Sodom and Gomorrah (1922 film)
Encyclopedia
Sodom und Gomorrha is an Austria
n 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, Sascha-Film
, 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.
The cast of thousands also included among the extras: Paul Askonas, Willi Forst
, Béla Balázs
, Hans Thimig
, Franz Herterich and Julius von Szöreghy.
's wife. The dreams shock Mary into a realisation of the true nature and consequences of her behaviour, and she returns in penitence to Harry.
was Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky, 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 Kolowrat-Krakowsky 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 Sascha-Film.
In the film, produced between 1920 and 1922, Mihaly Kertész (later known in the US as Michael Curtiz
) directed, and his Hungarian
wife Lucy Doraine
played the leading role of Mary Conway. Walter Slezak
played Edward, the young son of her fiancé. Among the extras, according to their own accounts, were Willi Forst
, Hans Thimig
, Paula Wessely
and Béla Balázs
.
The film is unique in Austrian film history on account of its sheer scale, in which it reputedly surpassed the American epics, the Italian
films of classical antiquity and the German
historical dramas. Thousands of craftsmen, architects, decorators, sculptors, stuccoists, stage and set builders, pyrotechnician
s, cameramen, hairdressers, mask makers and tailors, with assistants, labourers and extras, mostly the unemployed and juveniles, found employment for three years during the making of the film, in an Austria crippled by inflation and unemployment. Thousands of costumes, wigs, beards, sandals, standards, horse harnesses and other such things were made specially for the production, generally on site. Béla Balász referred to it as "prop madness". Sodom und Gomorrha cost more than five times the planned budget and in later films, on the basis of such expensive experiences, expenditure on props was drastically reduced.
The outdoor shoots were made at the Laaerberg near Vienna, in the Lainzer Tiergarten
, in Laxenburg
, in Schönbrunn
and on the Steirischer Erzberg. The Laaerberg was particularly suitable for filming, as at this time it was a waste area, with a few clay pits filled with water. Just for the preliminary construction and erection of the backdrops several thousand workers were required. During filming between 300 to 500 actors were always needed, for crowd scenes as many as 3,000. In addition similar quantities of horses were required for some scenes.
At the end of the film the temple was supposed to collapse, for which pyrotechnicians were appointed to blow it up. However, there were accidents, causing injuries and deaths, which were to have legal consequences. The director was acquitted, but the chief pyrotechnician was arrested for 10 days and fined 500,000 Krone
n.
made a career in Hollywood, as did the director Michael Curtiz and the actor Walter Slezak
, who also emigrated a few years later. Gustav Ucicky
, employed as a cameraman, later became a successful director in Germany and Austria. The set designer and builder Julius von Borsody
worked for decades longer in this capacity in Austrian films. After the film was finished, Michael Curtiz and Lucy Doraine were divorced.
his assistants Hans Rouc and Stefan Wessely worked with specialist companies such as Mautner und Rothmüller and the Österreichische Filmdienst on the monumental buildings of Sodom, Gomorrha and Syria. A noticeable feature of the architecture of the buildings was the ornament, strongly reminiscent of Jugendstil. The dream scenes featured Expressionist architecture.
, was responsible for the costumes, including the design of the headgear for Lucy Doraine, who, even in the edition available today, has 11 different costumes. Arthur Gottlein was the production assistant.
was engaged, probably the most prominent film composer in Germany at this period. His musical accompaniment borrowed from a wide range of classical, mostly romantic, music of all types. Next to works by famous composers such as Tschaikovsky, Bizet
, Massenet
, Sibelius
and Verdi
he used works by less well-known composers, such as the Hans Heiling
overture by Heinrich Marschner
, the overture from the opera Yelva by Carl Gottlieb Reissiger
and others.
