User Reviews

As a fan of Greek Mythogy, Helen of Troy is the closest I've seen reenactment of the Trojan War. Under the Direction of Director Robert Wise, this is a well produced version in telling the story.

As most people know the ending it was still sad, they had it made, but the advice given by Helen "Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts", was ignored and thus the downfall of the City of Troy.

All in all I did enjoy this version, I don't think anyone else will disagree

In comparing this version of Helen Of Troy with the more recent Troy it's quite the tossup. Both didn't quite live up to expectations, the casting in a few places doesn't quite work. There was also different emphasis placed on the classical figures in each film. This version also uses a cast of thousands and in the current version, computer graphics are used to show the mass armies of both sides.

I never understood why 20th Century Fox never thought to film this with Tyrone Power, the role of Paris seems like such a good fit for him. Jacques Sernas was adequate, but not more than that. Rosanna Podesta is one magnificent looking Helen in a role that asks nothing more than being the first celebrity romance in history.

I'd be hard pressed to choose between Peter O'Toole in Troy and Cedric Hardwicke. Each so well portrays the world weary and war weary Priam so well. Hecuba is reduced to a cipher in the current version. But Nora Swinburne is not just a magnificent queen, but a caring mother for her rambunctious brood of Trojan princes and one princess.

My favorite as he's likely to be in any film he's in is Stanley Baker. There is quite a difference between him and Brad Pitt. Brad was a reluctant warrior as in Homer's epic. But Achilles as Baker realizes him is just a warrior who likes battle with the zest of a warrior who knows the gods have given him near invincibility. Baker brings so much passion to anything he does, he usually blows me away with any performance.

Next to the stories of the Bible, Homer's epics are probably the most universally known tales and everyone is a critic. For me this Helen Of Troy is a good if not great retelling of the tale.

It is good for the viewer to see this cinemascope spectacular from 1956 after seeing the new TROY with Brad and Eric. HELEN OF TROY as directed by craftsman Robert Wise is very pleasingly made and with excellent action and spectacle - especially in the well populated fiery siege scenes. No CGI in those days, there really was a couple of thousand dressed and armed extras running all over the huge set. Apparently Robert Wise is on record as having said he took the $6 million assignment because he hadn't yet directed a spectacular....! Told from a different perspective than the 2004 version, this 50s view is from the point of Paris as opposed to Archilles in the new one. It would be like the new one being told from Orlando Bloom's perspective rather than from Brad Pitt's. HELEN OF TROY on DVD has good extras including the TV specials made with Gig Young as a promo of the time. The huge set created in Italy was recycled into SODOM AND GOMORRAH given the orange pillars and layout. HELEN OF TROY has excellent Warnercolour and beautiful art direction. It is a good film and well worth seeing after you see TROY as a companion/chaser.

I have waited over 20 years for this film to show up, thought it had been lost. Though not quite accurate according the Greek Mythology, I enjoyed this film as I am a Greek Mythology fan, many such films are not often made very well, this one as well as Jason and the Argonauts stand out, maybe because Robert Wise did the directing and it was not dubbed. A great fan for Greek Mythology fans.

Spectacular and Hollywood style renditíon based on Troy war with splendid cast and breathtaking battle scenes.When París : Jacques Sernas escapes with Helen : Rosana Podesta there takes place the Troy war. Helen is the beautiful wife of Menelao , Sparta King, : Neal MacGuinnis, when she falls for París , son of Troy king Priamo : Cedric Hardwicke, both of them escape. This event lead to the Siege of Troy.Director Robert Wise picked two new Italian stars: Sernas and Podesta to play the íntimate lovers in this impressive as well as epic tale based on the known poem written by Homero: Iliada. Dealing with love , battles , Goddess : Aphrodita and Atenea , death and the motive led up to it . While tension among Greeks divide the camp giving hope the Trojan . As Greek warriors under command of Menelaus , Agamenon , Ulysses , and Achilles : Stanley Baker get to hide out in the Trojan horse when they take the Wooden Beast into the Troy city and they are successful.

