Live At Pompeii - A Review From A Long Time Fan.

devofan420 · Post by **devofan420** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 8:55 am

Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii first came out in 1972 as just a concert movie which was filmed in Pompeii, Italy in October, 1971 and a studio in Paris in early 1972 and the Floyd played Echoes(which was split in half on this DVD), Careful With That Axe Eugene, A Saucerful of Secrets, One of These Days, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun and Mademoiselle Nobs. Then, director Adrian Maben filmed the band in early 1973 as they were finishing the recording of their classic contribution to rock history The Dark Side of the Moon. The studio sequences have long since been argued that they were staged sessions or actual recording sections, we'll never know. The version that was issued on video in the 1980s first hit US theaters in August, 1974 and was the version that everyone knows and loves. Now, the DVD has a director's cut that features the original film plus new bits of film, the studio sessions and lost film footage of the band recording overdubs on the parts that got lost on tape from the actual filming in Pompeii. Plus as bonuses on the DVD, you get the original European 1972 theatrical version without the interview and studio sections, plus interviews with director Adrian Maben and other odds and ends. Storm Thorgerson did a excellent job with the repackaging. Kudos to the reissue of Pink Floyd at Pompeii - The Director's Cut DVD, highly recommended.

David Smith · Post by **David Smith** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 11:43 am

Off to the Pink Floyd section of the forum for this me thinks

I didn't like the director's cut much, extra footage was nice but the computer effects were awful and seemed to be content on giving pink floyd the very space image they wanted to shake off for years

Powderfinger · Post by **Powderfinger** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 12:07 pm

David Smith wrote:I didn't like the director's cut much, extra footage was nice but the computer effects were awful and seemed to be content on giving pink floyd the very space image they wanted to shake off for years

Yeah, the shots of the planets and things weren't exactly why I bought the dvd. He wanted it to look like as aliens, who had heard the music of Pink Floyd and wanted to hear more, so they came to visit earth.

Post by **Keith Jordan** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 2:49 pm

Syd. wrote:
David Smith wrote:I didn't like the director's cut much, extra footage was nice but the computer effects were awful and seemed to be content on giving pink floyd the very space image they wanted to shake off for years
Yeah, the shots of the planets and things weren't exactly why I bought the dvd. He wanted it to look like as aliens, who had heard the music of Pink Floyd and wanted to hear more, so they came to visit earth.

As a theme, it is very weak and the graphics are a bit rubbish to be honest. I have a copy because a company sent it to me for free but would have bought it for the higher quality sound and video.

RogerWatersGirl · Post by **RogerWatersGirl** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 4:50 pm

I agree with you all, the space thing is not very good. I like the new interviews seen with the oyster bits...Thoes are very humourus!
And, the sound is excellent along with the colour..But, yes, the space thing isn't sooo effective...But, should we complain? Because the version without the space graphics is still on the DVD...One other thing I did not particularily understnad is the use of the Underground during the jam in Echoes pt. 1

Maybe we shouldn't totally complain because it was good...And there isn't much Floyd on DVD...So, all in all, I would still give it 5/5 the extra black and white interviews are worth it all in my opinion!!!

Powderfinger · Post by **Powderfinger** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 5:04 pm

RogerWatersGirl wrote:I agree with you all, the space thing is not very good. I like the new interviews seen with the oyster bits...Thoes are very humourus!

The interviews are very good I think. They show how the members of Pink Floyd actually work together and how they came to write such beautifull albums and songs.

decampos · Post by **decampos** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 10:35 pm

I bought the DVD today from tescos. I was mighty excited.

Now I wish I was dead.

They should have completely left it alone. The concert is so iconic and 'of the time', why did the director feel the need to cheapen the whole thing and rob it of so much charm? The dated-looking computer graphic sequences of planets and space and early Pompeii 'reconstructions' was ... bizarre to say the least. Their inclusion (and ham-fisted execution) utterly puzzled me. The titles looked rubbish. It seemed zero thought was put into the typography that replaced such a strong bold look and feel in the original. They used some heinous oriental font which looked totally weak and inappropriate ... and thentreated it with some kind of rippling water effect. WHY?!

The extra bits of footage were certainly interesting but they just should have included them in the 'extra features' section.

The end credits are diabolically bad and so cheap! Appearing at an angle at the corner of the screen and scrolling upwards. It looks like the end credits to some Turkish soap opera or something.

'It's not all that bad' I told myself; 'they've included the original film'. Oh no they haven't. The 'original film' on the DVD differs from my original VHS copy. The titles are completely different looking. On my video, the lettering in a much stronger typeface and looks very much like an Arthouse film, which it was; very bold and stylistically 'of the time'. The titles on the 'original film' on the DVD are weedy and look like they were set on a BBC micro.

