gridoon2024 Review of The Last Days of Pompeii

The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)

Lavish if highly uneven historical spectacle

[6/10 · 26 August 2018]

The first half of "The Last Days Of Pompeii" is the strongest: Preston Foster makes a convincing gladiator, and it's unusual, even bold for an old Hollywood movie to have as the main lead an unapologetic anti-hero. Then the action moves to Jerusalem and the film gets derailed (the religious elements - Christ is never seen or heard but the end of his life crosses the same period - are not only chronologically inaccurate but also unnecessary). It only gets back on track in the last 15 minutes, when we return to the gladiatorial arena and then we get the spectacular eruption of Vesuvius. The people who made the special effects for King Kong certainly knew their craft. **1/2 out of 4.