''The Last Days of Pompeii'' (1950) () () is a black and white French-Italian historical drama, directed by

Marcel L'Herbier Marcel L'Herbier (; 23 April 1888 – 26 November 1979) was a French filmmaker who achieved prominence as an avant-garde theorist and imaginative practitioner with a series of silent films in the 1920s. His career as a director continued unti ...

"in collaboration with"

Paolo Moffa Paolo Moffa (16 December 1915 – 2004) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He directed seven films between 1943 and 1982. Born in Rome, Moffa started his career in the 1930s as a script supervisor. Mainly active as ...

, who was also the director of production. It was adapted from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel ''

The Last Days of Pompeii ''The Last Days of Pompeii'' is a novel written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. The novel was inspired by the painting ''The Last Day of Pompeii'' by the Russian painter Karl Briullov, which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. It culminates in ...

''. The film has also been known as ''Sins of Pompeii''.

Plot

In Pompeii, in the year 79AD, Lysias, a wealthy young Greek, abducts the beautiful Hélène, who is a pupil of Arbax, the sinister High Priest of Isis. For revenge, Arbax causes Lysias to drink a magic potion to make him fall in love with his ally Julie, but Lysias becomes mad from the drink. Nidia, a young slave girl rescued by Lysias, has overheard the plot and accuses Arbax of trying to kill her master. Arbax kills the girl and has Lysias accused of the murder. Condemned to the lions in the arena, Lysias only escapes the punishment when the eruption of Vesuvius brings panic to the town, and he leads Hélène to safety.

Cast

Micheline Presle Micheline Presle (; born Micheline Nicole Julia Émilienne Chassagne; 22 August 1922) is a French actress. She was sometimes billed as Micheline Prelle. Starting in 1939, she starred in over 50 French and English language films that were made in H ...

as Elena / Hélène *

Georges Marchal Georges Marchal (10 January 1920 – 28 November 1997) was a French actor. Born Georges Louis Lucot in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France, the strikingly handsome Marchal was discovered in the early-1940s by director Jean Grémillon. By the ear ...

as Lysia / Lysias *

Marcel Herrand Marcel Herrand (8 October 1897 – 11 June 1953) was a French stage and film actor best remembered for his roles in swashbuckling or historical films. He appeared in over 25 films between 1932 and 1952, but Herrand's best remembered role i ...

as Arbace / Arbax *

Jaque Catelain Jaque Catelain (9 February 1897 – 5 March 1965) was a French actor who came to prominence in silent films of the 1920s, and who continued acting in films and on stage until the 1950s. He also wrote and directed two silent films himself, and he ...

as Clodio / Claudius *

Adriana Benetti Adriana Benetti (12 December 1919 – 24 February 2016) was an Italian actress. Biography Born in Quacchio, a town east of Ferrara, Benetti graduated from the Istituto Magistrale and then landed in Rome, where she was accepted at the Centro Sp ...

as Nidia * Laure Alex as Julie *

Camillo Pilotto Camillo Pilotto (6 February 1888 Birth name: Camillo Raul Vittorio Pilotto. – 27 May 1963) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 101 films between 1916 and 1963. He was born and died in Rome, Italy. Selected filmography * ''The Song ...

as Diomede / Diomède *

Antonio Pierfederici Antonio Pierfederici (18 March 1919 – 6 January 1999) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Life and career Born in La Maddalena, Pierfederici graduated in law and then he enrolled at the Silvio d’Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts. He start ...

as Olinto / Olinte *

Guglielmo Barnabò Guglielmo Barnabò (11 May 1888 – 31 May 1954) was an Italian stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1926 and 1954. Life and career Born in Ancona, Barnabò made his stage debut in 1921 at the Greek Theatre of ...

as Panza * Alain Quercy as Lepido / Lépide

Production

Principal filming took place in the summer of 1948 at the Cinecittà studios in Rome. The amphitheatre scenes were filmed at the

Arena di Verona The Verona Arena ( it, Arena di Verona ) is a Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra in Verona, Italy built in 30 AD. It is still in use today and is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there. It is one of the be ...

. The production was then interrupted however for nearly a year, and was completed at the GTC studios at Joinville/Saint-Maurice in 1949. The film was released in France and Italy in 1950. The film considerably simplified the plot of Lytton's novel, and there was some alteration of the names of the principal characters: Glaucus became Lysias, and Ione became Hélène; Nidia was made the victim of Arbax rather than an agent of his defeat. There were set designs and costumes by Aldo Tommasini and Veniero Colasanti, and special effects by B. de Kerblay.

Lucio Fulci Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and Spaghetti Westerns, he ga ...

was 2nd unit director on the film. Marcel L'Herbier approached the project as one of the "chroniques filmées" ("filmed histories") which his film work had favoured during the previous decade, giving some emphasis to the documentary aspects of the everyday life that had been preserved at Pompeii. He initially approached

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...

to write the dialogue (having in mind the latter's play ''Caligula''), but in the event the task was undertaken by Alexandre Arnoux. L'Herbier admitted some reservation about the resulting film in spite of its strong cast and opulent settings.Marcel L'Herbier, ''La Tête qui tourne''. (Paris: Belfond, 1979.) pp.272-273.

References

External links

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''Les Derniers Jours de Pompéi'' (1950)
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Films de France
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Days of Pompeii, The (1950 film) 1950 films 1950 drama films French disaster films French epic films French historical drama films Films based on The Last Days of Pompeii Films directed by Marcel L'Herbier Films directed by Paolo Moffa Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in 79 AD Pompeii in popular culture Films about volcanoes French multilingual films Italian multilingual films 1950s historical drama films French black-and-white films 1950s French films