This monumental and epic retelling contains a moving love story , Drama, tragic events , and overwhelming battles with a cast of thousands. After a hardworking filming the results were only fair and decent. The picture ignores true deeds for lavish and high budgeted effects, including a great number of extras and a lot of war machines.In the movie shows up numerous historical and mythological roles as Priamo: Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Hecuba well played by Nora Swinburne , Agamemmon performed by Robert Douglas , as Menelaus interpreted by Neal MacGuinnis , Ulysses : Torin Thatcher, Hector : Harry Andrews , Achilles: Stanley Baker , Cassandra : Janette Scott , Ajax : Maxwell Reed , Patroclus : Terence Longdon , among others.

This events about Troy war have been adapted on various films : Silent movie titled The Private life of Helen of Troy by Michael Curtiz 1927 with Maria Corda , Lewis Stone ; Italian versión 1962 by Giorgio Ferroni with Steve Reeves , Juliette Mayniel, Lidia Alfonsi, Mimmo Palmara; Italian recounting titled Fury of Achilles by Marino Girolami with Gordon Mitchell , Jacques Bergerac , Gloria Milland , Ennio Girolami and Troy by Wolfgang Petersen, with Brad Pitt, Diana Kruger, Rose Byrne , Orlando Bloom , Brian Cox. And a TV series 2003 by John Kent Harrison with Matthew Mardsen , Sienna Guilery, Rufus Sewell , Joe Montana,Daniel La Pine, James Callis , and Katie Blake as Cassandra.

Based on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, it's the story of the Trojan War. It's a grand old Hollywood epic from Warner Bros. They are shooting in Italy. The cast is international. The lead character is Paris which is a little odd. He always struck me as a bratty teenager. Of course, that's not the Paris in this movie. They are making him the hero and the Greeks as the villains. It's love against the world. I don't buy it, but that's what they're selling. The dialogue is a bit stiff. It's trying to be a Shakespearean tragedy. On top of that, the production is big. It's huge in fact. It's an old Hollywood epic in that sense. They really have ships and war engines. They have some big sets. They have masses of extras. It's very big and the battles are big. Whatever flaws this has, it's worth it to see all the construction and destruction.

As most people probably know from reading the Iliad by Homer, "Helen" (Rossana Podesta) was the most beautiful woman in the world and happened to be married to "King Menelaus" (Niall MacGinnis) of Sparta. "Paris" (Jacques Sernas) was a Trojan prince who got shipwrecked near Sparta and upon seeing Helen fell in love and then managed to take her back to Troy with him. Some accounts say that Helen was kidnapped by Paris but others say she left of her own choosing. In any case this abduction resulted in all of the Greek city-states joining forces to besiege the city of Troy in order to return Helen back to Sparta. Now, as I stated earlier, since most people are probably familiar with the story of the Trojan War I probably don't need to elaborate any further. That said although this movie isn't completely true to the Iliad it is an interesting interpretation of the Trojan War and since there are other Greek sources with slightly different variations I suppose this version is as acceptable as anything else. Be that as it may I thought the casting of both Helen and Paris were good choices and each of them played their parts quite well. I also liked the cinematography which was excellent for its time. Accordingly, I believe that viewers who appreciate epic adventures of this type will thoroughly enjoy this particular movie and I rate it as above average.

Now over sixty years old, this almost epic film pales in comparison to other more notable sword and sandal movies. The scale of the film cannot be faulted, hundreds of extras & huge lavish sets are evident, while in Robert Wise the piece is given a well regarded director to chart its course.

However, the problems are all too evident. First off is that the film is terribly pedestrian for the first hour, a tepid script fails to engage and at times is unintentionally funny. Then there are major cast issues. Taking the leads of Paris & Helen are Jacques Sernas & Rossana Podestà respectively. They look the part, both of them undeniably pretty, but neither of them can act for toffee. Filmed in Rome, Italy, it begs the question on if the casting director walked around Lazio and picked the two blondest people available for the roles!?...

In support of the Blondie's are a host of usually fine performers, Cedric Hardwicke, Stanley Baker, Niall MacGinnis, Harry Andrews, Torin Thatcher & Robert Douglas, but this is still a mixture of actors either too old for their roles, poorly written, or in the case of Douglas, an underused important character (Agamemnon). Shifting away from the awful back projection work, the action sequences at least hold up as competent construction.

