The Last Days of Pompeii

The Last Days of Pompeii

1926 · 196 min · ★ 5.8 · History

Carmine Gallone and Amleto Palermi’s The Last Days of Pompeii 1926 stages in sumptuous colour tinting the epic fall of the ancient city buried by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption. Adapted from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s love story, the film was innovative in its special effects and an early major box-office hit. A beautiful tinted restoration print was prepared using photochemical processes by Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale in the mid-1990s and the premiere screening of the restoration print was held in the amphitheatre in Pompeii, followed by a screening at the major restoration festival ‘Il Cinema Ritrovato’ in Bologna in 1998.

Directed by Carmine Gallone · Written by Alfredo Panzini

Your Rating

Cast

Make it a double feature

5h 6m together

The Last Days of Pompeii

The Life of Giuseppe Verdi

Both from Carmine Gallone.

More from Carmine GalloneSee all →

La falenaLa falena · 1916
La falena
★ 10.01916
MovieDramaRomance
Thea is a sculptor who is diagnosed with tuberculosis before she marries Filippo. After abandoning him, her health begins to decline. She organizes a final party, inviting along her estranged husband. The film is considered to be lost, with only a fragment surviving in the film archive of the Cineteca Italiana.
The Life of Giuseppe VerdiThe Life of Giuseppe Verdi · 1938
The Life of Giuseppe Verdi
★ 9.51938
MovieMusicDrama
The great Italian opera composer recalls his eventful life on his deathbed: his childhood in Busseto, his studies in Milan, his first opera "Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio", the death of his wife and his children killed by smallpox.
HarlemHarlem · 1943
Harlem
★ 9.01943
MovieDrama
This propaganda film was partly inspired by the story of the first Italian heavyweight champion Primo Carnera who, after winning the title with Al Capone’s help in 1933, was beaten the following year by the Jewish Max Bear and then again by the ‘Brown Bomber’ Detroit Joe Lewis in June 1935, on the eve of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. This match provoked numerous racial skirmishes on the streets of Harlem between the Black community and pro-Fascist Italian-Americans. The film overturns historical facts and here, obviously, it is the white boxer who wins in order to demonstrate the superiority of the “Aryan Italians” over the “sinister Jewish entrepreneurs” and the “savage Afro-American fans in Yankee Stadium”. In the film, these were played by South African prisoners-of-war interred in a work camp, which the German and Italian propaganda ministries had set up near Cinecittà “for cinematic purposes”.
Madame ButterflyMadame Butterfly · 1954
Madame Butterfly
★ 8.01954
MovieMusicDrama
Japanese-Italian adaptation of Puccini's opera.
My Heart Is CallingMy Heart Is Calling · 1935
My Heart Is Calling
★ 7.51935
MovieMusicComedy
Musical comedy. An opera singer falls for a stowaway on the way to Monte Carlo
Don Camillo's Last RoundDon Camillo's Last Round · 1955
Don Camillo's Last Round
★ 7.31955
MovieComedyHistory
Bewildered, Don Camillo learns that Peppone intends to stand for parliament. Determined to thwart his ambitions, the good priest, ignoring the recommendations of the Lord, decides to campaign against him.
NemesisNemesis · 1920
Nemesis
★ 7.01920
Movie
King of HotelsKing of Hotels · 1932
King of Hotels
★ 7.01932
Movie
A hotel worker who is really an aristocrat falls for a lady customer but instead of getting married he prefers to stay at work and get what female company he can from the staff.
Mata Hari's DaughterMata Hari's Daughter · 1954
Mata Hari's Daughter
★ 7.01954
MovieActionCrime
In this espionage film, Mata Hari's daughter takes the mantle from her notorious mother and entangles her self in an Asian web of intrigue and war.
Don Camillo: MonsignorDon Camillo: Monsignor · 1961
Don Camillo: Monsignor
★ 6.91961
MovieComedy
Don Camillo (now bishop) and Peppone (now senator) return to the town of Brescello and rekindle their friendly rivalry.
PucciniPuccini · 1953
Puccini
★ 6.71953
MovieDramaMusic
The biographical story of Puccini spans his creative life from early student days to the height of success, including his early flop Madama Butterfly and his incomplete Turandot. Along the way he encounters three women who change his life, including an attractive, beautiful singer whom he drops for a small town girl, and a servant girl who commits suicide over him.
Faust and the DevilFaust and the Devil · 1949
Faust and the Devil
★ 6.51949
MovieMusicDrama
Goethe's drama and Gounod's opera "Faust" is treated here like a movie rather than the usual photographed-opera from a stage method. Faust is a man who sells his soul to Mephistopheles in exchange for eternal youth, and the latter, with guileful glee, leads Faust to disaster along the paths of pleasure. Marguerite falls in love with Faust, and suffers as a consequence.
MarionetteMarionette · 1939
Marionette
★ 6.51939
MovieComedy
Michael StrogoffMichael Strogoff · 1956
Michael Strogoff
★ 6.31956
MovieDramaAdventure
When Emir Feofar Khan, leader of the Tartar hordes, takes up arms and invades the steppes of Eastern Siberia, Czar Alexander II of Russia entrusts the brave officer Michael Strogoff with a dangerous mission.
House of RicordiHouse of Ricordi · 1954
House of Ricordi
★ 6.31954
MovieHistoryDrama
The film covers a hundred years in the lives of the Ricordi family, the Milan publishing house of the title, and the various composers and other historic personalities, whose careers intersected with the growth of the Ricordi house. It beautifully draws the parallel between the great music of the composers, the historic and social upheavals of their times, as well as the "smaller stories" of the successive generations of Ricordi.
Il corsaroIl corsaro · 1923
Il corsaro
★ 6.21923
Movie
Early Italian pirate adventure.

