There's lust, madness, assassinations and destruction aplenty in this second screen version of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel. It was popular for adaptations almost immediately, with an opera, IONE, produced in 1858. With its basic theme of divine death and destruction in return for immorality, it touched the hearts of Christianity, recalling the fates of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Of course, sixteen minutes is not enough to even summarize a fat Victorian novel, and the special effects are very primitive: smoke, things dropping from the ceiling to indicate ejecta from Vesuvius, and sections of columns being knocked over make up the whole of that. Nonetheless, this being an Ambrosio production, the sets were beautifully done; the Italians were far in advance of other national cinemas, most of which still were using obviously painted stage flats at this time.
