VISUAL ARTS

Directed by Carmine Gallone and Amleto Palermi

Italian, 1926
35mm, colored b/w, silent, approx. 116 min.

The spectacular end of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, buried under the ashes of erupting Mount Vesuvius, was a favorite subject of early historical ?lms. The 1926 silent movie Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei is based on the story line of Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s popular novel The Last Days of Pompeii (1834). The sets of this visually lavish and, for its time, very expensive ?lm include impressive architectural facades of public buildings and luxurious interiors of private houses. The wall paintings, furniture, and sculptural decoration are partly based on archaeological evidence.

A rare print of Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei will be shown in conjunction with the lecture Images of the Doomed City: The Last Days of Pompeii in the Visual Imagination, by Adrian Stähli, Professor of Classical Archaeology, Department of the Classics, Harvard University. Stähli will give a short introduction to the movie. Print courtesy of the British Film Institute.

Free admission.

Details about the screening at the Harvard Film Archive website.