There was a time when the Americans took their movies and turned them into TV series, and the British took their TV series and turned them into movies. This happened a lot with situation comedies, and Up Pompeii! was one of those.
And, as was often the case with such movies, the conversion wasn't 100% successful. The main reason, in most cases, was the absence of a studio audience, and that is certainly true here. The other reason, with specific reference to this particular comedy vehicle, is that much of the reason why the TV series worked so well, was Howerd's direct interaction with the audience.
Up Pompeii! is probably unique in terms of the way that the 4th wall is not so much transparent as completely non-existent as far as Howerd's narrator/protagonist/chorus/victim Lurcio is concerned. The events of the plot amble along and Lurcio dips in and out of them, keeping the audience in his confidence all the while - for the rest of the cast, the 4th wall is completely intact.
This conceit works brilliantly in the TV studio with a live audience, but less well, when Howerd's intimate asides are made to a movie camera and picked up by a cinema audience or, these days, a home DVD audience.
Having said that, this movie conversion, with a higher sauciness quotient than the TV series and a small amount of nudity, is a fairly happy remembrance of a unique contribution to UK screen comedy.
And, as was often the case with such movies, the conversion wasn't 100% successful. The main reason, in most cases, was the absence of a studio audience, and that is certainly true here. The other reason, with specific reference to this particular comedy vehicle, is that much of the reason why the TV series worked so well, was Howerd's direct interaction with the audience.
Up Pompeii! is probably unique in terms of the way that the 4th wall is not so much transparent as completely non-existent as far as Howerd's narrator/protagonist/chorus/victim Lurcio is concerned. The events of the plot amble along and Lurcio dips in and out of them, keeping the audience in his confidence all the while - for the rest of the cast, the 4th wall is completely intact.
This conceit works brilliantly in the TV studio with a live audience, but less well, when Howerd's intimate asides are made to a movie camera and picked up by a cinema audience or, these days, a home DVD audience.
Having said that, this movie conversion, with a higher sauciness quotient than the TV series and a small amount of nudity, is a fairly happy remembrance of a unique contribution to UK screen comedy.