There's enough here in the second hour to please the sword & sandal fan, but if it's enough to make this a safe recommendation to the potential first time crowd? well I wouldn't stake my life on it you know!. It's a genre I personally love, so I wondered why I hadn't heard about it long before now, after viewing it, it became evident why, it's just not any good. A generous 4/10 from me for the siege of Troy action construction, the stunt work throughout and for Baker's moody show as Achilles.

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.

The first thing I read about this movie was that it was terrible and that the first lady even though very gifted as far as bust is concerned was a nightmare when it comes to acting. However when I saw this film I had to disagree with those critics who tried to ruin a good movie. Even though the sets are nothing to those of "Ben-Hur", "Cleopatra" and other screen giants the sets of Cinecitta are stupendous. The colour is magnificent and the acting is quite good. It is true that the part of the heroine could have portrayed some more fragility, still Ms. Podesta' was quite satisfying. The cinematography is very good and the story never lingers. It is action-packed and is bound to marvel anyone who likes this genre.

Paramount and Cecil B. DeMille kick-started the 1949-66 wave of ancient world epics with the biblical tale Samson and Delilah, while MGM and Fox made their mark with gospel spin-off stories Quo Vadis and The Robe respectively. Warner Brothers were a bit slower to jump on the bandwagon, and when they did the fables they chose were refreshingly pagan. In 1954 they produced the delightfully silly Land of the Pharaohs, and followed it up with this, one of the best-known and most enduring myths of ancient Greece.

Pictures like this have a reputation for being somewhat corny and insincere. And Helen of Troy is a shameless part of that tradition. It is admittedly a neat and fast-moving retelling of the legend, but its dialogue ranges from laughable to banal. Characters make wooden statements that were obviously someone's idea of ancient wisdom. Slaves talk back to their masters without so much as a telling off. What is particularly inept is the way the writers obviously felt they had to get in famous lines like "The face that launched a thousand ships" and "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts", so we have to listen to them bending the dialogue towards these clichés, to the point where they sound utterly trite – "Hmm, that's a lot of ships out there, at least a few hundred… no I'd say a thousand. And what launched them, eh?"

Other than poor writing, another thing that tended to make these epics lacking in intimacy was poor use of the new Cinemascope aspect ratio. This was a big problem in The Robe, which was the earliest release in that format, but Helen of Troy's director Robert Wise handles the wider image with care. While he takes full advantage of the extra space for crowds and spectacles, for the more intimate scenes he brings the performers closer to the camera, and mutes the backgrounds so as not to overwhelm the moment. He also makes great use of tiny bits of light or movement, especially the recurring fire motif, to draw our attention to certain bits of the screen, defying the tendency for individuals to get lost in a big screen. One of the best examples of Wise's control here is the first scene at the Spartan palace where Paris and Ajax have their knuckleduster dual. It's pretty clear that Jack Sernas and Maxwell Reed fight like, well, like a couple of bad actors, but Wise instead focuses us on the fervour of the crowd to give us a more savage impression of the brawl. He then moves in to close-ups of Niall MacGinnis and Rossana Podesta against plainer backgrounds, but still with a little movement in the frame to match their emotions.

But all this sensitive direction cannot save us from some appalling acting performances. I can see why Sernas and Podesta were cast in the lead roles. They are both young and beautiful, and their unfamiliar faces give them a freshness and innocence. But they can't act, and the dubbing doesn't help. It's not all bad though. Niall MacGinnis gives a tremendous performance. He boils the character of Menelaus down to nothing more than a jealous husband, and his intense manner dominates the screen. Stanley Baker is also really good, radiating thoughtless aggression with his every move. As for the rest, no-one really stands out or satisfies, even such worthy names as Cedric Hardwicke and Nora Swinburne.

The Warner Brothers epics of the 50s were really little more than B-picture with A-budgets. Like the equivalent productions at rival studios, they featured gargantuan sets, hordes of extras and breathtaking spectacles, but they also suffered from weak scripts and dull casts. Still, some of Robert Wise's best efforts up to this point were actual B-pictures that he had treated with credibility and managed to eke some depth and sentiment out of. It is his intelligent handling of the elements in the frame plus the handful of classy performances that raise this one just a little above a mediocrity.

