I like Frankie Howerd and I like 'Up Pompeii', but I detest this horrid movie version from 1971. Directed by Bob Kellett ( who also made the film of 'Are You Being Served'? ), it is about as funny as being covered from head to foot in molten lava. Talbot Rothwell, writer of the television original, was presumably too busy working on the 'Carry On' films to pen this spin-off, so the job went to the normally reliant Sid Colin. In case you do not know what it is about, the historical farce stars Frankie as 'Lurcio', slave to 'Ludricrus Sextus' and his family - the sex-mad 'Ammonia', the sexy 'Erotica', and naive 'Nausius'. Each episode usually started with Lurcio talking to camera, about to recite 'The Prologue', only to be interrupted by a hag-like sooth-sayer with a habit of constantly wailing "Woe! Woe! Thrice woe"!. It was basically 'A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum' on a B.B.C. sitcom budget.
Colin's script is packed with jokes that would have been corny even back in the days of the Roman Empire. Alright, so Rothwell's jokes were none too fresh either, but on television you can get away with things like that. Apart from Frankie, no-one in the cast appeared in the series. Some very good comic actors - Patrick Cargill, Michael Hordern, Royce Mills, Bernard Bresslaw - are completely at sea. Furthermore, the producers ( Ned Sherrin and Terry Glinwood ) appear to have realised that because this is a film we can see lots of naked girls, hence we are treated to endless bare breasts ( including Maddy Smith's ) and buttocks ( yes, Julie Ege is around ). The net result is to negate what little comedy there is. With all the orgies and nude saunas going on, it sometimes seems that Lurcio has wandered by mistake into Tinto Brass' infamous 'Caligula' ( 1980 ).
The plot - such as it is - revolves around Lurcio stumbling across a plot to assassinate Emperor Nero, climaxing in the destruction of Pompeii when Vesuvius erupts. There is a coda set in modern times with Frankie as a tour guide showing tourists around the remains of the city. The film proved successful enough to generate two sequels - 'Up The Chastity Belt' ( 1972 ) and 'Up The Front' ( 1973 ), neither of which was particularly brilliant but managed to be far funnier. Luckily the series is on D.V.D. and I would recommend that you see that instead.
Colin's script is packed with jokes that would have been corny even back in the days of the Roman Empire. Alright, so Rothwell's jokes were none too fresh either, but on television you can get away with things like that. Apart from Frankie, no-one in the cast appeared in the series. Some very good comic actors - Patrick Cargill, Michael Hordern, Royce Mills, Bernard Bresslaw - are completely at sea. Furthermore, the producers ( Ned Sherrin and Terry Glinwood ) appear to have realised that because this is a film we can see lots of naked girls, hence we are treated to endless bare breasts ( including Maddy Smith's ) and buttocks ( yes, Julie Ege is around ). The net result is to negate what little comedy there is. With all the orgies and nude saunas going on, it sometimes seems that Lurcio has wandered by mistake into Tinto Brass' infamous 'Caligula' ( 1980 ).
The plot - such as it is - revolves around Lurcio stumbling across a plot to assassinate Emperor Nero, climaxing in the destruction of Pompeii when Vesuvius erupts. There is a coda set in modern times with Frankie as a tour guide showing tourists around the remains of the city. The film proved successful enough to generate two sequels - 'Up The Chastity Belt' ( 1972 ) and 'Up The Front' ( 1973 ), neither of which was particularly brilliant but managed to be far funnier. Luckily the series is on D.V.D. and I would recommend that you see that instead.