Onlinewsma
Absolutely Brilliant!
StyleSk8r
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Quiet Muffin
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
JLRMovieReviews
Blacksmith Marcus (Preston Foster) is living in the days of Pompeii with his wife and baby boy. They are just getting by, enough to be reasonably happy. By fortuitous chance, he saves the life of a gentleman of the hierarchy who gives him a gold coin. To spend it on a whim, he and wife go to the market, but there an accident takes the life of his wife. He tried to make money as a gladiator to pay a doctor to come to her aid, but he was too late. He and his son now live an existence without much except for each other. Fast forward. The boy is now a young man, who empathizes for the poor, the helpless, those who are thrown in the stadium for the gladiators' amusement and target. But life has hardened Marcus. Someday he will be a gladiator with no feelings for those who can't help themselves. Through these feelings and subsequent events, Marcus and son are pitted against each other. In the first few minutes of this film, I was very wary of this. Actor Preston Foster, of whom I was accustomed to seeing in westerns and b-pictures, is now is an historical movie about Rome! But as those opening events occurred, I began to put myself in his place, and we the viewer and drawn into the Roman days of kill or be killed. Preston Foster was good as Marcus, but Basil Rathbone stole all the scenes he was in as Pontius Pilate, and Alan Hale and Louis Calhern give good support. This is a grade-A production that showcases the bloodthirsty days of Pompeii, culminating in special effects and a very underplayed ending. Mount Vesuvius explodes and the quiet aftermath with consequences and affirmation. "The Last Days of Pompeii" is a good film, mirroring those days told in books that linger in the mind of those longing for knowledge and what came before….
wes-connors
In the old Roman Empire city of Pompeii, brawny blacksmith Preston Foster (as Marcus) suffers a great family tragedy. Desperate for money, Mr. Foster reluctantly becomes a gladiator; he is uncomfortable killing defeated opponents, but must make a living. Wracked with guilt, Foster adopts pre-teen David Holt (as young Flavius) after killing his father in a fight. Foster can no longer fight competitively and makes money trading slaves and horses. He eventually becomes very prosperous...Foster is unaware he is living during the time of Jesus Christ, who has a following. An old woman instructs Foster to take his son to see the "greatest man" in Judea. Foster considers this to be "prophesy." He crosses paths with Christ, but believes the greatest man is more likely the governor of Jerusalem, Basil Rathbone (as Pontius Pilate). Foster begins working with the notorious leader. After the Christian crucifixion, Foster's son grows up to be John Wood (as Flavius) and clashes with his papa...Other than the ending eruption, "The Last Days of Pompeii" completely re-works the plot (of the original novel by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton). It's a good (perhaps better), Christian-focused revision, though sometimes stodgy in the production. The concept of slavery is changed, which is nice. Original thinking was that the mistreating of slaves was bad; nice people treated them nicely, and bad people treated them badly. Also, Mr. Rathbone's "Pilate" is given more depth in characterization...God, however, is still in firm control of natural disasters.****** The Last Days of Pompeii (10/18/35) Ernest B. Schoedsack ~ Preston Foster, John Wood, Basil Rathbone, David Holt
ccthemovieman-1
Yes, the movie is over 75 years old and dated....but the story is excellent and powerful..... and one that anyone can enjoy in any era. "If it's good in the past, it's still good," as Sly & The Family Stone commented at 1969's famous Woodstock concert.To me, the biggest attraction of the film is the involving story. From early on, you really care about "Marcus" (Preston Foster) and then his adopted son "Flavius" (DavidHolt/John Wood). Foster is good in his lead role and very convincing as the hard-luck and bitter man who turns into a gladiator and then rich entrepreneur, so to speak. As hard a man as he is, he has a really soft spot for his family and will do anything for them (either wife or kids, depending on where you are in the story.)All the characters are interesting. The only one who was a little bizarre to me was Basil Rathbone's "Pontius Pilate." I've never seen Pilate portrayed in such a sympathetic, friendly light as he was here, as Marcus's boss and then friend. Now Pilate may not have been the totally evil man many people perceive him to be, but he's no "good guy," that's for sure, and yet he was portrayed as such.Regardless, the film is a good one with a dramatic ending and good special-effects for the mid 1930s. The most important "special effect," though, was not the eruption of Mount Vesuvius but the transformation of "Marcus's' hard heart. This was truly a man who "saw the light" near the end of his life, thanks to one Man.
drystyx
The Last Days of Pompeii will of course end with the great volcano. Until then, as you can guess, we get sword and sandals.However, in a style that reminds us somewhat of de Mille, we get fantastic imagery and spectacular scenes, along with epic historical characters.It does lack de Mille's brisk pace and comic relief, the comic relief provided by Overman and Tamirof in some of de Mille's best works.And it is probably the lack of timely comic relief that makes this lull, particularly in the first half.The second half is very brisk and crisp, however. It should make modern sword and sandal film makers very jealous.The imagery is perhaps even better than de Mille. The hunky statue of the gladiator in the final scenes is almost as striking as de Mille's use of female beauty, and even reminds us of the beautiful femme fatale of Northwest Mounted Police.Great acting, and most people will probably be most acquainted with the charismatic Basil as Pontius. His Pontius is a modern caring man. Indeed, the original Pontius was somewhere between the "thinker" and the "monster" and it seems no one wants to go in between the extremes. He savagely saw the Hebrews as a people not his own. However, odds are he did want to release Jesus. That doesn't make him less savage. It just means he was a strict "lawman", and Jesus wasn't the "punk" sort he felt needed to be crucified.The effects were astounding, and the extras should have gotten an all time Academy Award for best extras. They worked their butts off, and emoted better than most modern day stars.Crisp, brisk, full of art. With added comic relief and a brisker beginning, it would've easily been 10/10. This was a clever, well designed film, with characters we could care about.
