Reeling Backward: "The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah" (1962)

"The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah" is a classic example of mid-century ersatz Hollywood cheese, a cynical attempt to rip off a spectacularly successful film on the cheap.

Stewart Grangers plays Lot from the famous biblical tale of "Sodom and Gomorrah" (as this film was known everywhere else in the world but America). He's got the same poofy white-and-grey pompadour that Charlton Heston wore in "The Ten Commandments," though sans beard. Ostensibly this is because Lot is in mourning after the death of his wife, but he remarries midway through and the chin whiskers never appear. I think the filmmakers just didn't want to hide Granger's famous jutting chin.

The movie was a French/Italian/American production financed by the likes of Joseph E. Levine, famous for bringing cut-rate Hercules and Japanese monster flicks to these shores and promoting the hell out of them. (He also financed prestige projects like "A Bridge Too Far.") He and his fellows did a fair job on this film, making it a modest international hit without any of the sumptuous production values of "Commandments."

It was directed by Robert Aldrich, who had a fine career with the likes of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?", "The Dirty Dozen," "The Flight of the Phoenix" and "The Longest Yard." Screenwriters Giorgio Prosperi and Hugo Butler loosely based the script on the book by Richard Wormser, taking great liberties with biblical texts to flesh out Lot's story into a 2½ hour movie.

As I remember from interminable Sunday school classes, the basic tale of Lot is one of loss and redemption, and more loss. Lot leads his portion of the Hebrew tribe out of the desert to the edge of the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, famous for their salt mining and lecherous ways. After initially keeping the Jews upright in their faith as farmers, Lot eventually succumbs to power and vanity, as they move into Sodom and become corrupted.

But then the angels of God warn him of the city's destruction, and he pleads to let the city be spared if he can find 50 men of good will in Sodom -- which he then haggles down to 10. Strangely, in the movie he never actually seems to go looking for the 10 good men, and the Lord's wrath is unleashed in the form of a storm that looks eerily like an atomic bomb explosion. Despite the warning of the angels, Lot's wife looks back on the city's destruction and, seeing the power of God unveiled, is turned into a pillar of salt.

The film adds a whole bunch of new characters and subplots from Wormer's book, while leaving out chunks of biblical text. For instance, the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot's capture by the Elamite leader Chedorlaome, and subsequent rescue at the hands of Abraham, is omitted.

And, needless to say for a film released in 1962, Lot's subsequent incest with both of his daughters is left out. Though there is a fair amount of flesh for a movie of this era, including a languid tracking shot across a bunch of sleeping revelers, who are clearly implied to have just held an orgy.

"The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah" also shows Lot leaving Sodom not only with his family, but the entire Hebrew tribe. This is obviously an attempt to replicate the exodus scenes of Moses from "The Ten Commandments." (Don't forget, back then extras were cheaper and more effective than special effects.)

Anouk Aimée plays the exotic heavy, aka Yul Brynner's counterpart in this movie. As Queen Bera, she rules with a benevolent but depraved hand, encouraging her people to engage in all sorts of debaucherous pleasures. Her brother, Astaroth (Stanley Baker), longs to overthrow her, and isn't particularly subtle about it. He secretly arranges a compact with the Elamites to attack the Hebrews and Sodom.

Astaroth spars with Lot from the get-go, and have a couple of duels in which the much older Lot easily bests him, despite using only a shepherd's crook as a weapon. The prince manages to deflower both of Lot's daughters (off-camera), Shuah (Rossana Podesta) and Maleb (Claudia Mori). As is typical for this type of movie, the children become resentful of their father and enamored with the glamorous ways of their adopted homeland.

Lot's primary relationship is with Ildith (Pier Angeli), a Sodomite slave and chief of Queen Bera's household retinue. She is given to Lot as a peace offering during their negotiations -- Bera agrees to allow the Hebrews to occupy the land across the River Jordan in exchange for a share of their crops. Ildith, used to the soft ways of the city, is mightily put out but eventually becomes Lot's second wife.

There's really not much to recommend about "The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah." A couple of the battle scenes are fitfully entertaining, and Granger has screen presence as the stiff-but-honorable Lot. Most of the people involved with the production apparently considered it the low point of their creative careers, and I don't find much reason to disagree with them.

