only 6'1"....Pier Angoli was charming as Ildith, her 'little girl' voice being endearing or distracting.....Anouk Aimee, as Queen Bera, was quite adequate.... Stanley Baker reportedly relished his role as Prince Astraroth.
You may downgrade or outright reject this film for its flagrant deviation from the biblical story. I would rather have a more interesting story than one that rigidly sticks to historical facts, especially of something that happened so long ago. At 2 1/2 hours, it's a bit long, but "The Ten commandments" is an hour longer. Clearly, its production values are not up to the standard of the latter film. It's a bit cheesy, but perhaps worth your time.
Thankfully, the screenplay didn't continue with the next biblical episode in Lot's life, in which he retires to a cave, and, while drunk, is raped by his 2 daughters, who hope they will produce males, so that Lot's lineage will not die out. Maybe they picked up this idea from the Sodomites?