Customer Reviews

Salome / Lot in Sodom

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Oscar Wilde's 1892 retelling of the Bible story of Salome, who danced before Herod to win the death of John the Baptist, was considered so depraved that the High Lord Chamberlain of England refused to grant it a license for public performance--and in the wake of Wilde's scandalous exposure as a homosexual and his subsequent imprisonment, all of Wilde's plays were swept from the stage. Wilde, who died in 1900, never saw his play publicly performed.

The worth of Wilde's plays were reestablished by the 1920s, but even so SALOME, with its convoluted and exotic language and hothouse sense of depravity, remained something of a theatrical untouchable--and certainly so where the screen was concerned. No one dared consider it until Russian-born Alla Nazimova, who is generally credited with bringing Stanislaski technique to the New York stage, decided to film it in 1923.

It proved a disaster. Theatergoers in large cities might be prepared to accept Wilde's lighter plays, but Main Street America was an entirely different matter--especially where the notorious SALOME was concerned, particularly when the film was dogged hints of Nazimova's lesbianism and by the rumor that it had been done with an "all Gay cast" in honor of Wilde himself. Critics, censors, and the public damned the film right and left. It received only limited distribution and faded quickly from view. Even so, the legend of both the film and its exotic star grew over time. And so now, some eighty years after its creation, Nazimova's SALOME is at last widely available to the public in this DVD release, which packages it alongside the 1933 art-short LOT IN SODOM.

Given that much of the original play's power is in Wilde's language, SALOME suffers from translation to silent film--the title cards are often awkwardly long, and in general fail to convey the tone of Wilde's voice; moreover, the convolutions of the original have been necessarily simplified for the silent form. Even so, it is a remarkable thing in a purely visual sense. Directed in a deliberately flat style by Charles Bryant and designed by Natacha Rambova (wife of Valentino, she would also design Nazimova's silent CAMILLE), the look of the film seeks to reproduce the playscript's equally infamous illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley--and succeeds to a remarkable degree.

And then there is Nazimova herself. Well into her forties at the time she played the teenage Salome, Nazimova is an electric presence: while she often shows her years in close up, she is remarkably effective in capturing the willful, petulant, and ultimately depraved Salome in facial expression and body posture, balancing an over-the-top style with moments of quiet realism to most remarkable effect. The supporting cast is also quite memorable, with Mitchell Lewis (Herod) and Rose Dione (Herodias) particularly notable.

The accompanying LOT IN SODOM is related to SALOME only in the sense that it too has a Biblical theme. Created by J.S. Watson and Melville Webber, this 1933 film is less "art" than "experimental," and consists largely of double, triple, and quadruple exposures of writing and often seminude bodies--and while it clearly influenced later experimental filmmakers such as Kenneth Anger, it is perhaps best regarded as an interesting curiosity.

SALOME is not, perhaps, a "great" film in the traditional sense--and given the technical limitations and social restrictions of the era it never could have been--but it is not for want of trying, and it is worth noting that its designs and style have cast a very long shadow; indeed, when Ken Russell set out to film SALOME as a "play within a play" for the film THE LAST DANCE OF SALOME, he borrowed ideas quite liberally from Nazimova's original. While it is no more likely to appeal to today's rank-and-file viewer than it did eighty years ago, it is a must-own for those interested in silent film, who will likely find it fascinating and frustrating in equal degrees.

LOT IN SODOM does not appear to have been significantly restored in any way, and the short film is riddled with scratches and blips and assorted artifacts. SALOME, however, has been restored; even so, the film was neglected for many years, and the restoration represents a "best case" situation rather than "mint." The DVD offers the option of two soundtracks for SALOME; for myself, I preferred the Garza-O'Meara score performed by Silent Orchestra, but both are quite good, each in its own way. Recommended to silent film fans with a taste for the unexpected.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

If proof were ever needed that silent films were an art form unto themselves as opposed to just a primitive warm up to the talkies then Alla Nazimova's SALOME' is it. Even 80 years after its initial release SALOME' remains art with a capital A. This is not necessarily a good thing as works that fall into that category are more often than not appreciated only by a select few.

The production is based on Aubrey Beardsley's scandalous drawings of Oscar Wilde's even more scandalous play. In this respect the film is a complete success with credit for the design going to Natacha Rambova (Valentino's wife who was originally born Winifred Shaughnessy Hudnut) who worked closely with Nazimova to create what is probably the most stylized film ever made. It is this ultra stylization which makes the film so utterly bizarre even to today's audiences.

