Volcanos in Massaniello [The Dumb Girl of Portici] and The Last Days of Pompeii

It was not unusual for mid 19th century historical fiction to be adapted for plays, opera, ballet, and film. Two popular melodramas with many such adaptations relied on erupting volcanoes for finales. Massaniello or The Dumb Girl of Portici concerns the Neapolitan struggle for independence. The non-speaking role of Fenella became associated with ballerinas from Fanny Elssler to Anna Pavlova, who appeared in the 1915 film. The Last Days of Pompeii, a novel of Roman decadence, spawned many epic stage and film presentations, documented here through prompt books, detailed broadsides and storyboards from the 1935 film.