Die Fahrten des Odysseus

I too first saw this movie when I was in my very early teens and still at school, but unlike my movie buff friend who wrote the first comment, I enjoyed this film when I saw it again many years later and still do some half a century after the first time.

Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn are excellent in their lead roles as one can imagine by their chequered careers, nevertheless I find Rossana Podesta' and Silvana Mangano very good on the eyes but rather pedestrian in their interpretations of the "forgotten women". I doubt a man like Ulysses would fall for such a verveless Circe.

Young Franco Interlenghi plays a suitable youthful Telemachus. The scenes with Polyphemus are good and the overall photography quite stunning. The final scenes when Ulysses rids his house of the unwanted suitors is very violent and gory but well performed. Unfortunately the English dialogue is dubbed and at times this is quite obvious, but after all this was an Italian production (I first saw it in the original language with my late father).

It took 10 years for the Greek hero Ulysses to make his way back to Ithica after the Trojan War. Kirk Douglas is Ulysses. He overcomes the Cyclops, the Sirens, and Circe. His final challenge is the suitors who want his wife and throne. Chief among them is Antinoos (Anthony Quinn). With help from Athena, Ulysseus regains his kingdom and Penelope. Gorgeous Silvano Mangano plays both Penelope and the enchantress Circe. Scenes focus on Silvano's hypnotic eyes and sensuous lips. In fact, the film has a way of getting right up in the faces of its characters. The film seems old by modern standards, but the strength and acting prowess of Kirk Douglas makes it relevant and worthwhile. Douglas recently turned 100 years old.

Any history class which desires to imbue students with imagination, needs this film in their library on Ancient Greece. In 1955 this movie on the wanderings of the Trojan Hero "Ulysses" made it's way across the country. In the professional opinion of many a history teacher, this movie fell far short of being historically accurate, but in it's basic rendition of Homer's classical, it proved a masterpiece. In this version, fans saw the Greek Ithican King as portrayed by Kirk Douglas. For his fans it was a perfect role and one which convinced us, he was indeed a true thespian. Through his legendary encounters with the Titan, Polythemeus, The Sirens of the rocks, and of course, Circe, the witch, he is pitted against all the ancient Gods. But it is his final challenge by the suitors who wish to claim his wife and throne, which is his greatest threat, for they are led by the champion Antinoos (Anthony Quinn), from the island of Encephelonea. Only through a special contest and with the help of Athena, can he regain his kingdom, his wife and his son. This is a classic in its own right and like our hero, has never been equaled. ****

I enjoyed it very much. I assume this was the earliest of the bunch of muscleman films that became increasingly popular with the release of the Hercules with Steve Reeves. It starts out a bit slow, but Ulysses' voyage is done wonderfully. The highlight of course is the cyclops that takes him and his men prisoner. The effects are well done, as is the cyclops make-up. Kirk Douglas makes a good Ulysses and Silvana Mangano is beautiful as his wife Penelope and seductive in the second role of the witch, Circe. If you enjoy these kinds of films, this is one of the good ones.

Kirk Douglas entered the sand and sandal genre six years before his acclaimed Spartacus with this version of Ulysses and his long voyage home from the wars of Troy. If you'll remember your classical history, and the recent movie Troy, Ulysses was the guy who finally broke the siege at Troy with that wooden horse gambit. But as the Greeks ran amuck in Troy, behaving very much like barbarians, Cassandra the high priestess of Poseidon, called on the big guy to do his very worst to Ulysses. Of course in the film Poseidon is called by his Roman name of Neptune.

As Ulysses, Kirk Douglas invests the part with his own combination of aggressiveness and charm. It ain't exactly the classics, but realize that the film was aimed at a juvenile market and it works out rather well. Even the grownups will get a good hearty laugh at how the clever Ulysses outwits the Cyclops.

Silvana Mangano does very well as the long suffering Penelope, the wife of Ulysses who's needs just aren't being met and as Circe the witch whose profession kind of scares the guys away. Anthony Quinn has a small role as one of Penelope's suitors for the hand of the presumed widow. Why he took such a small part in a film I'm not quite sure, but this would be the first of three films he did with Kirk Douglas. The next one, Lust for Life would gain Quinn a second Oscar.

Ulysses is not one of Kirk Douglas's greatest roles, but the film still holds up well today and kids and grownups will appreciate it.