Last Days of Pompeii (1913)
aka Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei
Article 5715 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-22-2020
Directed by Mario Caserini and Eleuterio Rodolfi
Featuring Fernanda Negri Pouget, Eugenia Tettoni Fior, Ubaldo Stefani
Country: Italy
What it is: Mostly costume soap opera

Various lovers in ancient Pompeii interact with each other. Can a volcano solve all their personal problems?

The high priest who serves as the villain of this one has a few magical powers, one of which (an elixir that drives a man mad) plays a central role in the story. The plot mostly serves as a time-killer until the movie gets to what it’s really all about – the volcano destruction footage, and if you want to get to the good parts, feel free to skip the first three-quarters of the movie, My print runs less than an hour, but rather than title cards, the soundtrack features a narrator telling us what is happening, which no doubt shortened the telling of the story. Despite the fantastic content, it’s primarily a soap opera of sorts with a number of dull stretches.