L'Odissea

At 44 minutes, this is a massive epic for 1911, and the production values, especially the set designs and decorations are great. There are some beautiful scenes in it, particularly the combination of split-screen photography and forced perspective used in the cave of Polyphemus, and the beauty and fine crowd direction of Alcinous' court. Unfortunately, there are three directors credited on this one. It's impossible to say who was responsible for what, although the cameraman, Emilio Roncarolo offers praiseworthy work.

The credits say the movie's look is based on drawings found in a library. If true, this means it's an evolutionary link to the modern practice of storyboarding, in which the shooting script is first converted into a sort of graphic novel to serve as a guide to the director. That, in turn, evokes the tableau vivant, a type of stage performance in which the performers reproduce a famous scene, painting or statuary group. The trick was to remain still, and this was often used for 19th-Century pornographic shows in which disrobed nymphs bathed. The details of British and American law in particular held that so long as no one moved, it was art, not dirty performances.

Because THE ODYSSEY is one of the foundational works of Western Art, it should come as no surprise that this is told using the Chapter Heading method, in which the audience is told what they are going to see, and then are shown it. Because of the strong adherence to those pictures (reportedly) found in a library, I found myself picking out moments, and realizing that moment was the picture they used. When they use such methods nowadays, usually in movie versions of Frank Miller, I find the splash panel moment, and it looks clumsy to me; films are not graphic novels. Here, though, when cinema was still very young, it's a clear attempt for workers in the field to find the best techniques.

Homer's Odyssey remains one of literature's most famous stories, to the point where the word refers to any epic journey. Probably the most well known adaptation to us in the 21st century is the Coen brothers' "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", which moves the action to Depression-era Mississippi. I recently saw a 1954 Italian adaptation called "Ulysses", starring Kirk Douglas in the title role. It turns out that the first ever big screen adaptation was this 40-minute Italian movie from 1911. We can forgive the archaic special effects in "L'odissea"; after all, cinema was in its infancy at the time. It's still a fun time. Available on YouTube (where the version has German intertitles).

An historic piece of film. You must forgive the primitive special effects which, for example, make the cyclops appear to be only eight feet tall. In its day it was probably considered an amazing film. The acting is silent-movie style overdone. The costumes and special effects are laughable. The film has been chopped down to only the barest of the original Homer story. As a high school English teacher, I show parts of this film to my class after we read Book 9 (the cyclops story). The class alternately howls and laughs at what they are watching. Nonetheless, movies like this set the stage for all the big extravaganzas that were to follow. If you want to preview this film, you can find snippets of this movie on several online sites.

One of hundreds of movies produced by Milano films, L'Odissea is good enough to let us know why Italy was one of the world's top film producers before WWI. At a time in which most films ran for about 10-12 minutes, this half an hour film (part of it is said to be missing, so its length could be even longer) is quite an accomplishment.

The Oddysey is told to every last detail: from the departure from Ithaca to the adventures involving the cyclops Polyphemus, the sirens, the monster Scylla, the nymph Calypso, Nausicaa and her father Alcinous, the return of Ulysses and his fight against the suitors disguised as a beggar. The style is a little old-fashioned (anything prior to The Birth of a Nation could be considered as such) but the intertitles guide us very well throughout the entire movie (contrary to others in which we can easily get lost, take L'assommoir (1909) as an example). The special effects are good enough: Polyphemus is huge compared to Ulysses and his crew, and Scylla is quite impressive for a 1910 monster.

I believe comments from other users to have been very unfair to this movie that depicts the passages of the Odyssey quite well. The copy I got to see was a little worn; it could be one of the reasons why this movie does not rank as high as others but it definitely deserves a good chance.

An impressive early Italian epic telling the tale of Ulysses' arduous journey home after the taking of Troy and his vanquishing of his chunky wife's army of suitors. The acting is sometimes over the top, but the special effects are impressive for the era and the pacing is good.