Sodom and Gomorrah (1922 film)

Sodom und Gomorrha subtitle Die Legende von Snde 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, SaschaFilm, 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.

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 Harbers adolescent son, Eduard, but also of Eduards 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, Lots wife. The dreams shock Mary into a realisation of the true nature and consequences of her behaviour, and she returns in penitence to Harry.The producer was Sascha KolowratKrakowsky, who according to contemporary film magazines came up with the idea, while on a trip to United States to discover more about the American film industry, of making an epic film with many extras in Austria, as such films Intolerance seems to have been a particular model were very popular at that time in the US and KolowratKrakowsky had America in view as an additional potential market. For this purpose he founded the Herz Film Corporation in New York as a branch of his Austria company SaschaFilm. ........

Source: Wikipedia