More Like This

SpartacusSpartacus · 1960
Spartacus
★ 7.51960
MovieHistoryDrama
The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes.
Battleship PotemkinBattleship Potemkin · 1925
Battleship Potemkin
★ 7.61925
MovieDramaHistory
In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin revolt against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.
Ben-HurBen-Hur · 1959
Ben-Hur
★ 7.91959
MovieHistoryDrama
In ancient Judea, a Jewish aristocrat opposing Roman occupation of his homeland reunites with his childhood friend, now a Roman commander — setting in motion a saga of betrayal, adventure, tragedy, revenge, and faith.
October (Ten Days that Shook the World)October (Ten Days that Shook the World) · 1928
October (Ten Days that Shook the World)
★ 6.91928
MovieDramaHistory
As the Russian monarchy crumbles, conflicts at Petrograd intensify, with Soviet hero V.I. Lenin leading the rebellion that overthrows the tsar's Winter Palace.
The Passion of Joan of ArcThe Passion of Joan of Arc · 1928
The Passion of Joan of Arc
★ 8.01928
MovieDramaHistory
A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.
The Birth of a NationThe Birth of a Nation · 1915
The Birth of a Nation
★ 5.91915
MovieDramaHistory
Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.
CaligulaCaligula · 1979
Caligula
★ 6.01979
MovieDramaHistory
After the death of the paranoid emperor Tiberius, Caligula, his heir, seizes power and plunges the empire into a bloody spiral of madness and depravity.
Quo VadisQuo Vadis · 1951
Quo Vadis
★ 7.11951
MovieDramaHistory
After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.
The King of KingsThe King of Kings · 1927
The King of Kings
★ 6.41927
MovieDramaHistory
The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with one of the biggest budgets in Hollywood history, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into a silent-era blockbuster. Featuring text drawn directly from the Bible, a cast of thousands, and the great showman’s singular cinematic bag of tricks, The King of Kings is at once spectacular and deeply reverent—part Gospel, part Technicolor epic.
The Sign of the CrossThe Sign of the Cross · 1932
The Sign of the Cross
★ 6.41932
MovieDramaHistory
A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.
King of KingsKing of Kings · 1961
King of Kings
★ 7.21961
MovieDramaHistory
Who is Jesus, and why does he impact all he meets? He is respected and reviled, emulated and accused, beloved, betrayed, and finally crucified. Yet that terrible fate would not be the end of the story.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter