Helen of Troy (1956)

Thanks for the memories!

Redundant and unnecessary.

Just perfect...

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Another sword 'n sandals epic from the 50s, that I'd never heard of till Turner Classic Movies. Agree with everyone's sneers at the wooden blondies in the starring roles and gay ignorance of the immortal story of Homer's. What I dislike the most was the rotten parody of Hector's farewell to Andromache, the most moving passage in the whole epic. The baby son (about a year old in Homer, around five in the movie) is frightened by "the fierce plume that nodded from (Hector's) helmet." A real prince of five would have no fear of helmets: ( Alexander killed his first man when he was twelve), nor would his father say anything like "may he never need one." Homer has Hector laugh and dandle the baby saying, "may he be a great hero, a better man than his father." They also leave out the parting comment of wise Andromache "as far the host, place them by the fig tree, where the wall is weakest." There actually is such a weak spot in the excavated walls of Bronze Age Troy.

Surprisingly good, many factors adding to an excellent Cinemascope version of the Trojan war, above all the script, which is clear and consistently relevant and sticking to the subject; and although very far from Homer, this variation of the intrigue is impressively intelligent and definitely logical. The first half of the film deals with the Spartan argument, (Homer's epic doesn't start until 75 minutes into the film,) Achilles (Stanley Baker) making an impressing entry, with Brigitte Bardot as Helen's slave girl who is given for the night to Paris by Menelaos but instead helps him escape - she is only 22 but striking - you recognize her figure before you see her face. Niall McGinnis is very convincing as the jealous Menelaos whose jealousy Helen finds it necessary to escape, while most surprising of all is the convincing excellence of Paris especially but also Helen. Jacques Sernas (totally unknown to me) is the perfect Paris, a beautiful young man of great charm, sympathetic intelligence and audacious insolence, and Rossana Podestà (also unknown to me) is a very credible Helena, masking her real identity to get away with Paris from Menelaos.Among the Trojans, Cedric Hardwicke makes a very plausible Priam, he is given the most famous quote of the Trojan war, taking Helen round her chin: "So this is the face that launched a thousand ships," (Christopher Marlowe), and also Nora Swinburne as Hecuba, Ronald Lewis as Aeneas and Janette Scott as Cassandra, a Trojan parallel to Brigitte Bardot. Only Hector is not quite convincing, Harry Andrews being the wrong type, (Eric Bana is the better compensation in the 2004 Wolfgang Peterson version), and all the battle scenes are dramatically violent and bloody enough.The action is swift and never dull, the dialogue is comfortably fluent all the way, the story is well but not exaggeratedly sugared with romanticism, and to all this comes Max Steiner's glorious music, culminating in the orgy of the wooden horse.Of course, you have to make a comparison with the 2004 "Troy" version. None is better than the other. Both have their great credits and very few lacks. The 2004 is technically more excellent, while Robert Wise's contribution (in the shadow of Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments" of the same year) is more realistic and human.The Trojan adventure is such a great story that it's impossible to make a mess of it. As far as I know, no one has ever been unsuccessful in dealing with it - the characters are too individually outstanding, all of them, not to naturally add to a great show. But of all the film versions, I think Robert Wise, with his concise and clever editing of the story, with its flamboyantly efficient story-telling (it's less than 2 hours,) and exciting virtuosity constituting an excellent epic for all time, has made the best of it.

I've yet to see the story of the Trojan war done true justice on the screen; Wolfgang Petersen's TROY was the most recent and most lavish version of the tale, full of CGI-enhanced spectacle, and probably my favourite to date, but it was far from a perfect film. HELEN OF TROY, a Robert Wise-directed retelling of the story, isn't bad, but it's a film which has dated in the worst way with a lot of stagy Hollywood actors pacing around and delivering their lines in the most old-fashioned way imaginable.The story is one we all know by now: Paris kidnaps Helen from the Greeks and takes her back to Troy, leading King Agamemnon to set sail with a massive army to get her back. HELEN OF TROY focuses on character work over action, although there are a handful of stunning scenes of massive armies on the march and one or two decent battles to boot.Sadly, the script is sub par for the most part, lacking the fun of, say, a later Italian peplum picture. The cast is also undistinguished. Rossana Podesta is your typical Hollywood idea of beauty, with a face full of make up and little acting talent, and the other romantic leads are less than impressive. Stanley Baker's Achilles seems disdainful of the whole thing. Fans of this sort of thing might enjoy it more, but I never really got into HELEN OF TROY the way I wanted to.

Greek colonies go to war after Queen Helen of Sparta defects with a robust Trojan prince. Rather tacky costume spectacle (directed by Robert Wise!) is skimpy on action and adventure, high on soapy theatrics. The scantily-clad cast features lackluster Rossana Podestà as Helen and Stanley Baker as Achilles, neither of whom make the slightest impression. Cedric Hardwicke pops up in a colorful supporting part, but most notable is Brigitte Bardot in an early role as "mousey" brunette slave-girl Andraste. Rather ridiculous time-filler whose depiction of history is suspect; it is sure to infuriate any would-be scholars, but those looking for Cecil B. DeMille-styled histrionics will get a laugh or two. ** from ****