The Last Days of Pompeii (1984)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The last days of Pompeii
Original title The Last Days of Pompeii
Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei
Country of production United Kingdom , Italy , USA
original language English
length 245-300 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Peter Hunt
script Carmen Culver
production William Hill
Richard Irving
music Trevor Jones
camera Jack Cardiff
cut Michael Ellis
Richard Marden
occupation

and as a guest star

synchronization

The Last Days of Pompeii (original title The Last Days of Pompeii or Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei ) is a British-Italian-American TV series from 1984 . It is based on the novel of the same name by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton . Directed by Peter Hunt . The main and supporting roles are cast with Ned Beatty , Franco Nero , Linda Purl , Nicholas Clay and Lesley-Anne Down as well as Olivia Hussey , Duncan Regehr , Ernest Borgnine and Laurence Olivier as guest stars.

content

Overview: In the style of a soap opera , the multi-part tells of the last days in Pompeii and illuminates the trials and tribulations of a number of people. Nydia is a blind slave who falls in love with the patrician Glaucus. Although he is friendly to her, he loves Ione, a prospective priestess of the goddess Isis . The opaque Arbaces, high priest of the goddess, weaves his intrigues in political and religious ways in order to increase his wealth and influence and to prevent the relationship between Glaucus and Ione. The respected gladiator Lydon, in turn, loves Nydia, who only sees him as a friend. Meanwhile, atrocities against Christians in the city are being hunted down by the city council and the guard. The moderate magistrate Quintus is increasingly driven to secure his re-election. One of the persecuted Christians is the slave Pius, who, after being tortured, is cared for by his lover Chloe and forges plans to escape for both of them. The drama of the last few days unfolds in the shadow of Vesuvius .

Episode 1: The year 79 BC is the order of the day for the rich in Pompeii. The wealthy Diomedes is one of them. Diomedes and like-minded people also like to visit the arena of the amphitheater , where gladiator fights take place more frequently than usual. But any distraction, no matter how welcome, does not mean that the Pompeians can completely suppress the fear that has been wandering around since the earthquake in 63. Again and again the earth shakes that the city is doomed, but nobody suspects. Political intrigues are just as common as murder, intrigue and jealousy. The wealthy Roman Ione fell in love with the Greek Glaucus, a man who is admired by everyone.

Episode 2: In August 79, only a few days separate the Pompeians from the catastrophe that will afflict them and their city and destroy them forever. After the death of Emperor Vespasian in June, his son took over power, who is worshiped just as much as his father, who is also revered as a ruler like gods. The intrigues in the city go on, as do the intrigues of love. Even the blind Nydia and the acclaimed gladiator Lydon are not spared. Although nature sends out signals, the majority of the population is unable to understand them. One of those who understand is the aged Gaius, who lives with his wife Fortunata in a villa at the foot of Vesuvius, which is green with vineyards. He's been watching the changing volcano for a long time. Arbaces, the priest of the Egyptian goddess of fertility, Isis, feared him for a reason.

Episode 3: The day of the sinking of Pompeii is imminent. Since an earthquake that took place at the beginning of August, the animals have been behaving conspicuously with their fine instinct. The people, on the other hand, are as always and go about their business carefree. They love and hate each other, indulge in their lust for pleasure or suffer when this seems to be predetermined by the gods. Diomedes, however, is doing everything possible to beat Quintus in the upcoming elections in order to become magistrate himself. He has also got it into his head to get the respected Greek Glaucus as his son-in-law, although Nydia Glaucus and he in turn loves Ione.

Episode 4: The Isis priest Arbaces murders his student Apaecides, who threatened him to expose the religion he represents as trickery, and blames Glaucus for his insidious act, who is then sentenced to death in the arena. He killed two birds with one stone, because with his false accusation he eliminated his rival Glaucus in the fight for possession of the beautiful Ione. However, his intrigues not only affect Iones and Glaucus' fate, but also the lives of Julia and Clodius.

