Ulysses (1954) User Reviews

Italian-American co-production based on Homer's immortal poem about the mythological hero Ulysses

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 8 June 2011]

Odysseus' journey told in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey in which Ulysses leads his warriors through History's greatest adventure . After fighting in the Trojan War , Odysseus spends years trying to return home to Itaka. This is the story of a man who left his home , his wife and his son to go away to war.. He destroyed the city of his enemies and started back home . But Neptune , protector God of the conquered people , pursued him with his anger and kept him murdering for ten years . It is the story of Ulysses who dared defy the god and continued his journey to Ithaca , his home, where his wife Penelope was waiting.. and waiting.. The dust of centuries has not dimmed the glories of Ulysses' heroic deeds . The cave of Pholiphemus still reverberates with the bellowing roars of the son of Neptuno . The sorrowful face of Penelope still gazes longingly across the open sea. And on a distant shore Circe still casts her spill . For the immortality that Ulysses refused of a goddess was later given to him by a poet .. And the epic poem that Homer sang of the hero's wanderings and of his yearning for home will live for all time . One of the greatest adventures of world literature! Packed with fury...excitement...cunning and tempestuous love!

Good rendition concerning Ulysses on his Odyssey home to Penelope and Telemaco after the Trojan War . History's greatest Romantic Adventure-now brought magnificently to the Screen , dealing with Ulysses' adventures and filmed where they happened -- 5000 years ago . The classic version ever of Homer's epic produced by two greatest Italian producers as Carlo Ponti and Dino De Laurentis . Based on Homer's Odyssey adapted by seven writers , including American prestigious as Irwin Shaw and Ben Hecht , Billy Wilder's usual . As a tale , the Odyssey is an unparalleled metaphor of the struggles of a man's life. The cast is brilliant and international with American as Kirk Douglas , Anthony Quinn and Italian actors as Silvana Mangano , Rossana Podesta and Franco Interlengh i. Silvana Mangano gives us a typical Greek tragedy style performance in a double role as Penelope and Circe , but most amazing is Kirk Douglas acting as the brave and valiant Ulysses , really good-looking , impulsive and totally convincing , it seems the role was really written for him .

Partially shot in natural locations in the Mediterranean , being actually filmed along the route Ulysses followed and Ponti-Laurentis studios. The exteriors of this Lux motion picture were filmed on the Mediterranean coast and islands described in Homer's Odyssey . The sea and the sky are strikingly blue, the islands green and wild . Colorful and spectacular cinematography by Harold Rosson . Evocative and impressive original score by Alessandro Cicognini , well conducted by Franco Ferrara . The Most Exciting Epic of Them All was professionally directed by Mario Camerini and some scenes by Mario Bava though uncredited . Rating : Better than average take on that will appeal to classic film lovers and Kirk Doglas fans . Another excellent adaptation results to be ¨L'Odissea¨ (1968) TV series directed by Franco Rossi and also by Mario Bava with Bekim Fehmiu as Ulysses and Irene Papas as Penelope.

A Decent Version of Homer's Oddisey

[ragosaal · 7/10 · 23 September 2006]

Homer's tale goes that after his brilliant idea of a huge wooden horse that decided the Greek's victory in the Troyan war, Ithaca's King Ulysses challenged the sea god Poseidon and he was punished to sail around for 10 years before he could get back to his island and his faithful wife Queen Penelope. During the hero's long absence many ambitious men have settled in his palace with the intention of marrying the supposedly widow Queen and rule Ithaca with her. The picture is about Ulysses's trip and all the tasks he has to go through before reaching home and, once there, how he deals with the men that are trying to take his place.

Though the film is sort of slow by the middle part of the story and perhaps a little exceeded in its running time, it doesn't lack adventure, action and entertainment. Ulysses faces the cyclops who wants to have him and his crew for lunch, survives the seducing singing of the mermaids, visits the kingdom of the dead and escapes the spell of sorceress Circe who plans to retain him for herself. Arrived at last in Ithaca after loosing all his mates, he faces the pretenders to his throne in a memorable action and fighting sequence.

"Ulysses" is pure entertainment and adventure in ancient Greece. The film is well done and easy to watch (its excess in duration apart)with a correct direction by Mario Camerini. It shows well chosen locations and carefully designed settings. Special effects are more than acceptable for 1955. But perhaps the main feature is a well selected main cast.

Kirk Douglas is the perfect choice for Ulysses and his performance is strong and convincing. Silvana Mangano renders a believable Penelope and Anthony Quinn is at his best playing the main pretender Antinoos ("the first in pride").

