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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
James Ashmore Creelman (story) and
Melville Baker (story) ...
more
Release Date:
18 October 1935 (USA) more
Plot:
In the doomed Roman city, a gentle blacksmith becomes a corrupt gladiator, while his son leans toward Christianity. full summary | add synopsis
User Comments:
Pompeii, Pageantry & Pontius Pilate more (13 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | 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 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
96 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
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 more
Company:
Fun Stuff
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. more
Goofs:
Factual errors: Pontius Pilate committed suicide in Gaul in approximately 38 A.D. and could not have been present in Pompeii during the same year that Mt Vesuvius erupted (79 AD). more
Quotes:
Cleon, the Slave Dealer:
[pandering] If you're a rich man, a few coppers wouldn't interest you.
[giving Marcus a coin]
Cleon, the Slave Dealer:
This is for your work...
[he gives him a second copper]
Cleon, the Slave Dealer:
... and this is for saving my life.
Marcus:
[laughing with contempt] Just about what the job is worth!
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in An Opera of Violence (2003) (V) more
FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (13 total)
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Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
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Related Links
| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| IMDb Adventure section | IMDb USA section | Add this title to MyMovies |
Conscious stricken after abandoning Christ on the way to Golgotha, a jaded slave trader witnesses THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII, and the city's horrific destruction.
Although burdened with occasional wooden acting, this is generally a fine historical drama. RKO spent quite a bit of money on its production and it shows in the large crowd scenes and still noteworthy special effects. The film boasted a very fine team behind the camera, working together as they had on KING KONG (1933). Directorial duties were shared by Ernest B. Schoedsack & Meriam C. Cooper. Special effects wizard Willis O'Brien worked his magic, while composer Max Steiner contributed a pounding score.
Preston Foster had one of his finest roles as the stalwart blacksmith turned gladiator and slaver. His performance during the prolonged climax, while desperately trying to save the life of his doomed son, is especially effective. David Holt & John Wood, playing the youth at different ages, are also very good.
Additional fine support is offered by Alan Hale as the rough mercenary who teams with Foster; and by villainous Louis Calhern as Pompeii's last prefect. Acting honors, however, go to marvelous Basil Rathbone, who gives a most sophisticated performance as Pontius Pilate, by turns rogue, fate's victim & moral philosopher.
Movie mavens should recognize Ward Bond as a boastful gladiator, elderly Zeffie Tilbury as a soothsayer, Edward Van Sloan as Pilate's clerk & Edwin Maxwell as a Pompeii official, all uncredited.
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The film makes rather a mishmash of historical chronology. Young Flavius appears to be about ten years old at the time of Christ's crucifixion, which occurred around AD 29. It would be another fifty years - August 24, AD 79, to be precise - until Vesuvius' eruption destroyed Pompeii, yet Flavius is still depicted as a youthful fellow, just reaching maturity. Early Christian tradition also holds that Pilate committed suicide in AD 39 - four decades before Pompeii's rendezvous with destiny.
While using the same title & location, this film tells quite a different story from that of the classic 1834 novel by Baron Bulwer-Lytton.