As a kind of postscript to this comment, here are a few miscellaneous points of interest. Max Steiner's score has his usual habit of commenting hysterically on every line or movement, but there are some nice little musical touches to the scene of the Greeks marching on Troy that are worth listening for. Later on, have a look at those siege towers. Isn't it convenient that the trapdoors fit exactly between the battlements of the Trojan walls? They must have got someone to go round with a tape measure before they built them. And finally, listen out for an early use of the Wilhelm scream sound effect, decades before it became hip and ironic.

I can't believe some of the comments here in the reviews. The film is dated of course, and from our comfortable viewpoint in the age of CGG a lot of the special effects are deeply unconvincing now. But even allowing for this, Helen of Troy is so bad that it is almost laughable.

The scripting is awful, just awful, with no characterisation at all. The performances suffer as a result, you can see the likes of Hardwicke and Andrews writhing in an agony of embarrassment as they deliver the most ridiculous shallow trite codswallop lines. The writers seem to feel the need to explain almost everything in a dreadful didactic screenplay that allows the viewer to decide nothing for him/herself at all. The beginning of the movie spells out the historical background as if no one had ever heard of ancient Greece; I know they had American audiences to take into consideration, but the patronising way we are told everything twice to make sure we understood the action is really awful.

I honestly can't believe the comments above describing this movie as a great epic film. Even allowing for the comparatively primitive cinematography and the relative sophistication of today's audience, this movie truly stinks.

Come on, IMDb'ers! Get your stuff right. Warner Brothers was the studio and they usually forced their producer/directors around this period to use their own proprietary single-strip color process, rather than Technicolor, which by 1956 had already abandoned its own more expensive to use and cumbersome to handle three-strip process. Somehow Robert Wise and his technicians managed to get more variety and warmer tones while using Warnercolor in this film than what was usually achieved stateside on W.B.'s Burbank sound stages and on various U.S. locations. Maybe it was, as Franco Zeffirelli is fond of calling it, "the golden-ah light" of Italy. Anyway this film is quite an eye-filling visual achievement. And Max Steiner's score is one of his better ones, pumping up the spectacle aspect quite effectively.

A couple of trivia notes: The Walls of Troy set accidentally caught fire before the company was finished with it, but Wise and his technicians were on the spot and managed to get some usable footage out of that disaster. (I don't know if they had to reconstruct it or rewrite some scenes that were originally supposed to have taken place on its ramparts.) And TIME magazine in its review complained that Signorina Podesta's vaccination scar (and I think that of Monsieur Sernas as well) is clearly visible in a love scene. Without computers to fix such gaffes back then, and probably not noticing that little "oops!" until examining footage in a U.S. screening room when the company returned home for editing, the studio probably figured they'd just let it pass. But forty-foot wide CinemaScope screens were quite merciless when it came to audiences' perceptions of the obvious.

Here we have an epic ever so loosely based upon Homer's 'Iliad' with the Trojan Horse trick from the 'Odyssey' thrown in for good measure.

The most notable feature here is the contingent of first class British actors who bring their own marvellous, stage-trained voices with them so that we are spared the curse of the dodgy dubbing that afflicts so many films of this type. The dubbing of Frenchman Jacques Sernas as Paris by twee Geoffrey Toone and Italian Rosanna Podesta as Helen by American Joan Croydon is not quite so successful but then, I suppose, one cannot have everything!

It has long been established that the 'Iliad' itself is not based on historical fact, whereas the legend lays the blame for the Trojan War on Achilles' wrath, Agamemnon's intransigence, the God's malevolence and the passion of Paris for Helen. It comes as no surprise that for filmic purposes it has been decided to concentrate on the passion!

Although portrayed here as heroic, Paris was far from being so and was more a child of Venus(oops, sorry, Aphrodite) than he was of Mars; far better suited to the battles of the bedchamber. Jacques Sernas looks wonderful of course but I have always found him to be rather bland and his performance here does nothing to change my view.

Having already played Nausicaa in Camerini's 'Ulysses', Rosanna Podesta is the obvious choice for the 'beauteous' Helen and she certainly fits the bill, calling to mind Homer's "In her sweet countenance shine looks like the Goddesses."

Suffice to say the production values are superlative with Art Direction by Edward Carrere, stirring score by Max Steiner and gorgeous cinematography by Harry Stradling Jnr. The battle scenes are magnificent and as usual the unsung heroes are those of the second unit, directed here by the ubiquitous Yakima Canutt, together with Sergio Leone and the maestro of action sequences Raoul Walsh, although he is uncredited.

