Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Last Days of Pompeii

The vicissitudes of film preservation (or lack thereof) have turned The Last Days of Pompeii (1913) from a solid tableaux epic into an analysis of film representation. Also possibly a meditation on classicism and modernism in the approaching fascist years. The print is damaged exactly where it should be, in the eruption scene, proving that great art can sometimes occur accidentally.