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6.4/10
1.2K
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In the doomed Roman city, a gentle blacksmith becomes a corrupt gladiator, while his son leans toward Christianity.In the doomed Roman city, a gentle blacksmith becomes a corrupt gladiator, while his son leans toward Christianity.In the doomed Roman city, a gentle blacksmith becomes a corrupt gladiator, while his son leans toward Christianity.
Betty Alden
- Calpurnia
- (uncredited)
Betty Allen
- Woman
- (uncredited)
Agnes Anderson
- Noblewoman in Prefect's Box
- (uncredited)
Sam Appel
- Porridge Seller
- (uncredited)
Reginald Barlow
- The Janitor of the Slave Market
- (uncredited)
Nathan Barragar
- Prefect's Guard
- (uncredited)
Ward Bond
- Murmex of Carthage, a Gladiator
- (uncredited)
Symona Boniface
- Slave Auction Observer
- (uncredited)
Tom Brower
- Runaway Slave
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to the book The RKO Story, this film cost $237,000 more than it grossed in its original release, but finally broke even with the box office from a 1949 re-release, paired with She (1935).
- GoofsThe central subplot of the meeting with Jesus is impossible, as Pompeii was destroyed after his death in 79 A.D. Given these dates, Flavius would have been a middle aged man, clearly not the youth in his 20's as portrayed in the film.
- Crazy creditsThe foreword at the beginning of the film is a disclaimer stating that this film is not based on Bulwer-Lytton's novel at all. (It does not use the novel's plot, nor does it have any of the novel's characters.) However, the disclaimer goes on to say that the filmmakers are indebted to him for the description of the destruction of Pompeii.
- Alternate versionsA colorized version was made of this film in 1990.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Toast of New York (1937)
Featured review
DeMille Like Film For RKO
The team that produced King Kong for RKO Pictures, writer Meriam C. Cooper and director Ernest B. Schoedsack, decided to emulate Cecil B. DeMille in giving us The Last Days Of Pompeii. It's not a bad film, but it nearly bankrupted RKO so prohibitive was the cost for that small studio.
The film bears a distinct resemblance to DeMille's eye filling, but now incredibly campy The Sign Of The Cross. Our protagonist here is Preston Foster who plays Marcus the Blacksmith, but before the film is done goes through more reinventions of character than you would find in good and bad Russian literature. As a content, but happy blacksmith a bit of good fortune has him and wife celebrating. But she's accidentally injured and dies for lack of medical care, not that medical care was all that good back in those days to begin with. Foster decides that all that matters in life is the money you can accumulate for a rainy day. Foster is constantly reassessing life throughout the film.
Foster gets to go to Judea and is on the scene of the crucifixion and before that has Jesus heal his adopted son David Holt who grows up to be John Wood. Foster also meets Basil Rathbone as Pontius Pilate who also does some major reassessing after presiding over the trial of Jesus.
If the Oscar for Special Effects was in existence in 1935 it would have been interesting to see either The Last Days Of Pompeii or Mutiny On The Bounty would have won the award. Those scenes of the volcanic eruption of Versuvius are what guaranteed this film would not show a profit. They do rival what DeMille was capable of, but DeMille had a far bigger studio and more financial security in Paramount.
Also in the cast are Louis Calhern as the Roman consul and Alan Hale as Foster's number two man. They give their usual good performances.
As for RKO Studios and Preston Foster, they got some Oscar recognition for another film that Foster did for them that year. It was the low budget, but incredibly powerful Irish story, The Informer where Victor McLaglen won for Best Actor. A much better film than The Last Days Of Pompeii.
Still the spectacle of this film can still awe you, even on the small screen.
The film bears a distinct resemblance to DeMille's eye filling, but now incredibly campy The Sign Of The Cross. Our protagonist here is Preston Foster who plays Marcus the Blacksmith, but before the film is done goes through more reinventions of character than you would find in good and bad Russian literature. As a content, but happy blacksmith a bit of good fortune has him and wife celebrating. But she's accidentally injured and dies for lack of medical care, not that medical care was all that good back in those days to begin with. Foster decides that all that matters in life is the money you can accumulate for a rainy day. Foster is constantly reassessing life throughout the film.
Foster gets to go to Judea and is on the scene of the crucifixion and before that has Jesus heal his adopted son David Holt who grows up to be John Wood. Foster also meets Basil Rathbone as Pontius Pilate who also does some major reassessing after presiding over the trial of Jesus.
If the Oscar for Special Effects was in existence in 1935 it would have been interesting to see either The Last Days Of Pompeii or Mutiny On The Bounty would have won the award. Those scenes of the volcanic eruption of Versuvius are what guaranteed this film would not show a profit. They do rival what DeMille was capable of, but DeMille had a far bigger studio and more financial security in Paramount.
Also in the cast are Louis Calhern as the Roman consul and Alan Hale as Foster's number two man. They give their usual good performances.
As for RKO Studios and Preston Foster, they got some Oscar recognition for another film that Foster did for them that year. It was the low budget, but incredibly powerful Irish story, The Informer where Victor McLaglen won for Best Actor. A much better film than The Last Days Of Pompeii.
Still the spectacle of this film can still awe you, even on the small screen.
helpful•100
- bkoganbing
- Jun 2, 2011
- How long is The Last Days of Pompeii?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Der Untergang von Pompeji
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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By what name was The Last Days of Pompeii (1935) officially released in Canada in English?
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