Those of us who are older can remember when we were taught about Greek history. It was coupled with a bit of background concerning Greek mythology and the Gods ruled by Zeus. My guess is kids today have no clue what I would be talking about with the exception of hearing some of the names in WONDER WOMAN. I don’t know which was first but I took a keen interest in Greek mythology when I was young. It was either a book on mythology I found at the library and read every time I went there or it was the movie JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS that inspired my curiosity.
At that time the sword and sandal movies were popular still.
Most of these were being made in Italy and then dubbed to air on various
Saturday morning programming of various hosts. It seemed like every week we had
either Hercules or one of his sons battling someone. Then one day I saw a movie
about the most legendary Greek hero of all time, Ulysses. The movie of the same
name was fantastic to my young mind. Viewing it all these years later it is
still a captivating movie.
The film opens not with our hero but his wife Penelope (Silvana Mangano). She is besieged by would be suitors there to claim her as their bride and take over as King of Ithaca. It’s been more than ten years since Ulysses went off to fight the Trojan War and he has yet to return. Now these men overstay the hospitality of his home and the kindness of his wife and son Telemachus. In an effort to put them off Penelope has said that she will not marry until she finishes a tapestry of the battle. But each night she undoes what she’s completed during the day.
On the shores of nearby Phaeacia, a man washes ashore and is
found by Nausicaa, the daughter of King Alcinous. He has no memory of who he
is, where he’s been or where he was headed. Over time the man and Nausicaa fall
in love and plan to marry. But on their wedding day he stands looking at the
sea and his memories return.
The man is Ulysses (Kirk Douglas) and his travels were fraught with danger. After destroying a statue of Neptune in the city of Troy, he and his men were cursed to suffer the wrath of the sea god. Suffer they do encountering the cyclops, the singing Sirens that lure men to their death upon the rocks and the deceptive witch Circe who longs for companionship. Ulysses has tossed at sea until he reached this port.
Penelope in the meantime has been found out. Her main suitor
is Antinous (Anthony Quinn) and as the group continues to disrespect her
household she must agree to determine a suitable husband from them. She does so
by saying she will marry the winner of the games they will have. At the last
minute she changes the games and has them attempt to string the bow of Ulysses,
something no man has ever been able to do. Not only that, they must shoot and
arrow through a set of axes in place. Will she find a suitable beau or will
Ulysses find his way home in time?
The movie is typical of the time with robes and loincloths, sandals and swords, adventure on the high seas and battles pitting one set against another. Through it all Ulysses is depicted as the most heroic man among them, destined to be a leader. But his crew are heroic in their own right as is the wife he left behind, determined to wait for his return.
Watching this today I was surprised at how well it’s stood
the test of time. The dialogue in the film is actually very solid unlike many
films at the time. The cinematography is beautiful here. The acting is
amazingly subtle for a film in this genre. And Mangano not only does well as
Penelope but plays Circe as well offering two different personalities. Douglas
no doubt was having a fun time here and would go on to star in two more films
in the genre, THE VIKINGS and SPARTACUS.
The movie is still entertaining and might inspire some young person to look into Greek mythology much like it did me years ago. This release of the film from Kino Lorber includes both the English and Italian versions of the film, an audio commentary track by film historian Tim Lucas, alternate U.S. opening titles and a collection of trailers.
My own personal history made this one I had to add to my collection. But I would think there would be plenty of fans out there who would enjoy watching this again as well. It’s one worth picking up.
No comments:
Post a Comment