The Last Days of Pompeii

I've read the novel written by Bulwer Lytton, I visited Pompeii about 5 times and have read scores of books on the city and its dramatic destruction. This is the best screen adaptation of the book so far. It sticks quite well to Bulwer's novel and adds quite a few pleasant characters and events. Of course this mini-series is not perfect, even has countless flaws : the Temple of Isis, the houses of Glaucus and Diomedes come directly out of the set-designers' imagination, sending Christians to the lions is a bit too cliché, some aspects of the novel have been changed to make it all more dynamic (the novel is very slow-paced actually). But all in all, the plot is interesting, changes and additions good. Nead Beatty's portrayal of Diomedes is just brilliant!! Lesley-Ann Down is gorgeous as Chloe... The day this mini-series comes out on DVD, I'll buy it right away!

Few TV mini series out does movies. This is one of them.

I've only recently noticed that this movie is based on Bulwer-Lytton's novel. Bulwer-Lytton is of course well known for his other novel "The Coming Race" which the Nazis believed is a true story, and went to South America to search for the entrance to the underground civilization.

The cast of this series epic. This is not a crude quickly made for television drama. As one of the commentator mentioned, this I think is the best rendition of the story of Pompeii that's ever been produced.

Both male and female casts are beautiful in this series, as well as the settings. Each plays their part to their fullest until the bombastic climax. It's really believable that last days of Pompeii was like this.

One of the best mini-series to be produced, this is one TV series that can be compared to some of the movie greats.

I love this film! I have been looking for it for the past 5 years. I grew up watching this film over and over. In fact, for a brief history:

my parents recorded this film off the T.V station it played on (I can't remember which, though I've looked for it at the three major ones) and when we moved to Nigeria, I watched it for the first time. This was years after they had recorded it of course. I watched it often, since it's long and it took three tapes for the entire film, it was my favorite chore (self-imposed of course) to watch it and make sure the tape was not ruined. You can imagine how many times I took it upon myself to ensure this.

Basically, the last time I watched it was in 1998! And when I was coming back here that year, I did not have enough space in my suitcase to bring all the books and films I wanted to. So sadly, it got left behind.

I am a film student today, and I want to see if the film still holds up to the ideals it did when I was 17. It is definitely a must watch! If you like epic movies like "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben Hur" you will love this film. The history of the people, the effects of the explosion (which I must confess were a bit repetitious and made me think of foam buildings sometimes), the characters, the world the characters inhabited...WOW! I could go on...Films like this one (well, this film really) made me yearn to learn the Roman culture so much that I actually made it a goal (which I have met, and hopefully will again) to visit Rome and see the Colosseum. Gladiator, eat your heart out! This film showed the culture of the people and their lifestyles, not just blood and gore.Watch it if you can. I wish it were released in theaters--if they ran films that long.

I´ve first seen in 1985, and was the first time that a movie touch my heart, then I read the book and I think that the traslation to the movie is very difficult, but Peter Hunt give us a masterpiece. The adaptation is amazing, and the cast is excellent specially by the beauty from Argentinian actress Olivia Hussey as Ione and Franco Nero as the the cruel Arbaces the Obscure.

I recommend as one of the best mini-series of all time.

This is definitely more than an antique soap opera. It's without a doubt the most beautiful interpretation of the novel. May be that the story is geared to the 80's generation, but the pictures it shows are unforgettable!

A magnificent set-decoration and the most authentic art-direction I've ever seen (look at the temple of Isis: even the number of stairs tallies with the original!), tasteful, opulent costumes and finally a few amazing visual-effects, phenomenal for a TV-mini.

Trevor Jones' music is another wonder. As a great fan of soundtracks I always listen more to the scores than to the dialogues, when I watch a film. Mr. Jones is a man of genius; able to give the worst movies ("G.I. Jane", "The mighty"..) grace and poesy through his music.

I never heard a more haunting, majestic music than his score for "The last days of Pompeii" and I get a goose-flesh whenever I hear the main-theme - still after twelve years.

The cast is marvelous, as well. Sir Laurence Olivier, Franco Nero, Olivia Hussey and two outstanding No-names: Lesley-Anne Down and Linda Purl. Both of them are beautiful AND talented, although they rarely were able to show what they are made of.

I traveled to Pompeii a few times, considering the magic of this forgotten masterpiece. What can I say... the most beautiful town of the earth! And this motion picture is its impressive monument. Thanks.