A Major Disappointment

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A Roman centurion returns to Pompeii from the wars to find his home ransacked and to discover his father has been killed. He swears vengeance on the Christians who appear to have done it and searches for them in the city. This takes him through the court of the consul, a pagan temple, a prison and finally the arena where he fights for his life and to defend the Christians he now sees as innocent. Then mount Vesuvius erupts. This is a good film and could have stood up as an engrossing story without the volcanic ending but the latter is very well staged and ends the film with a bang. Several writers adapted the Bulwer-Lytton novel by changing most of it. The film looks excellent in widescreen (Supertotalscope no less!) and Eastmancolour and is enhanced by the fine film scoring of Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, Each frame of the film is a pictorial delight, thanks to cinematographer Antonio L. BallesterosSteve Reeves as the hero is the usual Steve Reeves as the hero and Christine Kaufmann is her usual gorgeous self. Very able support is given by Fernando Rey as the sinister high priest and Anne-Marie Baumann as the duplicitous Julia not to mention various beefy types in other supporting roles.One of the better peplum movies.

Once again Steve Reeves is perfectly cast in a period film -- this time set in the final days of Pompeii with paranoia about Christianity running rampant. The costumes are exquisite (though perhaps more GREEK than ROMAN if you know your history and fabric patterns), with a MAJOR plot twist towards the end -- NO SPOILERS, go watch the movie! -- as Reeves investigates his father's murder. There's some confusion as to why folks in Pompeii were worshiping the Egyptian Isis throughout the movie, so I'll have to hit the history books again to see if that was a thing or just a liberty taken by the director. (To my knowledge they followed the usual suspects: Mercury, Minerva, Neptune, etc.)

This appears to be Sergio Leone's first film, and as such it is interesting enough. He made a few films like this in the beginning, another was "The Colossus of Rhodes" which was even worse, and already here you find all the worst sides of the director, the sadistic penchant for meaningless cruelty, the crude characterizations and as much brutal violence as possible. The plot is completely changed from the famous novel of Bulwer-Lytton's, there is no mention of christianity in the novel, while here it is used to make another sort of "Quo Vadis?" Nothing wrong with that, the plot is actually quite interesting and well thought out, but it's the character of Julia that ruins the film - she is utterly unconvincing. Fernando Rey as Arbaces the scheming villain is good enough, and Steve Reeves has not yet developed into the dummy he was to turn into by too much muscular performances. He was no Charlton Heston, and his mere presence in a film ensures its second hand qualities. The film was given a generous budget, though, which was used more than well. The epic apocalyptic scenes of the volcano eruption and the overwhelming catastrophe of the downfall of the city are rendered in great detail and very convincing. For Sergio Leone, it was not bad for a start.

....but the proper nouns!Glaucus,Ione,Arbaces ,Nydia.This flick tells a story even more confused than the novel.Sir Bulwer-Lytton's book had assets : its precise depictions of the daily life in a soon-to-be-destroyed city,the spoiled youth Glaucus is part of ,his dilemma -he was born a Greek man and his country was conquered by the Romans,he had no friends,but was surrounded by parasites ,like Clodius -and of course a sincere if childish look at the rising of Christianity.Sergio Leone's script includes tortures,orgies and attacks of hooded villains(?).Of course it kept the final eruption but ,by today's standards,it's barely more than fireworks .Fans of Steve Reeves may be satisfied ,but Bulwer-Lytton's readers will fatally be disappointed.NB:the miniseries ,made in 1984,was more successful,although it added new characters and a different ending(Nydia does not get drowned)