Up Pompeii (1971)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Bob Kellett

Writers:

Sid Colin (screenplay)
Talbot Rothwell (idea)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

It's Ludicrus Maximus - When the Forum Loses Its Decorum!

Plot:

Roman slave Lurkio inadvertently becomes the possessor of a scroll naming the proposed assassins of the Emperor Nero...

Plot Keywords:

Orgy | Female Nudity | Museum | Roman Empire | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Frankie Howerd	...	Lurcio
Michael Hordern	...	Ludicrus Sextus
Barbara Murray	...	Ammonia
Patrick Cargill	...	Nero
Lance Percival	...	Bilius
Julie Ege	...	Voluptua
Bill Fraser	...	Prosperus Maximus
Rita Webb	...	Cassandra
Bernard Bresslaw	...	Nero's Champion / Gorgo
Adrienne Posta	...	Scrubba
Madeline Smith	...	Erotica
Royce Mills	...	Nausius
Ian Trigger	...	Odius
Aubrey Woods	...	Villanus
Hugh Paddick	...	Priest

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | UK:15 (video rating) (1989) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Elstree Film and TV Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Anglo-EMI

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: In the same 'News of The World' DVD, Actors Warwick Sims and Jonathan Dennis are credited in the main titles but omitted from the end titles.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lurcio: [during the opening credits when Frankie Howerd is displayed in small letters] Oh come on, bigger!
Lurcio: [the name gets bigger] Don't be ashamed of it!
Lurcio: [now bigger] Bigger!
[now even bigger]
Lurcio: Bigger!
Lurcio: [the name is now very large, and most of it has disappeared] Alright, don't go mad!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Seriously Funny: An Argument for Comedy" (1996)

Soundtrack:

Up Pompeii

Titer ye not

Spin off from the 70's sitcom of the same name this film spins out the same gags over an hour and twenty minutes run time and gets away with it but only just. Frankie Howerd is again Lurcio the roman slave in ancient Pompeii getting involved in the evil machinations of the emperor Nero (Patrick Cargill) and the evil Brutus and his henchmen (Lance Percival).

If you liked the TV series you'll like this is the basic rule here, to a modern audience I doubt it would play well, Frankie Howerds routine is very much of it's time and place. But its very entertaining some of the gags are sign posted miles away but Frankie's personality, playing to the audience and comic timing are what make this entertaining.

The movie feels too much like a stretched out episode to be a classic like many TV shows spun off into movies in the 70's (On the Buses, Rising Damp, Porridge etc.) but its certainly worth a look for Up Pompei or Frankie Howerd fans.

Mostly funny, occasionally hilarious 7/10