Steve Reeves stars in this unimpressive Historical Peplum, largely directed by Sergio Leone. Cine Plus Germany R2 DVD.
The Film
After the worldwide success of Hercules (1958) and Hercules Unchained
(1959), Italian film producers were quick to realise that they had a
money maker on their hands, and rushed to produce more sword and sandal
adventures.
Returning
to Pompeii after a spell in Palestine, the Roman centurion Glaucus
(Steve Reeves) travels to his father's house, but discovers that it has
been looted and his father murdered but a band of Christian Outlaws.
During a city-wide festival, Glaucus takes out his anger by
getting drunk and arrives at the city palace where he fights with one
of the Praetorian Guards. Meanwhile one of Glacus' friends discovers a
mask, identical to that worn by the Christian killers in the pocket of
a drunk Roman soldier, but when another friend follow the soldier to
see who he is working for, he winds up dead...
Although
listing Edward George Bulwer-Lytton in the opening credits, this
Italian production of the Pompeii story bears only a passing
resemblance to the English author's The Last Days of Pompeii.
Many of the main characters are present, notably Glaucus, Arbacès, Ione
and Nydia, but a lot of their background is missing, which particularly
in the case of Arbacès leaves
us baffled as to why he is worshipping an Egyptian God (in the novel it
is explained that he is actually Egyptian by birth). The team of five
credited writers, including Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci and Duccio
Tessari instead weave a new story around persecuted Christians, in what
appears to be an attempt to cash in on the ever popular Biblical Epic
market. Ultimately this story makes little sense and seems to be
missing a lot of exposition, a real pity when the love and betreyal in Bulwer-Lytton's book would make a perfectly good film. With
the emphasis on the storyline throughout, the pacing is quite slow
particularly towards the start, however the script never drags and manages to keep the
attention away from the inevitable climax which comes almost as a
surprise. The destruction of the city is pretty grim stuff as the lead
characters are pushed apart in the huge stampede, there is some
genunine tension over who will survive, although historical accuracy in the depiction of the eruption takes a back seat.
Credited director Mario
Bonnard was replaced by assistant director Sergio Leone after falling
ill during the early days of the shoot and his work here got him his first full directoral credit two years later on Collusus of Rhodes
(1961). Unfortunately the direction on
the film as a whole is rather poor - two key fight
scenes noticably so, a punch-up between Glacus and Gallinus is
rather generically
helmed and is further harmed by a lack of music, while Antonius' escape
from the temple has the atmosphere more of a comedy sequence. The
editing is problematic as well, with many scenes ending too quickly
to allow any atmosphere to build up. Fortunately the city sets all look
good, although strangely we never get any shots of the looming volcano
until the film's climax. The arena sequence is a highlight with some good direction, editing and sets. The climax itself is certainly well staged,
avoiding the normal volcano stock footage, and the collapsing buildings
look very effective with a minimum of model shots. The soundtrack by
Angelo Francesco
Lavagnino is quite generic but suits the film ably.
Steve
Reeves is making his third Sword and Sandal movie and despite fears he
shows that he can stand-up very well in an acting role that requires
him to do more than flex his muscles. Appearing angry, drunk and
genuinely dislikable after discovering the death of his father is one
of his best scenes in the movies, although sadly the script provides
him with few other opportunities to impress. The respected Spanish
character actor Ferdinando Rey was a few years away from making his
name with Luis Buñuel when he appeared here, playing essentially the
lead villain and giving a strong performance that manages to avoid the
cartoonish excesses of many of the Traditional Pepla. The rather
attractive Christine Kaufmann, best known now as the one-time wife of
Tony Curtis, gives a short and rather unimpressive performance as Ione.
Barbara Caroll (Goliath contro i giganti
(1961)) gives a strong performance as the blind Nydia, while fans of
that later film should also recognise Ángel Aranda as the young Antonius.
Mimmo Palmara was already a genre regular, having appeared in both
Hercules films with Reeves, and gets to lay into him again here as the
Praetorian guard Gallinus. One of the first films of the Peplum boom, Gli Ultimi giorni di Pompei
falls imbetween the most common catagories, it lacks the fantasy
elements of the Traditional Peplum, and the customary battle scenes of
the Historical Epic Peplum. With its prominent theme of persecuted
Christianity it does seem to be following more in the line of Biblical
epics such as Demetrius and the Gladiators
(1954). Ultimately the film script never really gels and the production
is generally quite poor, however some strong acting by Steve Reeves and
an enjoyably explosive final reel make the film watchable, and fans of
Reeves or the Peplum/Epic genre should find some enjoyment here, there
are many better films to see first though.
In Brief
Anyone famous in it?
Steeve Reeves - the big American Peplum star who later starred in the epic Duel of the Titans (1961). Ferdinando Rey - Spanish born actor, best known for his work with Luis Buñuel, including Viridiana (1961)
Directed by anyone interesting?
Mario Bonnard - the credited director, little known despite having helmed over 50 films back to the silent movie era. Sergio Leone - believed to have directed most of the film, best known for Fistful of Dollars (1964) and its sequels.
Anyone else involved?
Sergio Corbucci
is credited as writer and also assistant director, he worked on various
Pepla but is best known for directing the revolutionary Spaghetti
Western Django (1966).
Any violence/gore?
Some light blood.
Any sex?
None.
Who is it for?
Of interest to fans of Steve Reeves and Peplum/Epic films, but not the best of the genre.
The DVD
Visuals
Original
Aspect Ratio - 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colour. For
most of the scenes the film looks very good with strong colours, light
grain and no damage. A few short scenes are taken from a lower quality
sources with some noticable grain or fading.
Audio
English and German. Both options available in original mono or remixed 5.1 or DTS. The English mono sounds strong with only a very slight hiss. The remix tracks add newly created sound effects that are very effective during explosive climax. Note:
The German mono and remix tracks appear to be newly created and both
include the same sound effects as the remixed English audio.
Subtitles
None.
Extras
None.
Availability
German release. DVD Title: Die Letzten Tage von Pompeji
Region
Region 2 (UK, Europe) - PAL
Other regions?
This
German release was available in a two-disc including the silent 1913
version of the film (with German intertitles) and a couple of short
documentaries about Pompeii, this release is now out-of-print. The
film is available on DVD from Italy with an identical print, English
and Italian audio (with the remixed audio as well) and also includes
alternate opening credits and a differently edited climax sequence as
an extra, plus the Italian intertitled 1913 film. A US release is also
available, but with a low quality fullscreen print. (Note: the 1913 version is available with English intertitles from Kino in the US)
Cuts?
The
film is believed to be fully uncut. The print used is Italian.
Summary
Not the most impressive of the Historical Pepla, the film remains watchable and should certainly be of interest to genre fans.
A good looking and sounding print with an impressive optional audio track. This edition lacks extras.
