Helen of Troy
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Cedric Hardwicke, Jacques Sernas, Niall MacGinnis, Rossana Podestà, Stanley BakerBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-04-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Helen of Troy
Movie Review: "Further thoughts"
Summary: 5 Stars
Shakespeare has a defeated Richard the Third declare he would give his kingdom for a horse. Here is the story of how the Greeks gave a horse, albeit a wooden one, and conquered a kingdom. "Helen of Troy" was made by Warner Bros. in the 1950s heyday of the screen epic movie,and it shows in the production values. The story tells of how Prince Paris of Troy undertakes a peace mission to warlike Sparta whose King Menelaus, husband to Helen, whilst feigning friendship is actually plotting, with his Greek allies, an attack on prosperous Troy. Paris is forced to flee for his life by the duplicitous King. His escape is aided by Helen, the two having experienced instant mutual attraction on first meeting (Paris being unware of who she really is). As Paris is bidding a cliff-top farewell to Helen they are discovered by Spartan soldiers hunting him. Helen is clearly implicated so Paris leaps to freedom with her in his arms. They flee to Troy on a friendly vessel waiting off the shore of Sparta. This triggers the Trojan War as Menelaus now has the perfect excuse.Jacques Sernas plays Paris and the, then, little known Rossana Podesta plays Helen and both are physically fine in their roles. Although not native speakers both spoke their parts in English. Sernas did speak English but Rosssana Podesta did not and learned her lines by rote. However, it was decided to dub the voice of Jacques Sernas. His accented English did not fit well with the strong classical voices of the British supporting players. This has the effect of making him sound rather wooden and unemotional, but does not detract from the overall enjoyment of the movie. Like all movies of this type it loses something when seen away from the large screen but, for all that, it is an exciting story well told and visually impressive, especially the battle scenes.
Classical Greek scholars will notice the liberties that Hollywood took with the original tale by the blind Greek poet Homer. In this version Paris is portrayed as a strong, resolute and heroic figure and Helen as the unfortunate, unhappy, wife of the brutish King Menelaus. The movie commences with the original musical overture and the soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1. The bonus material consists of three interesting "the making of" documentaries shown by Warner Bros. on the TV show they had at the time. In addition there is the original theatrical trailer. I first saw this movie in 1956 and liked it then and I still like it now. I have adjusted my star rating of this movie to reflect this.
Summary of Helen of Troy
THE ILIAD'S STORY OF THE TROJAN WAR, TOLD FROM THE TROJAN VIEWPOINT.Similar DVD Movies
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