Once seen the film cannot be forgotten as there are enough memorable images in it to fill 10 movies. Nazimova is utterly mesmerizing as Salome' with Mitchell Lewis' Herod one of the most decadent looking figures you'll ever see (Fellini MUST have seen this movie) while Nigel De Brulier's Jokaanan radiates spirituality.

The film was a notorious flop in its day so special thanks go to Image Entertainment and all who worked on this restoration to make the film available once again as very few people have ever seen it. It has some signs of minor decomposition but these are hardly noticeable and with 2 scores to choose from you get to pick the one that works best for you.

The second part of the double bill is the experimental short film LOT IN SODOM which was made in 1933. While just as artistic in its expression as SALOME', it lacks the delirious visuals that make Nazimova's film so memorable but it makes a nice companion piece for the DVD. An excellent disc for the silent film enthusiast and the more discriminating movie buff.

Charles Bryant's SALOME is a gaudy, glittering, fantastical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play of the same name; his `historical phantasy' of the Jewish princess who danced and demanded as payment the head of John the Baptist.
Wilde's play is faithfully, perhaps too faithfully, rendered. All the action takes place on one large set, and it very much feels like we're watching a stage play. The actors sway and swoop, arch their backs and throw back their heads to portray the pangs of unrequited love. Great stuff if you're sitting in the back row of a large auditorium, but a bit too much when the actors are photographed in full shot and closer. I enjoyed it, but I can imagine being turned off by the artificiality of it all. The costumes, based on illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley, are pretty loud as well. Salome (Alla Nazimova, simply billed as Nazimova in this one) wears what looks like small, glittering Christmas tree bulbs in her wig, and when she's pictured in her peacock gown it look as if she's embedded on a page from Beardsley's sketch book.
The second film on the dvd, LOT IN SODOM, is a whole different kettle of fish. Although made in the sound era (1933), there's no dialogue, save for an off-screen prayer and other stray bits of words, in its thirty minutes. Just about everything is thrown into this one - multiple exposures, prismatic lens effects, cascaded and rotated images. Everything save coherence. If, as I think may have been the case, this was an experiment in telling a story using only filmed images, pure film storytelling, I'd called it a mixed success. If you don't know the biblical story of Lot this will probably seem very confusing. LOT IN SODOM isn't much more than a 30-minute montage, interesting and uninvolving.
Both movies are taken from acceptable to good source prints (SALOME seems to have come from multiple source prints). As an added bonus, SALOME comes with two music tracks, each of which give the movie a different emotional feel.

This is an excellent DVD package. "Salomé", the play, has aged very well and this film version shows how it should be played. The actors are uniformly excellent, with special emphasis on Nazimova (Salomé) and Rose Dione (Herodias). I'm withholding only one star because Jokanaan could have been bearded and looked a tad more masculine and desirable and a tad less like an angry junkie and the page could have been a tad less effeminate with less of an underbite and more charm. Of the two scores, the small mostly-woodwind ensemble composed and conducted by Marc-Olivier Dupin is musically "interesting", which is unfortunately the kiss of death for film music. It is flaccid, rhythmically challenged, at times jarring with the action, mostly uninvolving and at all times BORING. The alternate score, composed and performed by Silent Orchestra (Carlos Garza and Rich O'Meara), even though it only uses two players, gloriously recreates all the instruments of the orchestra (on electronic keyboards and percussion) and has all the musical qualities lacking in the other offering, including more than a passing reference to French Orientalism, great attention to the action, a genuinely heartfelt dramatic arc and a solid 5.1 surround recording. Nazimova's staging of Salomé is uncompromising, even though the prophet's severed head is never shown and the final kiss happens under a veil. Even with those slight attenuations, the play still carries great impact and I'm sure it didn't go down too well in places like Akron, Ohio, in the twenties. I'm afraid, however, it will not shock anyone today when innocent 8 to 12 year-old girls are trained by their ambient American culture to act and dress like little hookers, following in the footsteps of Madonna, Beyoncé, Britney Spears and Ashlee Simpson. The accompanying avant-garde talkie "Lot in Sodom" is mistakenly legendary as a "gay classic" that has been pored over and analyzed by film cultists for decades. Although I will grant it is obscure and has possibly several levels of meaning, it has always struck me as a particularly heterosexual ode to procreation (especially in view of what Lot's daughters eventually have to go through to insure their father's lineage after their mother's death). There is more female than male nudity on display and the Sodomites' sin is eventually depicted, as should be understood in the Bible, more like a crime against the sacred law of hospitality than a "crime against nature". Darn! I suppose repressed gay audiences have, for generations, looked on it with pride, as at least a fleeting depiction of "what they are", because of the sheer lack of better examples.