Reeling Backward: "Zulu"

"Zulu" is not the Zulu movie I thought it was.

When I was quite young, I saw a movie on TV about a battle between British soldiers and a Zulu army that stuck with me. There are two things I remember most about it. The first is the end credits, in which a seemingly endless line of Zulu warriors walk past in single file, demonstrating their vast number. The other thing was the incompetent portrayal of the British commanders -- I seem to recall there was some bit where a sergeant was refusing to dispense ammunition to the soldiers without proper authorization, even as they were being slaughtered to a man.

Turns out that movie is 1979's "Zulu Dawn," starring Burt Lancaster. "Zulu" was made in 1964 and produced by Joseph E. Levine, the fiercely independent producer who also made "The Lion in Winter," "A Bridge Too Far" and many other fine films.

It's a rip-roaring war film in the grand tradition, with an ensemble cast of officers and soldiers bonding and dying in battle. It's most notable now for being the first film role of Michael Caine. Well, the credits give him the "...and introducing..." treatment. He had bit parts in other films during the 1950s. But he was primarily a television actor prior to "Zulu."

While "Zulu Dawn" depicts the Battle of Isandlwana of 1879, in which more than 1,300 British soldiers were defeated and slaughtered by the Zulu, the earlier film actually depicts a later event in the same war. This was the Battle of Rorke's Drift, in which a contingent of 4,000 Zulu unsuccessfully attacked a tiny mission post defended by a little more than 100 British soldiers.

I've always been a history buff, and after watching this movie I decided to do a little research. As the movie points out in the epilogue, 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to soldiers who fought at Rorke's Drift. This award, the highest in the English military, is roughly equivalent to the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor. It's also given out with the same infrequency, so you get an idea of how valorous the British defense was considered.

Interestingly, though, is the omission of Acting Assistant Commissary James Langley Dalton from a pivotal role in the movie. The main characters are Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, played by Caine, and Lieutenant John Chard (Stanley Baker). Bromhead is the second-in-command of the post, left in charge while the major went out scouting, and Chard was an army engineer who was building a bridge nearby when word of the invading Zulu comes. Chard had a few months' seniority over Bromhead, and took command. Rivals, they eventually come to respect each in the heat of battle. Astonishingly, it's revealed at the end of the film that this was the first battle for both officers.

But according to accounts of the time, it was actually Dalton who directed much of the defense, including the decision to line the mission with two lines of biscuit bags. Dalton was not among those originally awarded the Victoria's Cross, but after his role was made clear he was so honored a year later.

As far as the movie is concerned, though, Dalton is just another background player -- certainly less important than a color sergeant played by Nigel Green, who keeps a hard tamp on the emotions of the besieged soldiers.

The battle scenes are quite thrilling, though fairly bloodless as one might expect of a 1964 film. The Zulu are treated respectfully, not as savage brutes but cunning warriors who use clever attack formations and tactics.

The Zulu fought mostly with spears, though not flimsy ones designed for throwing but thick, sharp weapons intended for close-up stabbing. They were also armed with a fair number of guns, though not the modern breech-loading rifles the British used. It's suggested in the movie that the Zulu attacking Rorke's Drift picked these weapons up from the Brits defeated a few days earlier at Isandlwana, but according to historical accounts the contingent attacking there were fresh troops who hadn't fought at the previous battle. Their guns were most likely older flintlock rifles they'd scavenged here and there.

The first half of the film drags a bit due to the focus on the character of Otto Witt (Jack Hawkins), the missionary assigned to the post, and his daughter. Witt can't believe the soldiers are intending to make a stand against such an overwhelming force, and urges Chard to let him take the wounded away. When he is refused, Witt becomes increasingly agitated and desperate, right up to ordering the small force of native African soldiers to abandon the post. This is downright treasonous behavior, even for a man of the cloth, and he is eventually forcibly put in a carriage with his daughter and sent on his way. As near as I can determine, this whole episode with Witt is purely the imagination of screenwriters John Prebble and Cy Endfield. Endfield also directed, and later wrote the screenplay for "Zulu Dawn."

"Zulu" is a worthwhile film, for introducing one of the truly great movie actors, Michael Caine, to audiences, and for making a forgotten bit of history come thrillingly alive.

3 stars