Les Derniers jours de Pompei (1950)
Directed by Marcel L'Herbier, Paolo Moffa

Film Review

Marcel L'Herbier's last film but one is largely a disappointment, exhibiting very little of the cinematic flair and dramatic intensity of the director's earlier works, particularly his silent masterpieces Eldorado (1921), Feu Mathias Pascal (1926) and L'Argent (1928). Les Derniers jours de Pompei is supposedly based on Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Last Days of Pompeii but its plot differs markedly - the film offers nothing more than a pedestrian tale of romance and revenge, employing all the stock characters from a standard 19th century melodrama. At least it's not as terrible as L'Herbier's very last cinematic offering - the totally unforgiveable Le Père de Mademoiselle (1953).

The film is massively let down by its substandard script but it is at least partly redeemed by some impressive cinematography and the quality of its visual effects.  As in L'herbier's earlier silent films, the characters are dwarfed by their surroundings, emphasising their vulnerability in the face of impending disaster. L'Herbier was fortunate to be able to re-use the impressive sets from Alessandro Blasetti's Roman epic Fabiola (1949), although it is interesting how differently the same sets are photographed in the two films, L'Herbier somehow managing to achieve a greater impression of scale and artistic grandeur.   Unfortunately, it also looks as if L'Herbier also recycled much of the plot from Fabiola, and you often get the impression this is a poor man's version of that film.

Whilst the first half of Les Derniers jours de Pompei is almost unbearably static, it manages to reward the spectator's patience with an incredibly dramatic conclusion.  Here, a combination of stunning special effects and masterful photography recreate the devastation and sheer blind terror of the destruction of Pompeii under a volcanic eruption.  For these brief few minutes of artistic brilliance, we are reminded of what a great filmmaker Marcel L'Herbier was - before the advent of sound turned him into a jobbing mediocrity.

Film Synopsis

The location is Pompeii, 79 AD, just a few weeks before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius will devastate the entire town, killing most of its population.  Lycias, a young Greek man, is taking part in a private chariot race with his rival Clodius, the prize being Julie, the beautiful daughter of the wealthy Diomède.  In the course of the contest, Lycias knocks down a slave girl, Nidia.  He is so taken with her that he decides to buy her rather than return her to her present master.

Not long afterwards, Lycias encounters an engaging young Roman woman, Hélène and instantly falls in love with her.  Knowing that her master, the Egyptian priest Arbax, will not give her up, Lycias elopes with her.  To recover Hélène, Arbax visits Julie and offers her a chance to win back her lover, by getting him to drink a powerful love potion.  In fact, the potion the priest offers her is not what it pretends to be.  In fact, it will bring insanity to whoever consumes it.  Sure enough, Lycias is driven mad when he takes the potion.

Nidia alone knows what has happened, but before she can expose Arbax he murders her, and Lycias is blamed for her death.  Found guilty of murder, the Greek's punishment is to be thrown to the lions.  But before the execution can take place, a greater chastisement is unleashed upon the town - the fury of Vesuvius.  Amid fire and devastation, the townsfolk are thrown into a wild panic.  Are Lycias and Hélène destined to escape, or will they perish, like so many others, in the molten ash that is raining down upon the doomed city...