Up Pompeii (film)
| Up Pompeii | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Bob Kellett |
| Written by | Sid Colin |
| Produced by | Ned Sherrin |
| Starring | Frankie Howerd Michael Hordern Barbara Murray |
| Cinematography | Ian Wilson |
| Edited by | Al Gell |
| Music by | Carl Davis |
Production companies | Anglo-EMI London Associated Films |
| Distributed by | MGM-EMI |
Release date | 11 March 1971 |
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £200,000[1] |
Up Pompeii is a 1971 British sex comedy film directed by Bob Kellett and starring Frankie Howerd and Michael Hordern. The film was shot at Elstree Film Studios, Borehamwood, England and is based on characters that first appeared in the British television sitcom Up Pompeii! (1969–1975).
Plot
Lurcio becomes the inadvertent possessor of a scroll bearing all the names of the proposed assassins of Nero. The conspirators need to recover the scroll fast, but it has fallen into the hands of Lurcio's master, Ludicrus Sextus, who mistakenly reads the contents of the scroll to the Senate. Farcical attempts are made to retrieve the scroll before Pompeii is eventually consumed by the erupting Vesuvius.
Cast
- Frankie Howerd as Lurcio
- Michael Hordern as Ludicrus Sextus
- Barbara Murray as Ammonia
- Patrick Cargill as Nero
- Lance Percival as Bilius
- Bill Fraser as Prosperus Maximus
- Julie Ege as Voluptua
- Adrienne Posta as Scrubba
- Bernard Bresslaw as Gorgo (Nero's Champion)
- Madeline Smith as Erotica
- Roy Hudd as Nero's M.C.
- Hugh Paddick as Priest
- Royce Mills as Nausius
- Rita Webb as Cassandra
- Lally Bowers as Procuria
- Aubrey Woods as Villanus
- Billy Walker as Prodigious
- Russell Hunter as Jailor
- Laraine Humphrys as Flavia
- Kenneth Cranham as 1st Christian
- George Woodbridge as Fat Bather
- Derek Griffiths as Steam Slave
- Robert Tayman as Noxius
- Carol Hawkins as Nero's Girl
- Candace Glendenning as Stone Girl
- Ian Trigger as Odius
Production
The Robert Stigwood Organisation had money in the film.[2]
A version was made for American audiences with six minutes of additional footage including a prologue and epilogue and Lurcio setting the scene.[1]
Reception
Box office
The film was the 10th most popular film at the British box office in 1971.[3][4] By June 1972 it had earned EMI a profit of £20,000.[5]
References
- ^ a b Moody, Paul (Oct 19, 2018). EMI Films and the Limits of British Cinema. Springer. p. 104. ISBN 9783319948034.
- ^ City comment: Thanks to the pound Swan, Hunter; Stigwood, Robert. The Guardian 2 Aug 1972: 16.
- ^ Waymark, Peter (30 December 1971). "Richard Burton top draw in British cinemas". The Times. London, England. p. 2.
- ^ Harper, Sue (2011). British Film Culture in the 1970s: The Boundaries of Pleasure: The Boundaries of Pleasure. Edinburgh University Press. p. 269. ISBN 9780748654260.
- ^ Moody, Paul (Oct 19, 2018). EMI Films and the Limits of British Cinema. Springer. p. 83. ISBN 9783319948034.
External links
- Up Pompeii at IMDb
- Articles with short description
- Pages using infobox film with nonstandard dates
- IMDb title ID not in Wikidata
- 1971 films
- 1970s sex comedy films
- 1970s historical comedy films
- British sex comedy films
- British historical comedy films
- Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios
- Films shot in England
- Films based on television series
- Films directed by Bob Kellett
- Films set in the Roman Empire
- Films set in 79 AD
- Pompeii in popular culture
- EMI Films films
- 1971 comedy films
- Films with screenplays by Sid Colin
- Depictions of Nero on film
- Films about assassinations
- 1970s English-language films
- British comedy films