Those last points were minor but on the whole ... they p*ssed on a Picasso.
Anyone agree?

Tinkerbell · Post by **Tinkerbell** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 12:38 am

Thanks for the review; I was planning on buying it, but now I won't

decampos wrote:Now I wish I was dead.

This cracked me up....

bmet · Post by **bmet** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 3:02 am

Rogerwatersgirl wrote:
One other thing I did not particularily understnad is the use of the Underground during the jam in Echoes pt. 1

Actually I thought that was rather a clever segue to begin the first studio footage sequence.Is Abbey Road studio not found at that Subway stop?
Then we see the outside area of Abbey Road with the Graffitti on the front
walls (With obvious references to the Floyd on it).Then we cut to the studio
footage.Not bad considering there is about a 30 Year span between the outside scenes and the in-studio scenes.

I agree with most people regarding new footage and computer animation.
But there are some places where the new stuff works well!
-Some of the new lava explosions during the "Eugene" scream are quite
good and colourful.
-Everything about the "Set the Controls" piece is great.The time lapse
shot of the harbour sequence,even the computer animation of the sun is
great!
-Most of the computer animation of Pompeii (Cityscapes) is rather intrusive mingling in with the shots of the ruins but I do like the attempt
in the end of Echoes Pt.2 when the depiction of the erruption takes place
(even though the B&W footage of the lava coming down the street - used
in the middle of the film would have gone better at this spot!)
-As in a previous topic,I expressed the similar feeling that the whole aliens
visiting Earth to hear the Floyd was rather a silly notion.I do think,however,that the pull back effect at the end of the film was a good
idea (ie.Start at Earth and continue to pull back until you hit the Milky Way) - that was good.It went well with the end music! - and I do think they could have started the film by reversing that sequence rather than add Rocket footage!!!

I give the new DVD a 8 1/2 out of 10 .Certainly worth getting for all the extra stuff plus you can watch the original film if you want! If we are to settle for all these releases as the equivalent to a "Beatles Anthology" release I say keep 'em coming! Let's try to release the "Superstars 1973" Footage seen on DSOTM Classic Albums show.I still haven't seen the Barrett Docuementary in Canada yet.....hopefully soon!

TheVegetableMan · Post by **TheVegetableMan** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 7:17 am

Bmet Posted:
I give the new DVD a 8 1/2 out of 10.....I still haven't seen the Barrett Docuementary in Canada yet.....hopefully soon!

Based on the '73/videotape version of the film, I'd give the directors cut a 5. I ranted about this yesterday in another Pompeii DVD topic so I won't repeat myself here.

DId anyone else notice that they switched the running order of Set The Controls and KNobs??????

I have the Barrett Documentry and it is killer. Maybe the USA/CANADA release will come with xtra footage of cheesy space shots, unwarrented alien visitation and a really awful computer concept of what it looked like to be in swinging London in 1966/67. Won't that be NEAT!!!!!!

decampos · Post by **decampos** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 11:23 am

bmet wrote:
I give the new DVD a 8 1/2 out of 10

I give it 2/10. The only addition I'd have liked to see were some alternative camera angles during 'One these days' (I've always felt that was the weakest part of the original film .... who wants to watch Nick's sloppy-ass drumming for the whole song?) but, as that somewhat 'past-his-prime' director said, they'd lost ALL the rushes. (LOSERS!). So they added another concept: space.

Christ.

RogerWatersGirl · Post by **RogerWatersGirl** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 8:45 pm

I noticed that they changed the order of Set the controls and Knobs! I don't know if its just me, but, I think they have shortened some of the songs, esp. Saucerful of Secrets and Set The Controls...
And, I did like the way they blended the studio recordings of Echoes into the Pompeii bit. It was neat to see them sing it in studio and in Pompeii...And the volcanic sequence in "Eugene" was good, but, I don't like the other footage, like the water and stuff, its too bright for that song...I liked the bit in the original where you saw the band walking on the hills...Far more effective!

Meddler · Post by **Meddler** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 11:18 pm

Im watching it again tonight, I'm so excited. This time... Surround Sound!

Useful Idiot · Post by **Useful Idiot** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 11:38 pm

Meddler wrote:This time... Surround Sound!

Niiiiice.

TheVegetableMan · Post by **TheVegetableMan** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 6:39 am

Surround Sound?????

Unforyunately the DVD was only mastered in STEREO......it's not a 5.1 DVD.