, as well as from Bologna
and Hungary
, so that although the whole film is not recovered, all four sequences have now been restored. The restored version has a running time of 98 minutes.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n silent epic film
Epic film
An epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...
from 1922. It was shot on the Laaer Berg, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, as the enormous backdrops specially designed and constructed for the film were too big for the studios of the production company, Sascha-Film
Sascha-Film
Sascha-Film, in full Sascha-Filmindustrie AG and from 1933 Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG, was the largest Austrian film production company of the silent film and early sound film period.-History:...
, in Sievering
Sievering
Sievering is a suburb of Vienna and part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna. Sievering was created in 1892 out of the two erstwhile independent suburbs Untersievering and Obersievering. These still exist as Katastralgemeinden.- Geography :...
. 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
Cinema of Austria
Austria has had an active cinema industry since the early 20th century. Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky was among the Austrian pioneers of this art. Several Austrians pursued a career in pre-Nazi Germany and later in the United States, among them Fritz Lang, Josef von Sternberg, Billy Wilder, Fred...
. In the creation of the film between 3,000 and 14,000 performers, extras and crew were employed.
Cast
- Richard Berczeller - Lot
- Lucy DoraineLucy DoraineLucy Doraine was a Hungarian film actress of the silent era.Born as Ilona Kovács in Budapest, she appeared in 24 films between 1918 and 1931...
- Mary Conway / Lea, Lot's wife / Queen of Syria - Walter SlezakWalter SlezakWalter Slezak was a portly Austrian character actor who appeared in numerous Hollywood films. Slezak often portrayed villains or thugs, most notably the German U-boat captain in Alfred Hitchcock's film Lifeboat , but occasionally he got to play lighter roles, as in The Wonderful World of the...
- Edward Harber / Galilean goldsmith - Victor VarconiVictor VarconiVictor Varconi was a highly successful silent film star in Hungary. Born Mihály Várkonyi in Kisvárda, Austria-Hungary, he was the first Hungarian actor to make a film in the United States....
- Priest / Angel of the Lord - Kurt Ehrle - Harry Lighton / sculptor
- Georg Reimers - Jackson Harber
- Erika Wagner - Agatha Conway
The cast of thousands also included among the extras: Paul Askonas, Willi Forst
Willi Forst
Willi Forst, born Wilhelm Anton Frohs was an Austrian actor, screenwriter, film director, film producer and singer...
, Béla Balázs
Béla Balázs
----Béla Balázs , born Herbert Bauer, was a Hungarian-Jewish film critic, aesthete, writer and poet....
, Hans Thimig
Hans Thimig
Hans Emil Thimig, pseudonym: Hans Werner was an Austrian actor, film director and stage director.- Life :...
, Franz Herterich and Julius von Szöreghy.
Story
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 Harber's adolescent son, Eduard, but also of Eduard's 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), LotLot (Bible)
Lot is a man from the Book of Genesis chapters 11-14 and 19, in the Hebrew Bible. Notable episodes in his life include his travels with his uncle Abram ; his flight from the destruction of Sodom, in the course of which Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt; and the seduction by his...
's wife. The dreams shock Mary into a realisation of the true nature and consequences of her behaviour, and she returns in penitence to Harry.
Production
The producerFilm producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
was Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky, who according to contemporary film magazines came up with the idea, while on a trip to United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to discover more about the American film industry, of making an epic film with many extras in Austria, as such films - "Intolerance
Intolerance (film)
Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a...
" seems to have been a particular model - were very popular at that time in the US and Kolowrat-Krakowsky had America in view as an additional potential market. For this purpose he founded the Herz Film Corporation in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
as a branch of his Austria company Sascha-Film.
In the film, produced between 1920 and 1922, Mihaly Kertész (later known in the US as Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
) directed, and his Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
wife Lucy Doraine
Lucy Doraine
Lucy Doraine was a Hungarian film actress of the silent era.Born as Ilona Kovács in Budapest, she appeared in 24 films between 1918 and 1931...
played the leading role of Mary Conway. Walter Slezak
Walter Slezak
Walter Slezak was a portly Austrian character actor who appeared in numerous Hollywood films. Slezak often portrayed villains or thugs, most notably the German U-boat captain in Alfred Hitchcock's film Lifeboat , but occasionally he got to play lighter roles, as in The Wonderful World of the...
played Edward, the young son of her fiancé. Among the extras, according to their own accounts, were Willi Forst
Willi Forst
Willi Forst, born Wilhelm Anton Frohs was an Austrian actor, screenwriter, film director, film producer and singer...