Homer purists will regard this as a load of tosh but as Sword-and-Sandals movies go, it is up there with the best.

Big budget Hollywood epic at its best (although made in Italy), and directed by one of Hollywood's greats, Robert Wise (noted for The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Desert Rats, Somebody up there likes me, Westside Story and many others), this production shows what could be done, back in the fifties when there was still money enough to splurge. For example, according to the jacket cover on the DVD I bought, this film cost $6 million in 1955 – that's maybe equivalent to $600 million in today's money! And, all the more intriguing, considering that this was made right at the tail end of the Classic Hollywood period. But then, movies were fighting back against the rising tide of TV...

And movies won, didn't they? Because, you can still get this movie on DVD and once again enjoy the spectacle of thousands of real people (not regurgitated computer generated drones) having a gigantic tussle on a real beach and plain, all as a backdrop to one of the most well-known love stories and sieges of all time. How can you resist it?

Well, I couldn't. I'd seen this in a big cinema when I was fifteen, and was just smitten by Rossana Podesta as Helen. Who cared about the story then? Not me – I was just happy to sit through two hours of exquisite beauty. Oh, yeah – the great battle scenes too...

The story follows the usual myth: Paris (Jacques Sernas) is shipwrecked when on his way to Sparta to get a peace treaty with nasty king Menelaus (Niall MacGinnis). Lovely Helen finds him on the beach. They hit it off, natch, and instead of getting a treaty, Paris gets himself a treat, returns to Troy with Helen and tells Priam (Cedric Hardwicke), and all, to prepare for war. Then, battle, battle, Achilles (Stanley Baker) kills Hector (Harry Andrews) in a well-staged duel, Paris gets a lucky strike and kills Achilles, more battle, then Ulysses with some horse sense, the sack of Troy, Paris is killed, Helen is left sobbing as she sails back to Sparta. Fade to black.

Seeing it again, well, I think it's definitely a well-produced film. The cinematography is at the high standard you'd expect from Wise and his crew. The staging of the battles is excellent – look at some of those battle scenes and just imagine the management problem alone. The editing is superb; the sound effects are well done. Compared to such epics as Cleopatra (1963), The Ten Commandments (1956), Helen of Troy stacks up as an equally good romantic classic.

I've seen the more recent Troy (2004) but that is a very different take on the battle for Troy; it's more a story about Achilles than it is about Helen and Paris. Both films are good in their own right and I think it's counter-productive to nitpick between the two, despite my criticism about computer drones, above.

Seeing it again now, I did notice that this film produced one of the greatest lines in movie history – for me – and all done inadvertently. For those who don't know, this film was an early effort by Brigitte Bardot who went on to become the sex symbol of the sixties and seventies – perhaps the most famous sex symbol of the mid 20th century. So, when I heard Paris (Jacques Sernas) utter these words to her when the palace occupants were asleep, I nearly fell off my chair, cackling at the irony: "You should be in bed..." meaning it was very late and she needed her sleep. You'll just have to see this movie - it's worth the two hours.

Although, I'd skip the musical overture at the start – too long even at ten minutes. In fact, it drags.

Recommended for all.

Even the hardiest of Robert Wise fans tend to give this one a miss, (which isn't surprising if you have to sit through the overture), but it certainly isn't the worst of the widescreen epics that the studios churned out in the fifties in an attempt to drag audiences away from their television sets. "Helen of Troy" was another international co-production, filmed at Cinecitta and various locations in Italy and it certainly looked the part, (the battle scenes are particularly spectacular). Unfortunately, the script is a mish-mash of bad dialogue and well-known phrases, (at one point Helen actually says 'Beware of the Greeks bearing gifts'), mouthed in English by leads who couldn't really speak the language.

Rossana Podesta who played Helen is said to have learned her lines phonetically while Jacques Sernas, (Paris), has a voice clearly not emanating from the rest of him. Then there's a young Brigitte Bardot while various Spartans and Trojans include Cedric Hardwicke, Niall MacGinnis, Torin Thatcher, Harry Andrews, Ronald Lewis and Stanley Baker as Achilles the Heel. It's not much of a movie but as schoolboy adventure yarns go it's certainly entertaining and will brighten a dull afternoon any day.

