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Title

The Last Days of Pompeii (2 of 5) - Thrown to the Lions

Plot

In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, Julia takes advantage of the chaos and casts a love spell on Marcus with the help of a priest of Isis. Their plan backfires when instead of falling for her, he become destructive and delusional. He is later sentenced to be thrown to the lions when he is falsely accused of murder.

Episode

1046

Air Dates

  • First Run - January 8, 1980
  • Repeat - July 22, 1980

Actors

Writer

Listen

Rating

44
35     9


4 Responses to Episode 1046

This episode focussed on the relationship between the main character and his love interest. In a series of twists and turns, confidences and betrayals, he is taken prisoner and thrown to the lions. Lots of attention paid to the many and conflicting religions of the time.

Jack Lotus

The Last Days of Pompeii 2 of 5: Thrown To The Lions.

Russell

The ones that I enjoy hearing over and over again love it.

Russell

I rate this episode ★★★★★ stars for EXCELLENT. Once again, I had to find this episode on other Old Time Radio websites to get the entire story; from Prologue to Epilogue. And just like the previous episode, this one was also epic. Earth-shattering disasters, dramatic dialogue, and devious plot points. Sound effects of the earthquake, temple crumbling, birds, rooster calling, howling wind, purse of gold, ringing of the gate bell, construction, footsteps, seagulls by the docks, festive music at the party, wine glasses clinking, guests murmuring, owl, bats, dungeon gate, and the ankle twist were helpful in this. And so was the music with its captivating tunes to capture the CBSRMT listeners’ imagination on what the main character is thinking or how the characters changed courses in their lives. In our Host’s Prologue, E.G. Marshall picks up where we left off where Pompeii used to be a cosmopolitan town. In ACT-1, it’s August 21st, 79 A.D. and Pompeii was a vacation town for Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians. In ACT-2, not only he points outs that there’s love, hate, and jealousy in this story, but he also points out the difference between conveniences in the 1st Century and conveniences in the 20th Century. In ACT-3, conveniences again, only they have changed, but not people. In his Epilogue, E.G. Marshall quoted Sir Walter Scott that Pompeii was “The City of the Dead,” but our Host denies that and his final thought for this chapter was, “If you wish the truth, you must dig deep.” And speaking of deep, our cast: Russell Horton (as Marcus Rufus), Evie Juster (as Oriana), Kristoffer Tabori (as Apaecides and Senator Publius Cornelius), Veleka Gray (as Julia), and Earl Hammond (as Arbaces and Diomed). SPECIAL NOTE: Himan Brown plays the role of the Centurion. I use the word “deep” to describe our cast because all of them were intense and put a lot of effort into their roles. One in particular, is Veleka Gray who played Diomed’s daughter and tries to win Marcus Rufus’ love. It’s too bad she got to be in this 5-part story only once, but it’s one of her best roles. ANOTHER SPECIAL BONUS: When you find the full recording of this episode, it has commercials of the Radio Advertising Bureau, the TV show of “Knot’s Landing,” “Out” novel by Pierre Ray, Public Service Announcements on Special Education, Free Consumer Information Catalog, Consumer Reports, National Guard & Reserve, and the Epilepsy Foundation of America. Until next time…pleasant dreams. =^D

Russell


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