Sunday, September 18, 2011

Photo of the Day

Anouk Aimée and Pier Angeli (with Stanley Baker looking on) in Robert Aldrich's pulpy and soapy SODOM & GOMORRAH.

IMO, this PEPLUM has many problems including one which was, and some might find this odd, the fact that there were too many good looking women in it. I don't think I saw one woman over the age of 40 in it. The crowded female cast included Anouk Aimée, Pier Angeli, Scilla Gabel, Rossana Podestà, Claudia Mori, Mitsuko Takara, etc. Not that I'm complaining about the female eye candy but it gave the film an unrealistic aspect. Like a parade of models.

This also made the male cast sorta invisible, pushed them in the background even though they had more screen time than the women. It didn't help that almost all the male actors were made to look all alike. Along with Stanley, there's Rik Battaglia, Anthony Steffen, Gabriele Tinti, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, etc, whom all sported the same beards and such and it was at times difficult to figure out who's who. Only Gabriele stood out because of his vivid eyes. Even if Rik is in it and I've watched this film *many* times, I can't even remember a scene with him and he's one of my favourite Italian PEP actors. lol. Can we blame Aldrich's penchant for beautiful actresses?

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