, Hans Thimig
Hans Thimig
Hans Emil Thimig, pseudonym: Hans Werner was an Austrian actor, film director and stage director.- Life :...
, Paula Wessely
Paula Wessely
Paula Anna Maria Wessely was an Austrian theatre and film actress. Die Wessely , as she was affectionately called by her admirers and fans, was Austria's foremost popular postwar actress....
and Béla Balázs
Béla Balázs
----Béla Balázs , born Herbert Bauer, was a Hungarian-Jewish film critic, aesthete, writer and poet....
.
The film is unique in Austrian film history on account of its sheer scale, in which it reputedly surpassed the American epics, the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
films of classical antiquity and the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
historical dramas. Thousands of craftsmen, architects, decorators, sculptors, stuccoists, stage and set builders, pyrotechnician
Pyrotechnician
A pyrotechnician is an individual responsible for the safe storage, handling, and functioning of pyrotechnics and pyrotechnic devices. Although the term is generally used in reference to individuals who operate pyrotechnics in the entertainment industry, it can include all individuals who...
s, cameramen, hairdressers, mask makers and tailors, with assistants, labourers and extras, mostly the unemployed and juveniles, found employment for three years during the making of the film, in an Austria crippled by inflation and unemployment. Thousands of costumes, wigs, beards, sandals, standards, horse harnesses and other such things were made specially for the production, generally on site. Béla Balász referred to it as "prop madness". Sodom und Gomorrha cost more than five times the planned budget and in later films, on the basis of such expensive experiences, expenditure on props was drastically reduced.
The outdoor shoots were made at the Laaerberg near Vienna, in the Lainzer Tiergarten
Lainzer Tiergarten
The Lainzer Tiergarten is a 24.50 km² wildlife preserve in the southwest corner of Vienna, Austria, 80% of it being covered in woodland. It dates back to 1561, when Ferdinand I of Austria created it as a fenced-in hunting ground for his family to use. Since 1919, it has been open to the public...
, in Laxenburg
Laxenburg
Laxenburg is a town in the district of Mödling in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, near Vienna.- History :The place is well-known for its castle, Schloss Laxenburg, which, beside Schönbrunn, was the most important summer seat of the Habsburg dynasty....
, in Schönbrunn
Schönbrunn
Schönbrunn may refer to:*Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria*Schönbrunn , a municipality in Rhein-Neckar , Baden-Württemberg, Germany*Schönbrunn , a village in the Fichtelgebirge mountains in Bavaria, Germany...
and on the Steirischer Erzberg. The Laaerberg was particularly suitable for filming, as at this time it was a waste area, with a few clay pits filled with water. Just for the preliminary construction and erection of the backdrops several thousand workers were required. During filming between 300 to 500 actors were always needed, for crowd scenes as many as 3,000. In addition similar quantities of horses were required for some scenes.
At the end of the film the temple was supposed to collapse, for which pyrotechnicians were appointed to blow it up. However, there were accidents, causing injuries and deaths, which were to have legal consequences. The director was acquitted, but the chief pyrotechnician was arrested for 10 days and fined 500,000 Krone
Austro-Hungarian krone
The Krone or korona was the official currency of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1892 until the dissolution of the empire in 1918...
n.
Background
Many of those of worked on this film later became leading names in their fields. The cameraman Franz PlanerFranz Planer
Franz Planer, A.S.C. was a cinematographer born in Karlsbad, Austria-Hungary ,-Biography:...
made a career in Hollywood, as did the director Michael Curtiz and the actor Walter Slezak
Walter Slezak
Walter Slezak was a portly Austrian character actor who appeared in numerous Hollywood films. Slezak often portrayed villains or thugs, most notably the German U-boat captain in Alfred Hitchcock's film Lifeboat , but occasionally he got to play lighter roles, as in The Wonderful World of the...