It could be true that this picture inspired the sword and sandals sub genre that started a bit later with Steve Reeves's "Hercules", but you can be sure that fortunately this one doesn't belong to that category.

A fine product in its genre.

Still good after all these years

[apollogranforte · 8/10 · 30 December 2006]

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).

Let's Take The Long Way Home

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 5 August 2007]

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.

Cool Cyclops!

[sabata · 2 September 1999]

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.

Ulysses 1954

[jcolyer1229 · 7/10 · 7 September 2017]

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.

Sentimental favorite

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 22 January 2018]

I rented this movie a few weeks back because I was preparing to honor Kirk Douglas on Hot Toasty Rag. I groaned and rolled my eyes during the first fifteen minutes. The production values weren't very good, some Italian actors had had their voices dubbed in English, and the acting style was extremely dated. As the scenes progressed, I started to get a sense of déjà vu. Halfway through, I started predicting what was going to happen! "If they meet a giant with one eye and get him drunk, I've seen this movie," I said to myself. Turns out, I saw the movie in a high school English class!

My teacher had assigned Homer's works for required reading, but when the entire class flunked the test afterwards, she knew something was wrong. No one understood what had happened in the story! She tried explaining it and cited passages to help our little brains connect the archaic language to what she was saying, but again, it went over our heads. Finally, she knew there was only one way for us to learn Odyssey: she showed us the movie.

The second time around-once I remembered I'd seen the film before-I was taken on a very enjoyable trip down Memory Lane. "There's the giant! There are the sirens! The pigs!" My review, as you can probably tell, is a little colored by my past. I have no idea how much I would have liked or disliked Ulysses if I'd seen it for the first time last month. You might turn it off and think it's ridiculous, or you might think it's a clear, understandable adaptation of a very dense classic poem. I consider this movie a sentimental favorite, like the first version of The Nutcracker my teacher showed the class in fourth grade. Plus, for half the movie, Kirk Douglas practically prances around in his underwear, so that's always fun.

Better than School

[pierrealix · 7/10 · 26 April 2001]

I've seen this one when I was 10...40 years later I can assure you that I Remember every part of it and than it gives me (along with the stories of Moses Ben Hur Jason and Spartacus ) a huge success among the Children and teenagers who have no opportunity to hear such stories who have even more suspense blood and hot pursuits than an average Bruce Willis story ! i just don't care if the movie is a masterpiece or a B-serie : its certainly a fantastic story-teller and that's what it matters.

The original sword n sandal film which ignited the Italian peplum craze.

[Fella_shibby · 9/10 · 6 April 2021]

I havent seen Fabiola (1949) which is also responsible for the peplum craze.

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs. Revisited it recently.

I enjoyed this movie then. I found it to be very entertaining now.

Douglass' acting is one of the best part. He gav a good performance n showed versatility. At times he was aggressive, at times charming, shrewd, cunning n best of all his humor n facial expressions is top notch. The way he taunts the Cyclops is hilarious.

Well filmed, badly dubbed but ultimately good sword and sandal epic.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 24 January 2012]

For those of you who like movies about gladiators, Kirk Douglas did no wrong as "Spartacus". But several years previous, he went into Greek territory to play King Ulysses who has many adventures (and flings) after defeating Troy with that glorious wooden horse. He finds refuge as an amnesiac falling for a neighboring King's daughter, but slowly, his memory comes back to him as he re-counts his many adventures, including a visit with Neptune's son, a giant cyclops (with a memorable wine making scene), fighting the urge to crash his ship because of a beautiful singing voice calling him to their deadly shores, and finally dealing with the beautiful but possessive witch who wants Ulysses all to herself. Back home, his wife, Queen Penelope (Silvana Mangano), is urge by the people to re-marry, and the strong but arrogant Anthony Quinn is most determined to be the one. It's a battle of the strongest when Ulysses comes home to reclaim his wife, son, and kingdom.

Surprisingly well filmed in spite of an obvious low budget, it is a step above the Steve Reeves Hercules and Goliath films. Douglas didn't have to be dubbed like many of the other actors (whose voices don't match their looks), so he comes off unscathed. Special effects are good, characterizations and plot are well fleshed out, although some of the male costumes are quite skimpy and revealing of the male anatomy. This will never be in the category of Ray Harryhausen's mythic adventures, but overall, it is much better than average.