CinemaScope was first seen by many directors as getting rid of the need for certain kinds of editing, since it allowed so much more of the action to be seen at once. Robert Wise ("Odds Against Tomorrow," "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", etc.) decided otherwise, and became perhaps the first director to edit a CinemaScope picture as if it were a regular Academy Ratio film. The results, primitive though they are by modern Steadicam and CGI standards, are more fluid than many early wide-screen epics, and, more importantly, remain quite enjoyable.

The screenplay is nothing to write about. Leads Rossana Podesta (Helen) and Jack Sernas (Paris) are never less than adequate, but their passion is less than convincingly written, and the result leaves something of a hole at the film's dramatic center. Cedric Hardwicke is appropriately dignified as Priam, Niall MacGinnis a standout as Menelaus, and there are good bits from other actors, but the most impressive parts of the film are concerned with the spectacle of the assaults on Troy.

Wise lets out all the stops for the battles, which achieve a genuine power, despite being rather tame by modern standards (though watch for a few surprising parallels with some of the assault on Minas Tirith in "Return of the King"). The matte and process work isn't perfect, but neither is it distracting enough to derail the flow of the action. The Trojan repulse of the Greeks develops a frenetic pace which is still exciting, and the Trojan revelries following the victory, though rather chaste by comparison with more recent on-screen orgies, are a highly effective foil to the subsequent silent Greek exit from the horse, and the ensuing destruction of Troy is tinged with at least a touch of Homeric tragedy. Throughout the main action sequences, Wise's direction is immeasurably aided by Max Steiner's music, which is positively operatic at times.

Anyone expecting fidelity to Homer had better look elsewhere than a big-budget Hollywood spectacle (the famous horse, for example, comes from Virgil, not Homer). Those wanting a generally well made adaptation with some good performances and at least a half hour's worth of exciting battles could do far worse than looking here. Robert Wise's films are never less than interesting, and here as always he demonstrates his ability to keep the audience's interest alive, even after almost fifty further years of sword and sandal epics.

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 ****

When I watched the film on TV the other day I kept thinking, that this is a pretty good picture. I missed the opening and didn't know all the time that I enjoyed a movie by Robert Wise, who tells us about Helen of Troy, who actually was the wife of an unloved Greek King, who took of cause the chance to follow a young good looking fellow to the town of Troy, which is the said reason for a 10 year long war that is told us from ancient times by Homer. (The troy people think the war is about their gold treasure - that was later stolen by a German. They didn't have any oil) The travels of Odysseus are not in this picture, but pretty Brigitte Bardot at 22. I didn't see the original version but I had the impression that the lines of the characters were taken straight from the Homer epic poem. At least the German voices did their best to give some idea of the high standard of Homers literature. The fighting scenes were arranged good to look at, the actors not as nice as lovely BB, who is going to be 70 in September this year and didn't make any films since the early 70s. I didn't see the new film by Petersen, his hero doesn't wear a beard, that is modern but surly hurt in the old days to shave all the time. So I understand well why except the women and Paris the rest of the actors in the Wise movie put on a beard. What Wise could not avoid was the music. Full orchestra, nothing left to the imagination. And the horizon full of battle ships according to the method of Eugen Schuftan. It was the pre digital time and not bad at all.

In ancient Greece, handsome Trojan prince Jacques Sernas (as Paris) is shipwrecked in Sparta, where he meets beautifully-figured slave girl Rossana Podesta (as Helen). The two are mutually attracted, but she is really the Queen of Sparta. Naturally, this means WAR... This adulteration of Homer's "Iliad" is nicely costumed and decorated, but comes across as overblown and plodding. The direction from Robert Wise is pointed, helping make the production more obvious than engaging. Narration, dubbing, and the soundtrack music keep it distant, although looking good certainly counts for something... It is interesting to see future "sex kitten" Brigitte Bardot play a dark-haired handmaiden, and Niall MacGinnis (as Menelaus) does well in his supporting role.

