IMDb > The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)
The Last Days of Pompeii
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The Last Days of Pompeii (1935) More at IMDbPro »


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Overview

User Rating:
6.5/10   310 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?

Down 6% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Writers:

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

View company contact information for The Last Days of Pompeii on IMDbPro.

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
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Additional Details

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1 more

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

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


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!
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Movie Connections:

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


FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful.
Pompeii, Pageantry & Pontius Pilate, 22 January 2002
10/10
Author: Ron Oliver (revilorest@juno.com) from Forest Ranch, CA

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.

******************************

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.

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