AllMovie

Previously adapted for the screen in 1908, Bullwer-Lytton's novel The Last Days of Pompeii was remade in Italy in 1913. Directing this opulent "spectacular" was Mario Caserini, who'd previously helmed such cinemadaptations as Othello, Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth and Siegfried. The film was distributed in America by the entrepreneurial George Kleine, who unlike many of his contemporaries believed in the marketability of multi-reel "feature" films. Highlighted by a thrilling chariot race and an outsized volcanic eruption, The Last Days of Pompeii was screened at New York's Regent Theater with a specially commissioned musical score, utilizing themes from Aida and Lohengrin, among many others.