Episode 5: We experience the sinking of Pomeji through the eruption of Vesuvius through the eyes of the then 18-year-old Pliny the Younger , who later reported his observations to the famous historian Tacitus . The end of the city and most of its inhabitants also meant a new beginning for a few of them. The day on which Glaucus and the Christian Olinth appear to be doomed in the arena because they are supposed to fight a lion develops its own dynamic. The predator senses the approaching volcanic eruption and fearfully withdraws into its cage instead of attacking. Sallust appears with Kalenus and Nydia as witnesses and accuses the Arbaces present in the arena of murder. At the same moment Vesuvius erupts and Arbaces is able to escape from the ensuing turmoil. Nydia manages to lead Glaucus, Ione and Sallust out of the city, on which an ash shower is pounding down, to the harbor. There they can escape the fall of Pompeii. In addition to Arbaces, Clodius and Kalenus, the majority of the population of Pompeii died.

Nydia, who knows that Glaucus will only ever love Ione, seeks suicide in the water. Glaucus and Ione make their way to Athens, the homeland of Glaucus, where Glaucus also converted to Christianity.

production

Production notes, film music

The film was produced by Paramount Television in co-production with Rai - Radiotelevisione Italiana . The film was shot in Pinewood Studios , west of London near the village of Iver Haeth, in the United Kingdom and in Pompeii , an ancient city in Campania on the Gulf of Naples in Italy, and also in Civitavecchia , the most important port city in the Lazio region Italy, which serves as the ancient port of Pompeii in the film.

Trevor Jones composed the film music in just eight weeks. According to his own statement, he started the project very late, without being able to consult with the director or the mixer. "That was the only time I worked on a film without meeting the director," he said in a 2003 interview.

synchronization

The German synchronization was for a dialogue book of Tessy Bortfeldt under the dialogue director of Wolfgang Claus Asch in GDR television studio for synchronization as a co-production with ARD.

role actor speaker
Diomedes Ned Beatty Roland Hemmo
Arbaces Franco Nero Michael Telloke
Nydia Linda Purl Marina Krogull
Glaucus Nicholas Clay Thomas Wolff
Chloe Lesley-Anne Down Angelika Waller
Ion Olivia Hussey Friederike Aust
Lydon Duncan Regehr Frank-Otto Schenk
Marcus Ernest Borgnine Horst Kempe
Olinthus Brian Blessed Wolfgang Winkler
Quintus Anthony Quayle Gerry Wolff
Xenia Marilù Tolo Lilo Grahn
Calenus Peter Cellier Peter Hladik
Lepidus Tony Anholt Peter Reinhardt
Antony Benedict Taylor Udo Schenk
Pius Malcolm Jamieson Frank Lienert-Mondanelli
Julia Catriona MacColl Hellena Büttner
Clodius Gerry Sundquist Dieter Memel
Lepidus Tony Anholt Peter Reinhardt
Sporus Stephen Griffin Tim Hoffmann
Gerheld Barry Stokes Bernd Eichner
Gaius Laurence Olivier Werner Dissel

publication

The multi-part series was broadcast on GDR television from November 29, 1985 in six parts and on ARD from August 31, 1987 in five parts. A broadcast on Tele 5 summarized the story in three parts.

In the USA the multi-part series was first published on May 6, 1984 under the title The Last Days of Pompeii , in the Netherlands in October 1984 and in the United Kingdom in December 1984. The film series was also published in Brazil, Bulgaria, France, Greece and Italy , there under the title Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei , Spain and Venezuela.

The multi-part series was released on October 11, 2007 by Ascot Elite Home Entertainment GmbH with a German soundtrack on DVD, playing time: 253 minutes, FSK: from 12 years.