Unfortunately, there are not many film adaptions of Oscar Wilde's play Salome available on DVD....there is Ken Russel's Salome's Last Dance which is very good, but is a play within a play, so it is not a true representation of the work....perhaps the best adaption of Salome has been Richard Strauss' opera and I urge anyone who loves the play to see it, as the music and faithful libretto make for compelling viewing...now however, there is an alternative, and Nazimova makes for a an interesting and conflicted Salome...she actually depicts Salome in three different characterizations throughout the play....initially Salome is shown as a flirtatious and tempetuous teenager whose sexual awakening blooms at the sight of John the Baptist(Jokanaan)...she then is transformed into a youthful seductress as she coyly temps and taunts a lust ridden Herod during the dance of the seven veils...it should be noted that Salome's dance could have passed for a flappers gig performed at any 20's Chicago beerhall...Nazimova's final transformation of the Salome character occurs after the head of John is presented to her...Salome appears more mature and perhaps a bit wiser as she declares her genuine love for John and is resigned to her impending doom...these changes in character are performed remarkably by Nazimova especially when you consider it is a silent film and these changes are reflected by her mood, costume, and facial expressions....there are many scenes which stand out but the most moving is when the brutish executioner, when faced to deal the death blow to John, instead kneels in reverence in front of the Baptist...John's own sexual stirrings towards Salome, and his denial by strength of faith, is also well done...Herod is ably portrayed as a lout while his wife Herodias is a shrieking shrew....the sets are avante garde and are something that you well may see in a production of the Strauss opera...there are two different scores to the film and both are effective and it's interesting to listen to both scores during a particular scene to compare the composer's intent....While stage productions of Salome are fairly common, it is not easy to find traditional film versions of the work, especially on DVD, so this is a release that is a vital addition to anyone who loves Oscar Wilde's play...highy recommended.

Salomé is an unusual silent film. It is unconventional and quite strange and has far too many titles, particularly at the beginning. But whatever flaws it may have, these can easily be forgiven for it is a fascinating film. The story begins with a feast where King Herod is shown lusting after his stepdaughter Salomé. She is more fascinated with Herod's prisoner Jokanaan (John the Baptist). Salomé uses her seductive charms to arrange a meeting with Jokanaan, but when he rejects her love her jealously leads her onto the path of revenge. Herod is so smitten that he will grant her any favour if only she will dance for him. Salomé agrees to dance, but the bargain will have unforeseen consequences.

Nazimova is very good indeed as Salomé. She is somehow remarkably convincing as a teenage girl. This is all the more surprising for Nazimova was in her forties when she played the part. Her acting is subtle, making good use of facial expressions and gestures to convey the nature of the character. It is easy to believe in Salomé's powers of seduction, for Nazimova is stunning to look at and very sexy in the costumes she wears. She was clearly no dancer, but nevertheless her dance is imaginative and effective. As a teasing temptress she is perfect.

The film has some fairly bizarre moments and some of the acting is rather broad, but the story is told well and the sets and costumes are very good. The tinted print on the Image DVD is, on the whole, good to very good. At various point it shows some signs of decay, but this decomposition is quite minor. The picture has good clarity with lots of detail. The DVD has a choice of two scores. The orchestral score by Marc-Olivier Dupin, fits the mood and the action of the film and is a pleasure to listen to. The other option is a more contemporary sounding score by the Silent Orchestra. I preferred the Dupin score, but both scores are worth listening to and it is great to have a choice.

