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:

Spin off from "Up Pompeii" (1969)

Soundtrack:

Up Pompeii

You may have to be British to like it....

...as one reviewer said above "Only the British can make rubbish like this" - but what lovely rubbish. The film followed on from a very successful BBC TV series of the same name - still showing today.

It's full of "innuendo" (which American viewers may not follow) and cheeky - but like "Carry On" films that is where the charm lies. We like smutty films - where suggestion is best left to the imagination. The death knell of the later "Carry On" films was heard when they actually showed naked women on screen - it has all been good clean titillation up to then, missus! Frankie Howerd, as a veteran of stage, radio, film and TV, allowed these romps to be used as a vehicle - full of his catch-phrases, knowing nods to the audience and hidden meanings.

Guess if you don't like it - you may not be British!