PINK FLOYD LIVE AT POMPEII

(1972) Director: Adrian Maben

DVD
NETFLIX

SUMMARY:

More Than a Movie! An Explosive Cinema Concert!

Conceived by the French director Adrian Maben as "an anti-Woodstock film," Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii was shot in October 1971 in the ancient city's vacant, 2,000-year-old amphitheatre--a venue chosen to accentuate the grandeur and spaciousness of the band's Meddle-era music.

VIDEO: FULL FEATURE (CONCERT ONLY VERSION)



REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

• Interview with director Adrian Maben

NOTES:

• The performances of "Echoes", "A Saucerful of Secrets", and "One of These Days" were filmed from October 4, 1971 to October 7, 1971. The remaining songs were filmed in a Paris studio, along with additional front projection footage for insertion into the Pompeii performances. The sequences in Paris were filmed in late 1971/early 1972, and can be distinguished by the absence of Rick Wright's beard. This version was released in theaters in September 1972 and is also included on the DVD edition as an extra feature. In August of 1974, another version was released combining the original film with supposed recording sessions of The Dark Side of the Moon at Abbey Road Studios. These sessions were actually staged for the film, as the recording of the album had been completed when these sessions were filmed in January of 1973 and the band was mixing the album at the time.
• The original release, running for one hour, only featured the live footage. A second version had additional footage of the band as they recorded or pretended to record their album The Dark Side of the Moon, as well as interviews conducted off-camera by Maben. This version ran for 80 minutes. The Director's Cut is a 2003 DVD re-release running 92 minutes. In addition to the concert and interview footage, it includes computer-generated images of outer space and of Pompeii as well as then-recent footage of Abbey road and the Apollo missions. The original "full screen" image has been chopped up in this version and is presented in "fake widescreen", although the original cut is presented on the DVD as an "added bonus". (NOTE: Highly recommend seeking out the 80 minute version)