Pompeii in Popular Culture - Film

Film

There have been several movies based on Edward Bulwer-Lytton's book The Last Days of Pompeii:

  • 1900 - The Last Days of Pompeii (UK), directed by Walter R. Booth.
  • 1908 - The Last Days of Pompeii (Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei) (Italy), directed by Arturo Ambrosio and Luigi Maggi.
  • 1913 - The Last Days of Pompeii (Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei) (Italy), directed by Mario Caserini.
  • 1926 - The Last Days of Pompeii (Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei) (Italy), directed by Carmine Gallone.
  • 1935 - The Last Days of Pompeii, an RKO film, with Preston Foster and Basil Rathbone, which carried a disclaimer that, although the scenes of Vesuvius erupting had been inspired by the novel, the movie did not use its plot or characters.
  • 1950 - The Last Days of Pompeii (Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei / Les Derniers Jours de PompĂ©i) (Italy/France), directed by Marcel L'Herbier and Paolo Moffa.
  • 1959 - The Last Days of Pompeii (Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei) (Italy), directed by Sergio Leone.

Productions using Pompeii as a story backdrop include:

  • 1958 - Curse of the Faceless Man
  • 1971 - Up Pompeii a comedy which followed the eponymous TV series (see below), culminating in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Read more about this topic:  Pompeii In Popular Culture

Famous quotes containing the word film:

    To read a newspaper for the first time is like coming into a film that has been on for an hour. Newspapers are like serials. To understand them you have to take knowledge to them; the knowledge that serves best is the knowledge provided by the newspaper itself.
    —V.S. (Vidiadhar Surajprasad)

    The obvious parallels between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz have frequently been noted: in both there is the orphan hero who is raised on a farm by an aunt and uncle and yearns to escape to adventure. Obi-wan Kenobi resembles the Wizard; the loyal, plucky little robot R2D2 is Toto; C3PO is the Tin Man; and Chewbacca is the Cowardly Lion. Darth Vader replaces the Wicked Witch: this is a patriarchy rather than a matriarchy.
    Andrew Gordon, U.S. educator, critic. “The Inescapable Family in American Science Fiction and Fantasy Films,” Journal of Popular Film and Television (Summer 1992)

    A film is a petrified fountain of thought.
    Jean Cocteau (1889–1963)