I didn't enjoy the second film on this DVD very much at all. Lot in Sodom runs just under half an hour and is weird and bizarre without really being particularly interesting. It is almost silent with only a few pieces of dialogue. The difficulty I had with the film is that it is pretty hard to follow. It is full of hallucinatory images and strange camera angles, but you really have to know the Old Testament story to have any idea what is going on. It is fairly explicit for a thirties film with glimpses of nudity, but for all that is nowhere near as sexy as Salomé. Lot in Sodom does have some striking images and it is clear that a lot of effort and thought went into the making of the film, but as with so many experimental films the experiment ultimately fails. It fails because the film is so confusing that it is neither thought provoking nor entertaining. Others may like this film more than I did in which case they will be pleased that the print and sound quality are above average for a film from 1933. Even if I didn't much care for Lot in Sodom, I was still very pleased with this DVD as Salomé is full of interest and a lot of fun.

Finished watching Nazimova's Salome. Wow, great show with marvelous acting, this show was released with no set score (local orchestra's would produce their own or use stock silent music) but two were later completed for us modern cinema buffs. You can take your pick of the two but you don't really need any music. The acting is so expressive & the sets are well done. The set where most of the action takes place could have appeared in LOTR as part of Rivendell. Yet it was simpler & at times even more ethereal than that. This is Salome done with strong fantasy connections. I can see where some would complain of a slow pacing but I fell right in with the pacing & loved it.

The first score was perfect I thought, for the feel of the movie, but the sound quality was a bit to tinny for me. My wife hated that & said it grated on her nerves. The second score was great for sound quality but I felt it didn't fit the feel of the show as well. My wife loved it though. I would like the first score with the quality of the second but enjoyed it with no music at all just fine too.

Wardrobe was a stellar part of this production. Herodias' clothing appeared both period appropriate but also appeared 45 to 50 years ahead of the time (1923) the show was filmed in. Her clothing would not have surprised the late sixties & very early seventies.

It is the actors & actresses though that sell this silent film so well. This is something that silents had to excel at, I mean, if you saw the face you could read the words in their mind. I'm betting that a showing with no inter-cards would be enjoyable & understandable. It's that good.

There are shots done in an ethereal, almost dream like fantasy way that equals La Belle & La Bete. They are not long & do not submerse you into a fantasy as La Belle & La Bete. That would have been wrong for this tale of Herod's court taken from the bible. The scene where Salome envisions herself amidst the white peacocks of King Herod is particularly well done as is a shot of a servant casting himself off a parapet to avoid the expected wrath of King Herod.

I rank this up in the top of silent film making. It is simpler than, but just as enjoyable as, Metropolis & Sunrise. The lady that plays Salome was 42 at the time she did this but her figure is so slight of frame that it works anyway. Her movements are perfect for that age of female & she does coy & petulant anger perfectly.

The supporting cast is also dead on target. I expected King Hard to drown in a pool of his own drool as he eyeballed the young Salome. Her mother, Herodias, is a sight to behold in her portrayal of the lust sated, power seeking consort of a debauched man who dreams of creaming Salome in stead of his sated consort.

A lot of homosexuals were used in this film on purpose. Some even playing women at court. The eyes of a rouged & aged cougar study Salome during her dance & you can see the thoughts go round in her head, "So that is how the young girl draws him. I'll watch & learn tonight & improve it tomorrow for my own use." The avidness in her eyes is palpable.

My one complaint with a scene was that when Salome tells King Herod that she wants the head of Jokaanen (John the Baptist) he is too dramatic & slow in the revelation of his surprise. I know I said the pacing of the show is slow for some people but that makes the mistake stick out even more. It's about 3-4 seconds of an otherwise superb show, so it's a small nit pick. I know I'll watch it many times over. Next up the companion show on the disk called LOT of SODOM. BTW- I forgot to mention the little booklet inside the DVD case with a great history of the film & its making. It too was stellar.

This is one of those rare treats ~ previously 'lost' but what a discovery.
The Great Nazimova [perhaps the inspiration for Norma Desnmond] stars in the vehicle, a bold, unabashed and in your face version of the Wilde play - superior costume and set designs.

Makes the pop-divas today seem quite bland.

Nazimova served as the prima-diva muse then and now.

Must for the serious collector. This version is utterly dateless - more deam-like in its imagery and quite a good double-bill with the Ken Russell version.

It might be sort of heretical to admit, but I never really cared that much for Oscar Wilde's "comedy of manners" stage plays. Part of it might be that during high school I was a "techie" for a production of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. It was a dreadful production that toured to about seven other schools. I can recite every line from the script even today. Another factor is that Wilde's plays primarily deal with the artificial British upper class of the late 1800's. Not my favorite milieu. His play SALOMÉ is not my favorite either. That being said, I certainly acknowledge Wilde's literary genius & the cruelty he was subjected to by the very society he was trying to entertain.

