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

chuck-reilly The spectacular ending of the 1935 version of "The Last Days of Pompeii" is an early example of Hollywood's fixation with the concept of disaster movies. The plot involves a blacksmith in Pompeii named Marcus (a very believable Preston Foster) who is forced to enter the gladiator ring after his wife and child die from injuries sustained in a tragic accident. Because he lacked the fiscal means to give them proper care, Marcus soon decides that money is everything and becomes the star of the arena. He adopts a small boy who's father he killed and retires from his brutal profession after suffering a severe wound. He ends up in Judea with his kid and, in short succession, meets Jesus (who miraculously cures his son from a sudden illness), has an interview with Pontius Pilate (an excellent and pensive Basil Rathbone), bumps into Alan Hale (a professional horse thief), and even later watches Jesus being crucified. That would be enough for any one man, but Marcus' career is just beginning. He relocates himself back to Pompeii and, with his newfound wealth from rounding up stray horses, is able to become the head honcho at the local coliseum. Years pass, and his son is still fixated on that nice guy who cured him back in the old days. He meets up with some Christians who are hiding from the authorities and falls in love with the best looking gal in the bunch. There he finds out the truth about that "nice guy" and decides to throw his lot in with these wonderful folks. It doesn't take long before he and his friends are captured by the Romans and condemned to death as they are summarily tossed into the arena to be butchered by barbarian captives. Seeing his son about to be slaughtered, Marcus pleads for his release with the local Prefect (a cold and patrician Louis Calhern) but it's all for naught. Just as this desperate battle begins....Mt. Vesuvius blows its stack and the movie really picks up steam, in more ways than one. In the end, Marcus has a change of heart and decides to help the Christians at the expense of his fortune. He's able to get them on a boat to escape the catastrophic effects of the volcano and locks the city gates to prevent the Romans from stopping them. For this, he gets a well-aimed spear through the chest. Then the lava, the ash and the smoke envelop everything and everyone is presumed dead. Luckily for Marcus, he still has five seconds of life left in him and is visited by that "nice guy" Jesus who hands him a first-class ticket to Heaven. Let's face it, no one deserved it more for all the problems this poor guy went through. Of course, this would all be a bit overdone and corny if it weren't for the outstanding performances of the cast and the spectacular special effects during the destruction of Pompeii. Special note has to be made for Basil Rathbone's portrayal of Pontius Pilate. Although he's on the screen for less than ten minutes, he's able to convey the man's ambiguity and guilt-ridden conscience for having sentenced Jesus to death. His gravitas sets the tone for the entire film and it hangs over it like a shroud. As an early example of a Hollywood disaster movie, "The Last Days of Pompeii" is in a class by itself and still worth viewing for modern-day audiences.

Chris Gaskin Two years after King Kong, the same team went on to make this enjoyable disaster movie about life in Pompeii and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It is directed by Kong's Ernest B Schoedsack and the impressive eruption at the end was also done by the same people who did the effects for Kong including Willis O'Brien.The excellent cast includes Preston Foster, Alan Hale, a pre Sherlock Holmes Basil Rathbone and Edward Van Sloan (Dracula, Frankenstein).The Last Days of Pompeii seems to be quite a rare movie and I was pleased when BBC2 screened it several years ago and I still have it on video.Catch this if you are lucky. Enjoyable.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

retlawyen I first saw this movie years ago as a child and it had quite an impact on me. I loved the acting. Preston Foster as the disillusioned blacksmith, David Holt, as the sweetest little boy one could possibly imagine, and John Wood as the older Flavius, so idealistically touched by his experience at the hands of Jesus. But I must reserve the greatest praise for Basil Rathbone. His portrayal of Pontius Pilate, so fine, so sure, is unparalleled. His nuances of effect and strength of personality are superbly matched to this role. You can almost taste the turmoil roiling within him as you watch the splendid emotional battle waged on his wonderfully expressive face. Walt Disney once said, "First you begin with a story." It is true. The story here is classic. A man searching the world for the key he holds within his own heart. Preston Foster, so disillusioned in his flight from poverty, that he fails to see the significance of events around him, Flavius, as the boy grown to manhood touched by a higher calling and Basil Rathbone as Pontius Pilate, probably the second most reviled figure living at that time. Wonderful, wonderful historical novel, acted brilliantly as only the actors of that time could do.