Ho-Hum film Version of Homer's Epic

[bebop63-1 · 4/10 · 3 January 2006]

As far as entertainment goes, this movie would rate an OK if there's nothing else better to watch on TV on a week night. But for mythology buffs like me, it would rate as so-so if not below average. It runs too short a time to portray Ulysses as the clever & resourceful man that he is supposed to be, and the role of the gods in his journeys, especially Athena his patron goddess is virtually non-existent. Also, Penelope (Silvana Mangano)should have been portrayed as a woman of strong character, steadfast in her belief that Ulysses might yet return & resolute in her refusal to give in to pressure by the suitors to choose a husband among them, not as a drama queen complete w/hysterics & crying. Telemachus is merely a babbling wimp in this movie & Nausicaa unfortunately depicted as a silly air-headed brat given to childish whims & fantasies. It's pretty obvious that whoever wrote the script based the dialogue on a comics or cartoon adaptation of Homer's Odyssey without actually having read the original text.

Quite Entertaining!

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 8/10 · 23 July 2000]

According to Homer, Ulysses is king of Ithaca, and father, by his wife, Penelope, of Telemachus...

Homer portrays Ulysses as a man of outstanding wisdom, eloquence, resourcefulness, courage and endurance...

In the Iliad, Ulysses appears as the man best fitted to cope with crises in personal relations among the Greeks and his bravery and skill in fighting were demonstrated repeatedly...

Ulysses wanderings and the recovery of his house and kingdom are the central theme of our film, which also relates how he accomplishes the capture of Troy by means of the wooden horse...

The motion picture, fill in the gaps with flashbacks, describes Ulysses' wanderings between Troy and Ithaca... As a troubled man, Ulysses spends much time at the shore trying to remember his past...

He encounters Polyphemus, the Cyclops, son of Poseidon... He escapes from his cave by getting him drunk and running a ram into his eye...

Shipwrecked, his men gone, his memory lost, he is discovered by a beautiful young princess Nausicca (Rossana Podesta) who immediately falls in love with him... Ulysses defeats the champion wrestler of Phaeacia in a public exhibition, but remains distant trying to recall his past...

He then encounters the Sirens whose songs lure sailors to their death... Plugging the ears of his men with wax, he has himself tied to the mast with ropes so that he can hear their call...

Ulysses reaches the island of the enchantress Circe who casts her spell on him... Taking on the appearance of his wife Penelope, she held him captive and turned his crew into swine, but fails to keep him in her company...

After almost l0 years, Ulysses at last arrived in Ithaca, where his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, had been struggling to maintain their authority during his prolonged absence...

Kirk Douglas plays, with sensitivity, Ulysses, "the man of many turns" who had many opportunities of displaying his talent for ruses and deceptions; but at the same time, his courage and loyalty..

The full-figured Silvana Mangano plays a double role: Penelope, the faithful wife and Circe, the sorceress...

Anthony Quinn is the arrogant Antinous, the most persistent of Penelope's suitors, hanging around the palace with a group of vicious noblemen, trying to persuade the lovely queen that Ulysses is dead and that she should choose one of them as her next husband..

With the elements of an Italian epic adventure tale photographed in Technicolor, the film is quite entertaining in its attempts to translate episodes of Homer's Odyssey...

A decent Rendition of the Epic

[VikingBurialService · 7/10 · 6 January 2023]

This was a decent rendition of homer's classic tale. Basically, Odysseus (or Ulysses in the romanized name) attempts to return to his kingdom on the island of Ithaca, while telling of his trials on the way. The story takes a few deviations from the The Odyssey, cutting out some of the trials and combining others (Circe/Calypso are basically the same in this one). The special effects and action are pretty well done if you factor in the time period (1950s). Kirk douglas does a great job as Ulysses - he's at his best in the scenes of action or adventure. The softer scenes (Odysseus meeting his son or reuniting with Penelope) are better in this one than in other versions. Other actors were hit/miss, and the dialogue wasn't nearly as beautiful as Homer's epic poem. Overall it's entertaining, with a few flaws.

You Can't Go Home Again

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 7 November 2001]

I saw this movie in the fifties at the little local theatre. There was the dashing Kirk Douglas, the frightening Anthony Quinn, the story of the deeds of the great Odysseus (Ulysses). When I bought my used copy and watched it again, I was devastated. I've always had trouble with Kirk Douglas anyway, but this dull, talky waste of time just floored me. I was hoping Douglas would take the wax out of his ears and crash the ship. Everything is so emotive and so pained and there really isn't any fun of this film's contemporaries ("Jason and the Argonauts" and "The 7th Voyage of Sindbad"). Douglas poses, romances, watches dancing girls, tells stories. I agree with a previous writer that the made for TV "Odyssey" was no great prize, but at least something happened once in a while. Another of my childhood memories squashed!!

