Lot in Sodom (1933)

One of the few unspoken wonders of the silent era in film was that you could do just about anything in real life (a teacher, doctor, or even the cashier at the local drug store), but if you wanted to make a movie, you could and someone would consider you a genius.

Personally, im not one for stories from the Bible (just not as interesting as some might think), but when you have the word "sodom" thrown in there, one begins to think things are going to get bumpy (as interesting as it gets).

Sodomy sells people, and a little bit of homosexuality never hurt anyone, and salt, American lives on salt.


This (like most Biblical films) was done very well, a quality of work one would expect from a man with a medical degree (see? you could be anyone). It stuck to the story and didn't try and get all pretentious and outlandish like those haughty Europeans across the pond. This was the throwing of the gauntlet. This was proof that we know what the hell we are doing, even if no one else does.

On to the film,
The human furiousity depicted in this movie is insane. You really get a grasp of the energy and pure exhiliration of what went on in this little city of pure human indulgance.

The "experimentation" used in this movie is comprised of dissolves and images transfixed on top of other images (often a mirror image or the same shot flipped and ran along with the original. This is what seperates this movie from others in the same genre. Sodom was a place of pure debauchery and one can see it in the presentation. Even if you have no knowledge of this story (I have very little, but then again Wikipedia is always just a click away) this movie is just a good example of the type of Avant-Garde or Experimental film us Americans were bringing to the world (the 1930's, as you know, were the years of the German filmaker, and quite frankly some of the best films ever were made in this decade).

Another reason this movie scores high is that it was a complete turn from what Hollywood was shelling out at the time. The 30's in America were the years of early noir and crime dramas, and this was somewhere out in the left field (along with very few others, at least here in the states) of it all, and to be honest, this was really one of the forefathers of Avant-Garde in America, and brought about the birth of "alternative filmaking" and the postwar influx of art in every medium.
The basis of the story might turn some away (both the non religious and those afraid of clogged arteries ), but i can't recommend this movie more. It is always a pleasure to see the actualy beginnings of a movement. The best part of it all is that you can find it for free online (Public Domain here people), so at the end of it all you don't really lose out on anything.

Plus, whats more fun than seeing someone turn into a giant pile of salt?