Up Pompeii

I know I'm going against the tide with the above heading but it accurately sums up the movie and I will put forward arguments to explain why.

Many British sitcoms were transferred to the big screen in the 1970s. The main company involved was HAMMER (famous for producing cheesy yet top quality horror movies from the 1950s to the mid-1970s). The purpose behind such ventures was to keep high-profile British film companies alive in the face of fierce competition from American and Italian counterparts as far as horror productions go. Some transfers (i.e. ON THE BUSES, STEPTOE AND SON, RISING DAMP and PORRIDGE) were successful, mainly because the characters were kept in familiar settings and situations. Whilst others (GEORGE AND MILDRED, ARE YOU BEING SERVED?) are looked upon as complete disasters, mainly because the writers took the characters outside of their familiar settings for most of the movies.

The plots of "spin-off" movies from a British sitcom usually revolved around sending the familiar characters on holiday (these movies flopped or are widely considered disastrous) or keeping the characters in their main settings and using the medium of film to expand the scope of the humour. I think UP POMPEII actually falls outside these two categories.

Indeed, I believe the UP POMPEII movie brings the Lurcio character and the Pompeii setting to life in a way the TV series never could. Upon reading other comments about this movie, I've read complaints about the sets. Well, the sets on the TV series were far worse - they looked like cardboard (no exaggeration here!). Not even Frankie Howerd could distract me from the terrible sets of the TV series. At least the movie did attempt to build some convincing sets and I thought the producers did OK given the budget.

The TV series itself was very bland and relied entirely on the late great Frankie Howerd to carry the proceedings. The supporting actors in the TV series were simply not funny. I found the TV series unwatchable when Frankie was not on the screen.

In contrast, the movie helps Frankie by giving him first-rate talent to support him in the form of Bill Fraser, Julie Ege, Patrick Cargill, Barbara Murray, Madeleine Smith and Bernard Bresslaw. Special mention should be given to Michael Hordern, whose portrayal of Ludicrus Sextus is far superior than that played by Max Adrian in the TV series. But the best supporting actor in this movie by far is Lance Percival, who really comes into his own with the Captain Bilius character. The exchanges between him and Lurcio are hilarious and had me laughing so hard it hurt! The movie is a lot bawdier than the TV series but I actually think this is the way the franchise was meant to be anyway. It wasn't meant to be just puns, double-entendres and sexual innuendos alone (we had the CARRY ON movies, the ON THE BUSES series and numerous other places to look for that), it was meant to be all of those things but also done cheekier and more direct. With that in mind, I would say that the medium of film was the best way to present the aims of the UP POMPEII franchise.

As has been mentioned before, many of the jokes are very corny but the superb delivery by Frankie and his supporting cast make them laugh-out-loud hilarious. The slapstick elements were also telegraphed well in advance but again work due to the actors involved and some excellent one liners that followed each gag.

As others have pointed out on the comments page, Frankie Howerd built a long-lasting career on a very limited repertoire. Catchphrases such as "ooh ahh", "er missus", "titter ye not" and "it's wicked to mock the afflicted" were the main scope of his acts. Yet he did it so perfectly every time that he stayed for decades whilst other comedians came and went. Also unlike the work of other comedians, Frankie's comedy was not offensive in the least, instead being just harmless fun.

This movie contains what is perhaps Frankie Howerd's best performance outside his starring roles in CARRY ON DOCTOR and CARRY ON UP THE JUNGLE. I'd go as far as to say this was his singularly best performance, period!

So if you like British comedy and want something that surpasses the blandness of the TV series, check out this movie. It's bawdier than most forms of British comedy but still inoffensive harmless fun. Give it a try. You'll probably have a good time!

Howard has the knack of knowing when to give the audience the eye, with a just perfect leer. This film is one that shows you that it is possible to break the 4th wall to include the audience in the scene. A movie any teenage boy would love and should be viewed by all the staff at "MAXIM". When the film was first shown on TV here in North America it was a little scandalous. The English were not as prudish and had more fun that way.

This film is rubbish! I know - I've seen it 23 times! Perhaps you need to be British even to understand it. Just reading the names of the characters makes me smile.

The film has its origin in a British TV Series and was certainly much better in 30 minute chunks but, at least when they made the film, they took the effort to come up with a plot, puerile though it is. The cast is pretty well unchanged from the TV Series too.

Frankie Howerd (Lurcio) based his whole theatrical career on dodgy double intendres and this film is full of them. His habit of making asides directly to the audience via the camera is hilarious. In fact, most of the comedy lies in those two attributes. The visual side of the film, the physical comedy, is more or less one long chase scene with breaks and is not really that funny.

There are some very funny scenes though. The orgy and its aftermath and the wrestling match stand out. The ending is very clever too.

Worth a watch and far better than the two sequels it spawned, 'Up The Chastity Belt' and 'Up The Front'.

Spin off from the 70's sitcom of the same name this film spins out the same gags over an hour and twenty minutes run time and gets away with it but only just. Frankie Howerd is again Lurcio the roman slave in ancient Pompeii getting involved in the evil machinations of the emperor Nero (Patrick Cargill) and the evil Brutus and his henchmen (Lance Percival).

If you liked the TV series you'll like this is the basic rule here, to a modern audience I doubt it would play well, Frankie Howerds routine is very much of it's time and place. But its very entertaining some of the gags are sign posted miles away but Frankie's personality, playing to the audience and comic timing are what make this entertaining.

The movie feels too much like a stretched out episode to be a classic like many TV shows spun off into movies in the 70's (On the Buses, Rising Damp, Porridge etc.) but its certainly worth a look for Up Pompei or Frankie Howerd fans.

Mostly funny, occasionally hilarious 7/10

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!