Fantastic special effects for this time period especially CYCLOPS!

[randy5k-3 · 23 September 2000]

Fun to watch, do not be to hard on the special effects it was 1954 after all! Fun to see such a young Anthony Quinn. Who played Cyclops? Does it matter?

Kirk saves the show

[lvecrft · 6/10 · 4 January 2001]

Kirk Douglas saves the film from otherwise becoming too languid. The director may have thought he was directing an "epic", but should've just realized he had another sword and sandle flick on his hands. The scenes which re-tell Ulysses journey are the best parts. Oh, and the end is kick ass as well. But again, without Douglas...

Lively Adventure.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 28 January 2008]

There isn't too much of Homer left in this comic book adventure detailing the voyage of Ulysses (Kirk Douglas) from the shores of Troy to his home in Ithaca. It's all pretty much boiled down. Gone are such distractions as Scylla and Charybdis and the naughty Calypso. But we still have an extended stay with Circe the witch (Sylvana Mangano), in which Douglas excels at comic self justification. He spends a comfortable night in Circe's bed and the next day presents himself and tells her he and his men are leaving on their ship. Circe slyly informs him that the wind doesn't pick up on this island until sundown. "Well," Douglas muses, "no point in leaving early. The men would break their backs on the oars. And they're all good men. They deserve a rest." So he spends the next five years eating lotus blossoms, drinking wine, and sleeping with Circe until his men go half nuts with waiting and leave him behind.

If it resembles a typical sword and sandal epic from the 1950s starring one or another muscle man it's probably because it was made at Cinecitta and used many of the same cast and crew. And, of course, at feature-film length it had to be compressed -- Procrusteanized, so to speak -- in order to fit in as many episodes as it now contains.

The scenes back on Ithaca, with Penelope (also Sylvana Mangano) weaving her tapestry and unweaving it at night to keep the blood-sucking suitors at bay, are retained, and they're not as bad as they might be. Anthony Quinn is Antinuous, chief of the suitors, and he comes across not as a greasy freeloader but as a masculine, common-sense kind of guy who just about convinces Penelope that his feelings for her are genuine and that Ulysses, gone lo these ten years, is dead. (It's only just before the bloody climax that he reveals his truer nature.) Some scenes are still fairly powerful, given the cheap special effects. Ulysses' visit to Hades and his encounter with the dead, who try to convince him that ANY kind of life is better than being dead. And Polyphemus is pretty horrible too. And there is a bit of wit built into the script. When they first notice Polyphemus' huge footprint, the men quail and start muttering about "giants." "Probably just a man with big feet," comments the phlegmatic Douglas, the man who does not believe in isomorphism.

Alas, the gods are left out of the story, which detracts from our understanding of what's going on and is a betrayal of the movie's Homeric source. I guess if you want gods and goddesses, you have to go to Homer or Thorne Smith.

Douglas is an adequate Ulysses. He's pretty sneaky. (The film leaves out the "no-man" ruse he used with the cyclops but includes the Trojan horse.) And he looks right. Except for Quinn, the rest of the cast doesn't really contribute much, though Rossana Podesta as Nausicaa looks cute, in a Cynthia Gibb way.

Entertaining version of an epic tale.

Dated but still quite good.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 19 May 2021]

"Ulysses" is a dated film that was an Italian/French/American production and this wasn't unusual in the 1950s. Many American stars, particularly second and third tier stars, were lured to Europe to appear in films in order to increase the international marketability of the projects. And, at this time, Douglas was definitely a second-tier actor....with his greatest successes on film to come very soon over the next few years. I say dated mostly because the print looks poor...with the color quite faded and yellowed.

The film starts off unusually and confused me at first. All the crap Ulysses (Odysseus) went through over the last few years has already passed and he washes up on the shores of a kingdom near his own. But he has no memory...and has no idea who he is nor how he came to be there. Over time, he slowly remembers...and that is how you then see his tale. Now understand...you only see a small portion of "The Odyssey"...many portions are skipped or severely truncated. And, after he recalls who he is, he heads home in time to see a bunch of jerks vying for his wife, Penelope, and they plan on murdering Ulysses' son and taking over his kingdom.

Is this a great film? No. Only a mini-series could do the original tale justice. And, the special effects, though decent for the 1950s are not great and could stand improvement. Overall, it's a good 'Cliff Notes' sort of version--hitting many of the highlights but also, oddly de-emphasizing the gods and Ulysses' arrogance in all this.

By the way, if you are confused, the original story starred Odysseus. Ulysses is the Romanization of Odysseus.

