The Last Days of Pompeii
The Last Days of Pompeii
Overview
This seven-hour British-Italian adaptation of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 epic, set against the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and previously filmed in 1935, and in 1960 was a vehicle for muscleman Steve Reeves, was trashed by the critics as the campiest of sword and sandal sagas to emerge in years. This despite its reported $19-million price tag, the nobility of its cast that includes Laurence Olivier, Siobhan McKenna and Anthony Quayle, and its rather unspectacular special effects. The central figures are Nicholas Clay as Glaucus, the noble Athenian; Olivia Hussey as the high-born Ione, his love, who is seduced by the Egyptian, Arbaces (Franco Nero), a religious fanatic; Duncan Regehr as Lydon, the champion gladiator; and Linda Purl as the blind slave Nydia, who is torn between Glaucus and Lydon.
Cast
Linda Purl
Anthony Quayle
Duncan Regehr
Laurence Olivier
Benedict Taylor
Gerry Sundquist
Catriona MacColl
Malcolm Jamieson
Tony Anholt
David Robb
Stephen Greif
Peter Cellier
Barry Stokes
Howard Lang
Joyce Blair
Francesca Romana Coluzzi
Brian Croucher
Marilù Tolo
Ned Beatty
Brian Blessed
Franco Nero
Lesley-Anne Down
Nicholas Clay
Siobhán McKenna
Ernest Borgnine
Olivia Hussey
Crew
Peter H. Hunt
Ken Shane
Ariel Levy
Chris Carreras
Trevor Jones
Seasons
