The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)

Director:

Ernest B. Schoedsack

Writers:

James Ashmore Creelman (story) and
Melville Baker (story) ...

Release Date:

18 October 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History

Plot:

In the doomed Roman city, a gentle blacksmith becomes a corrupt gladiator, while his son leans toward Christianity.

Plot Keywords:

Blacksmith | Gladiator | Roman | Christianity | Disaster

Cast

Preston Foster	...	Marcus
Alan Hale	...	Burbix
Basil Rathbone	...	Pontius Pilate
John Wood	...	Flavius, as a Man
Louis Calhern	...	Prefect (Allus Martius)
David Holt	...	Flavius, as a Boy
Dorothy Wilson	...	Clodia
Wyrley Birch	...	Leaster
Gloria Shea	...	Julia
Frank Conroy	...	Gaius Tanno
William V. Mong	...	Cleon, the Slave Dealer
Murray Kinnell	...	Simon, Judean Peasant
Henry Kolker	...	Warder
Edward Van Sloan	...	Calvus
Zeffie Tilbury	...	The Wise Woman

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #1263)

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Despite all the spectacle, the movie was a box-office flop, and required several re-releases (on a double bill with King Kong (1933)) to earn back its cost.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The central subplot of the meeting with Jesus is improbable, as Pompeii was destroyed 46 years after his death. Given these dates, Flavius would have been in his mid to late 50's, clearly not the youth in his 20's as portrayed in the film.

Quotes:

Cleon, the Slave Dealer: I don't think you should look down on me, my friend. Aren't we in the same business? We both furnish amusement for the people.
Marcus: I risk my life with the man I'm fighting. You buy and sell wretches to be slaughtered as a spectacle. I'm not proud of myself, but, by Jupiter, compared to you I'm a holy man.
Cleon, the Slave Dealer: You will never be an old one. It isn't bravery that survives; it's brains.
Marcus: Yes, it is well known that the rat lives longer than the lion, but who wants to be a rat? I wouldn't do your dirty work - not to save my life!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in An Opera of Violence (2003) (V)

An Effective Period Piece

The Last Days Of Pompeii tells the story of a poor blacksmith in ancient Rome who becomes a gladiator and in turn a wealthy man, while his son, upon encountering Jesus, grows up to become a Christian. The film is a spectacle from the middle thirties, after the De Mille manner, which is to say it tries to look big but is actually, upon closer examination, at best mid-sized. RKO didn't really have the bucks to make a film on as lavish a scale as they surely would have wished. The film has many flaws, but also virtues. It was made by the King Kong team of Ernest Schoedsak and Merian Cooper, who were very resourceful gentlemen, highly creative and not at all like other Hollywood film-makers, and therefore the movie has a unique style that's difficult to put into words. The best way I can describe their approach is to say that it's highly individual; its makers had their own way of doing things, and therefore told their their story, or more properly showed it, so that the movie doesn't resemble other films with similar themes. Also on the plus side is its cast, not of thousands, maybe of hundreds; more likely of dozens. In the leading role Preston Foster's anchors the film in a kind of emotional reality. He may not have been the most versatile of actors but he was a most sincere one, and he is excellent in the lead. Also good is Basil Rathbone as Pontius Pilate, surprisingly unhammy. It's a very good movie overall, hokey as hell but always watchable, and in the end, while the spectacle of Mount Vesuvius erupting isn't all it might be, the movie as whole at least holds firm, and I for one was moved by it, not to tears maybe, but in a more modest way, by the smaller, more intimate tale of a good man who comes to his senses too late, at least for redemption in this world.