Ulysses review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 1 May 2020]

Kirk Douglas grows a beard and a semi-perm and oils up for this fantasy tale set in an Ancient Greece in which Cyclops and sirens still roamed. Most movie characters with Ulysses' level of arrogance are on the receiving end of a humiliating comedown by the time the credits roll but the way this hero breezes past every obstacle never leaves his fate in doubt. Passable enough.

" The Gods are Playful and without Mercy "

[thinker1691 · 9/10 · 10 August 2007]

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. ****

A really good movie, though maybe not great.

[ccunning-73587 · 7/10 · 2 August 2019]

A really good movie, though maybe not great. The book is much better... of course! History is great! After Greece fell Alexander's general split up the Greek empire. The Greek general given Italy built it into The Roman Empire. Ulysses is the 'Latin' version of Homer's Odyssey. After the fall of Constantinople, the few arabs that could read or write found a copy of Ulysses and copied it into an arab story... "The arabian nights": 1001 nights with Sinbad being Odysseus/Ulysses... Funny, and interesting...

The Utter Disgrace Of A Legendary Greek Hero

[strong-122-478885 · 1/10 · 11 November 2013]

Hello? Like, did movie-audiences back in 1954 really take this cheesy, cheap, badly-acted, Italian, costume drama (with its truly dreadful special effects) seriously?

For me, I thought that actor Kirk Douglas, as the title character, was an utterly terrible choice. Wearing his little mini-skirt and sandals outfit, he looked more like a total wimp who actually belonged amongst the women rather than the men.

Playing his part with absolutely no conviction, whatsoever, I thought that Douglas completely disgraced the name and the legend of this Greek hero/warrior named Ulysses.

And, besides that, I thought that Douglas was far too old (almost 40) to be at all convincing as this supposedly robust, virile and gallant champion of the common man.

Douglas' presence in this film did absolutely nothing to improve the overall amateurishness of this less-than-thrilling production.

My guess is that Douglas (who was at the very height of his career at this point) was probably paid some really big bucks to appear in this garbage. And, so, with that, how the heck could he have possibly been expected to refuse the part?

Ulysses' painfully predictable story, pretty much, contained every single, stinking "Greek Hero" cliché in the book, and then some.

And, on top of all that, not one actor in the entire film put in a performance that could be described as anything else but "pure wood".

And, the English dubbing was atrocious beyond words.

Anyways - On the unintentionally hilarious side of things - The really weird eyes that were painted on the Trojan Horse got a howl-and-a-half of laughter out of me. And, the scene with the doofus Cyclops was so bloody moronic that it's certainly worthy of mention here for the chuckles that it produced, as well.

All-in-all - This dumb movie (which had 8 screenwriters backing up its dreadful story) was the purest piece of trash to the 10th power.

Still entertaining after 64 years.

[RodrigAndrisan · 8/10 · 2 February 2019]

In this film there are two absolute beauties, Silvana Mangano (in double role, Circe and Penelope) and a very young Rossana Podestà (Nausicaa), both not only very beautiful but also very talented actresses, which is rare. Big Anthony Quinn doesn't have a great role in this movie, not because he's bad, but because he has an insignificant small part. Kirk Douglas, however, shines sharply in the title role, being credible, funny, dynamic, excellent.

6.6/10

[alfonsomartinperez · 6/10 · 15 August 2018]

Me pareció una buena película pero totalmente inferior a la ODISEA(1997) protagonizada por Armand Assante

Kirk Douglas larger-than-life and the beauteous Silvana Mangano

[Wuchakk · 9/10 · 19 August 2015]

In this fantasy-adventure based on Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, Kirk Douglas is larger than life in the title role and Silvana Mangano is spellbindingly beautiful in the dual role of Penelope/Circe. Most importantly, the story & script are compelling. The Cyclops sequence is a highlight and the F/X are surprisingly good for 1954. Moreover, the climax when Ulysses is revealed after posing as a beggar is dynamic. Sometimes it's necessary to temporarily kowtow to the arrogant in order to assess the situation and bide your time for an effective strike.

In my humble opinion this version is better than the 1997 rendition with Armand Assante, "The Odyssey," because it's more streamlined, lacks the eye-rolling manifestations of the gods and it's hard to beat Douglas' imposing portrayal. However, "The Odyssey" is still worth checking out since the effects are more modern and there are some quality cast members and effective sequences, particularly the crew's horrific confrontation with the three-headed monster, Scylla, and the entire final act.

The movie runs 117 minutes and was shot in Italy, the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa.

GRADE: A