Sodom And Gomorrah (1962)

As the wicked Prince of Sodom (Stanley Baker) plots to take the throne away from his evil sister the Queen (Anouk Aimee), Lot (Stewart Granger) leads his Hebrew tribe through the desert hoping to establish a homeland on the river Jordan. Lot and the Queen form an uneasy truce as she allows them to make the land their own in exchange for tribute and defense. Robert Aldrich, the gritty director of such films as KISS ME DEADLY and WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE, seems an odd choice to direct a biblical epic. He doesn't seem to have much interest in the project but despite that, it's surprisingly fun. It's a curious hybrid of a movie, lacking the production values and glamour of such Hollywood epics as THE ROBE or TEN COMMANDMENTS yet possessing an intelligence absent from the usual Italian sword and sandal peplum, it belongs to neither yet has attributes of both. There's an exciting and well done battle between the Hebrews and the Elamites that may be the work of the second unit director, Sergio Leone. Anouk Aimee, looking more like Joan Crawford than ever, steals the movie as the lesbian Queen with a penchant for sadism. There's a strong score by Miklos Rozsa and Maurice Binder did the striking main title sequence (which reputedly took 3 days to film). The cast includes Pier Angeli as Lot's wife, Rossana Podesta (HELEN OF TROY), Claudia Mori, Rik Battaglia, Scilla Gabel and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart.