The mere title of this movie promised a disaster of unmatched excitement and terror. Brought to the screen by the makers of King Kong, the film realized all of its cataclysmic potential. Depression-aggravated audiences not only witnessed the ruin of an entire city, but were drawn into the everyday lives of the citys inhabitants for the ultimate in escapism.
The film stars Basil Rathbone as Pontius Pilate and Preston Foster as a Pompeian blacksmith who is seduced by the riches brought from gladiator combat. The lives of these socially unequal residents uravel seperately, but become intertwined as magisterial Rathbone watches Foster fight for his life in the arena. Yet nature is stronger than caste; before the onslaught of the fiery volcano, all of the citizens of Pompeii are reduced to a common level of helplessness.
The stuff of great disaster movies easily fills the screen with the visual material for gripping melodrama. |