**** Helen of Troy (1/26/56) Robert Wise ~ Rossana Podesta, Jacques Sernas, Niall MacGinnis, Brigitte Bardot

Basically, this movie is criticized because, being one of the very first big international co-productions, its main players were Euro celebrities who never caught on in the US, and because Jacques Sernas' and Rossana Podesta's voices were voiced-over. That is a pretty shallow approach to movie criticism. This film is well-scripted (it's based on Homer and neither substracts nor adds to his basic plot - except for the Gods, which are mentioned but never seen, which makes it a modern secular version of the Iliad), well-acted by some very impressive British actors, superbly constructed (art direction, photography, costumes, period research, choreography) and creates a lasting impression. I own it on laser disc and just had to buy a widescreen TV with home theatre sound to do it justice. I can watch this movie as often as I crave substantial food, which is very often. Robert Wise, besides being the director of The Day the Earth Stood Still, West Side Story and The Sound of Music started his career as the editor of Citizen Kane and it is his input in the editing (vibrant, energetic, kinetic, masculine) that makes this movie a real winner and actually brings life to the giant vistas of this classic and tragic fairy tale/war movie/love story. Max Steiner's beautiful score adds several other dimensions to this masterpiece and its interplay with the editing is always fascinating to watch. The general impression is a beautiful dream of the paintings on a Greek urn coming to magical, inspiring, colourful life. It is also fascinating to watch how the fight scenes were a sort of preliminary study to the ones in West Side Story, which is basically on the same subject. I had better stop while I'm ahead. One word of advice: Don't believe the nay-sayers (i.e. Leonard Maltin) until you have experienced it for yourself in all its CinemaScope, Warnercolor and Stereophonic glory. A must-have at any price and already overdue on DVD.

If you say this film is based on characters created by Homer you would be absolutely right. Homer's characters are there but the story has little to do with his version of the Troyan war as narrated in The Iliad.

That aside, "Helen of Troy" stands as an enjoyable and entertaining ancient Greece adventure due mainly to spectacular battle scenes, wide open sceneries, lots of extras, adequate armours and costumes, carefully designed interior settings, a fine musical score and acceptable acting. You always have the feeling that producers didn't try to save money on this movie and director Robert was "Wise" enough to understand that long duration is not what makes an spectacular epic film.

The main couple, Paris (Jack Sernas)and Helen (Rossana Podesta), deliver standard performances and though both of them may have the "phisique du rol" for their characters, you come to understand why none of them quite reached stardom. Fortunately in this aspect, the rest of the cast brings a strong support to the doomed lovers.

Stanley Baker plays correctly a sort of mean and easy raging Achilles; Robert Douglas is at his best as ambitious king Agamemnon; Niall McGinnis is very convincing as the deceived husband Menelaus; Cedric Hardwicke is as good as usual as king Priam; Harry Andrews and Torin Tatcher are also good as Hector, the Troyan champion, and Ulysses the clever one. A very young Brigitte Bardot is also around in one of her first appearances on screen.

The single combat between Achilles and Hector is very well handled and a highlight in the picture.

In all, if you don't take "Helen of Troy" as a version of Homer's Iliad but just as an action/adventure/romance film in ancient times, you'll find it most enjoying and entertaining. A good one in my opinion.

Jacques Sernas, prince of Troy, trucks over to Sparta to try and negotiate peace (without telling them he's coming apparently). His ship goes down in a storm, and he's washed ashore right by Rossana Podestà, the queen of Sparta disguised as regular folk, out for a walk with her servant Brigitte Bardot.

She pretends she isn't the queen and tries to convince him to go home. Instead he heads over to the palace and meets Niall MacGinnis, king of Sparta. MacGinnis offers him hospitality, but figuring out that he's met Podestà before, plans on torturing him. Podestà helps him escape, but she's found out and has to flee with him to Troy.

This is the Trojan War with Troy portrayed as the good guys. If you know this story at all, you know it isn't going to end well. A lot of impressive folks show up here ... Stanley Baker is Achilles (spolier: he gets a spear in the heel), Cedric Hardwicke is King Priam of Troy, Torin Thatcher is Ulysses, Harry Andrews is Hector ... but none of this is really very interesting. All of the scenes with folks talking at each other are dull and stagey. Wise really does not use Cinemascope very well here and the big, extravagant battle scenes are slow and turgid. So far, the worst film of his I've sat trough.

Sergio Leone was a second unit director on this film, as was an uncredited Raoul Walsh.