Up Pompeii (1971) ⭐ 6.0 | Comedy, History (original) (raw)

Julie Ege and Frankie Howerd in Up Pompeii (1971)

Roman slave Lurcio inadvertently becomes the possessor of a scroll naming the proposed assassins of the Emperor Nero. Administering to the participants of his master's orgy guests seems smal... Read allRoman slave Lurcio inadvertently becomes the possessor of a scroll naming the proposed assassins of the Emperor Nero. Administering to the participants of his master's orgy guests seems small compared to the trouble the scroll brings, but all are in for a nasty shock when Mount V... Read allRoman slave Lurcio inadvertently becomes the possessor of a scroll naming the proposed assassins of the Emperor Nero. Administering to the participants of his master's orgy guests seems small compared to the trouble the scroll brings, but all are in for a nasty shock when Mount Vesuvius decides to erupt.

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Review

Frankie Howerd will be forever remembered as the creator of the knowing glance. He develops a relationship with the audience that lets us know that he thinks this stuff is bad too. Somehow that allows us to forgive the corny puns, lame jokes and sexist humour. "Just bear with me," he seems to be saying, "It'll all be over soon." Somehow it all worked, and Up Pompeii managed to rise above its seventies comedy contemporaries to become a classic.

The film perhaps lacks the freshness of the TV series due to the loss of the studio audience. Howerd was able to react to them in a way that made the whole show appear to be improvised. This was of course down to his genius, as everything was very well rehearsed. Despite this it's still a very enjoyable film. My only complaint is that Hammer starlet Madeline Smith is not in it more!

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Julie Ege and Frankie Howerd in Up Pompeii (1971)

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