There is one quote from Lady Windermere's Fan" that's great. The actor describes his thoughts on the English pastime of fox hunting as "the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible."

I do enjoy Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations of the play. They combine Art Nouveau, Symbolism & Decadence. His work in general is often sexually charged, with dark, even homicidal tones. It was the perfect illustration for a dark, decadent script that also had distinct homosexual overtones. Alla Nazimova (this was way before the Nazi Movement and the actress had no association with them) was the protogé of Natacha Rambova, second wife of silent film heart throb Rudolph Valentino.

They formed an interesting trio, to say the least. A lot of (Caucasian) American men felt threatened by Valentino's sauve handsomeness & sensitive male charisma. There were allegations that the three were in some sort of open "lavendar (gay) marriage." Valentino really suffered as a result of this Flapper Age homophobia.

Valentino did not participate in SALOMÉ.

The production was "the Baby" of Rambova & Nazimova.

Rambova focused on the overall set design & Nazimova, of course, was to play the lead. There is no doubt that both women were probably artistically ahead of their time, particularly in post-World War I America. They did have the cache of Russian ancestry that seemed to appeal to a romantic segment of the population. But the allure of doomed Tsarist beauties & poetic male lovers could not save SALOMÉ

So what was so "naughty" in the film that bristled censors from Hollywood to Maine?

It's a difficult movie to write about because it really is bizarre & extraordinarily different--certainly different from any other commercial release at the time. The homosexual overtones are obvious and this in itself would set up a barrier to wide distribution of the film. The plot can easily be seen as a slap in the face to traditional Christianity--and Fundamentalist elements would go absolutely ballistic if they viewed.

The overall "feel" to SALOMÉ is very faithful to Beardsley's decadent, "far-out" in interpretation. That I liked. There are European expressionist, Fritz Lang elements I liked as well. This isn't a straight-forward (pun intended) interpretation of the Biblical story. Herod is a white-faced evil clown who appears to have a melting face. His wife, the wicked Herodias, is an overweight, alcoholic cave woman with impossibly enormous hair, wearing painted leotards. She pounces around the set rapidly alternating between rage, lechery & glee. She was pretty funny--and I liked that as well.

Another comic element was the depiction of the Sanhedrin, the Council of Jewish Elders. They were presented as 3 very short men (who could pass as triplets) dressed in oversized turbans & vestments straight off the vaudeville circuit. I'm not sure if the humor was intentional or not. So, go figure...

Now we arrive at Nazimova's Salomé.

For starters, I didn't see anything very seductive about her. It's true that the actress was middle aged, playing a girl not yet 18 (in fact, if there really was a Biblical Salomé, she could have been even much younger.) Nazimova was known for her beauty, and while it was not unusual for actresses of the time to play much younger women, this didn't "work" for me. Certain long shots of Nazimova did suggest a young girl with a lithe, dancer's form. But close-up shots were less flattering. The white make-up & dark eyeliner (typical to this era of filmmaking) actually appeared to add to the actress' years.

For me the most disappointing scene in the SALOMÉ was the all-important Dance of the Seven Veils. I can't believe that an actress with Nazimova's background would be so lame as to deliberately allow herself to look so ridiculous. My idea of the Seven Veils Dance is Rita Hayworth coquetishly letting each of the seven veils slowly fall in an extraordinarily erotic, saturated technocolor routine.

Salome (1953) ( Salome: The Dance of the Seven Veils ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]
Rita Hayworth 6 Disc Box Set ( Gilda / You'll Never Get Rich / Salome / The Lady from Shanghai / Miss Sadie Thompson / The Magnificent Showman ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ]

NAZIMOVA ~ RAMBOVA ~ BRYANT!

Eternally a startling version and vision of the Wilde play ~ brilliantly realized by Madame Nazimova [quite timeless in this avant-garde interpretation]. The piece moves along the lines of a Martha Graham concept with inspiration from Isadora Duncan perhaps.

Visually? Impeccable design by Nathacha Rambova [Mrs. Rudolph Valentino] ~ possibly a note to Edward Gordon Craig's concept.

In any case ~ this is still quite a breath-taking experience.
Directed by Madame Nazimova's then husband ~ Charles Bryant.

{Also a Great conversation piece - considering the 'legends' surrounding this production.}