, who also emigrated a few years later. Gustav Ucicky
Gustav Ucicky
Gustav Ucicky was an acclaimed Austrian film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. He was one of the more successful and acclaimed directors in Austria and Germany from the 1930s through to the early 1960s...
, employed as a cameraman, later became a successful director in Germany and Austria. The set designer and builder Julius von Borsody
Julius von Borsody
Julius von Borsody was an Austrian film architect and one of the most employed set designers in the Austrian and German cinemas of the late silent and early sound film periods...
worked for decades longer in this capacity in Austrian films. After the film was finished, Michael Curtiz and Lucy Doraine were divorced.
Architecture
The film's architectural masterpiece, designed by three architects, was the "Temple of Sodom", which was counted as one of the world's great film structures of the time. Under the direction of the architect Julius von BorsodyJulius von Borsody
Julius von Borsody was an Austrian film architect and one of the most employed set designers in the Austrian and German cinemas of the late silent and early sound film periods...
his assistants Hans Rouc and Stefan Wessely worked with specialist companies such as Mautner und Rothmüller and the Österreichische Filmdienst on the monumental buildings of Sodom, Gomorrha and Syria. A noticeable feature of the architecture of the buildings was the ornament, strongly reminiscent of Jugendstil. The dream scenes featured Expressionist architecture.
Further staff
The production design was by Julius Borsidine and Edgar G. Ulmer. Remigius Geyling, costume designer at the BurgtheaterBurgtheater
The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...
, was responsible for the costumes, including the design of the headgear for Lucy Doraine, who, even in the edition available today, has 11 different costumes. Arthur Gottlein was the production assistant.
Performance
For the première in Berlin Giuseppe BecceGiuseppe Becce
Giuseppe Becce was an Italian-born film score composer who enriched the German cinema.- Biography :Becce was born in Lonigo/Vicenza, Italy. He showed his musical talents early and was named the director of the student musical orchestra at the Padua University when he studied geography...
was engaged, probably the most prominent film composer in Germany at this period. His musical accompaniment borrowed from a wide range of classical, mostly romantic, music of all types. Next to works by famous composers such as Tschaikovsky, Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
, Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
, Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
and Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
he used works by less well-known composers, such as the Hans Heiling
Hans Heiling
Hans Heiling is a German Romantic opera in 3 acts with prologue by Heinrich Marschner with a libretto by Eduard Devrient, who also sang the title role at the première which occurred at the Königliche Hofoper , Berlin on 24 May 1833, and went on to become his most successful opera...
overture by Heinrich Marschner
Heinrich Marschner
Heinrich August Marschner , was the most important composer of German Romantic opera between Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner, and is remembered principally for his operas Hans Heiling , Der Vampyr , and Der Templer und die Jüdin...
, the overture from the opera Yelva by Carl Gottlieb Reissiger
Carl Gottlieb Reissiger
Carl Gottlieb Reißiger was a German Kapellmeister and composer.-Biography:...
and others.
Versions
The original version was 3,900 metres long, representing a running time of about three hours. The film was therefore generally shown in two parts: Part I: Die Sünde ("The Sin") and Part II: Die Strafe ("The Punishment"). By 1987 only 25 minutes remained in the possession of the Österreichische Filmarchiv. Further sections of the film were obtained however from the Soviet Film Archive, and the film archives of the DDR and CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, as well as from Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, so that although the whole film is not recovered, all four sequences have now been restored. The restored version has a running time of 98 minutes.
Sources and external links
- Fritz, Walter, and Lachmann, Götz, editors, 1988: Sodom und Gomorrha — Die Legende von Sünde und Strafe. Vienna
- Filmportal.de (includes contemporary reviews in German)
- Film.at
- Filmreference.com: Sodom und Gomorrha