Further films

For more film adaptations of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel see → here

criticism

The Dresden history and documentary author Roberto Lorenz wrote in a 2008 review:

“There is probably no multi-part series in TV history that has such a lasting effect on its viewers, is so superior to its genre. Peter Hunt managed to conjure up the whole epic aura of Pompeii . Trevor Jones ' film score is a masterpiece in itself: sensitive and majestic, brilliantly in terms of musical notation. (...) The backdrops are authentic down to the last detail (note the number of temple steps, the design of the frescoes, right down to the collapsing parts of the building and the angle of the falling volcanic rock!). Make-up and costumes are hardly inferior. Historical impurities are only occasionally noticed: The Greek Claucus is dressed like an overgrown Roman minor. The Egyptian high priest Arbaces wears stubble and a beard (although head shaving was one of the daily rites of the Isis priests). "

“The fundamental problem, however, is the nomenclature of the characters: the elderly Stoic is in principle named like a boy in his prenomen (Gaius), the impoverished poet, on the other hand, in the noun gentile (Clodius). An ancient Roman merchant bears the Greek name Diomedes. His daughter's name is Julia (should therefore be the daughter of a Julius). Names like Ione and Nydia, as sonorous as they are, should have had a similarly strange effect on the ancient Romans as they did on us. "

“Incidentally, the persecution of Christians in 79 (if at all) was not yet organized in such a way. The worship of a single God is also unlikely to have caused a stir. (For example, there was a Jewish quarter in Pompeii). "

“These anachronisms are more likely to be attributed to the author of the famous novel, who has treated history in a rather stepfather-like manner. The TV adaptation processes this material as truthfully as possible. Characters that are portrayed in contradicting ways in the book are completely believable in the film and their motives are conclusive. In short: the film is far superior to the novel it was based on! The cast is also impressive. The portrayal of the blind Nydia deserves special mention: Linda Purl , who performed as deaf-blind Helen Keller on Broadway in her early youth , embodies the lovesick slave girl with virtuosity. Also Siobhán McKenna moved deep into the rather small role of Fortunata. Brian Blessed as an early Christian and Ned Beatty as a Roman upstart are fascinating, as is Lesley-Anne Down as a desperate prostitute. And Franco Nero develops an almost hypnotic presence as Arbaces. "

Paul Mavis wrote on the English page DVD talk that the film wasn't earth-shaking ... but not bad either. The Italian co-production is pleasantly long and committed and another film adaptation of the famous novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Under the heading "Final Thoughts", Mavis summed up that the film was not Cleopatra , let alone Ben Hur ... but it was still entertaining. Experienced actors and an experienced staff, something more than welcome sex from the incomparably beautiful Lesley-Anne Down and some handsome special effects would offer everything you need for a long visit to the Roman Empire.

Kino.de took a critical view of the multi-part and wrote: “British TV multi-part, which adapts the well-known novel by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton in a rather clichéd manner. Despite the star cast (Ned Beatty, Laurence Olivier, Franco Nero and Lesley-Anne Down), the style of the production is more reminiscent of American prime-time dramas than of historically sound implementations, as we know them from European production. "

literature

  • Edward Bulwer-Lytton : The Last Days of Pompeii. Roman (Original title: The Last Days of Pompeii ). Edited by Günter Jürgensmeier. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-423-12778-3 .
  • David Wind : The last days of Pompeii. The book for the television series (Original title: The Last Days of Pompeii ). London: Panther, 1985; German Translated from: Munich: Knaur, 1985.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for The Last Days of Pompeii . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2007 (PDF; test number: 111 466 DVD).
  2. ↑ Trevor Jones - Biography on the IMDb page
  3. ↑ The last days of Pompeii. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 6, 2019 .
  4. ↑ The last days of Pompeii Fig. DVD case
  5. ↑ The last days of Pompeii
  6. ^ Paul Mavis: The Last Days of Pompeii (1984) see dvdtalk.com (English). Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  7. ↑ The Last Days of Pompeii see kino.de. Retrieved March 6, 2019.