Never on Sunday
by Jules Dassin
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Giorgos Foundas, Jules Dassin, Melina Mercouri, Mitsos Ligizos, Titos VandisDirector: Jules Dassin
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Producer: Jules Dassin
Writer: Jules Dassin
Cinematographer: Jacques Natteau
Editor: Roger Dwyre
Producer: Vassily Lambiris
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Greek (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Never on Sunday
Movie Review: Beware of Americans Bearing Gifts to Greeks
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the ultimate feel-good movies of all time. There are many reasons why. Melina Mercouri's charismatic performance is paramount. Close behind is the infectious musical score that it is hard to get out of your head, and who would want to? It is important that in a film that explores the nature of love, all of the contributors should love making the film, and this sentiment shines through every frame, even with the bad guys.
Dassin's manifold roles are harder to evaluate. He seems to have claimed the credit for writing the script that was apparently an original screenplay, and if so, he deserves high marks. As in most comedies with a serious intent, there are awkward and artificially-injected devices to help out the plot, such as the showering of gifts by the Ugly American upon the Greek Goddess using money from a gangster-pimp that she detests, and that causes their budding romance to blow up in his face; but overall there is as much genuine wit as in an average Woody Allen movie, and the characters as a whole are much more likeable than Woody's typical brood. Even without the benefit of colour, the settings with the sea and sunshine transport the viewer into an idylically magical world ( that unfortunately, does not really exist, least of all in modern Greece that for many decades has practised a rapacious and self-indulgent code in its treatment of tourists ). Still, the illusion is pleasant while it lasts. Dassin the director offers few of the stunning camera tricks he contrived in his earlier "Rififi", but there are a some visual gems, such as the 4 prostitutes with their 8 legs showing only from the waist downwards trotting briskly about their business. Dassin the actor is a real paradox. In "Rififi", this American communist plays an Italian safe-cracker and turns in an enormously convincing performance of a role he seems born to play. Here, he plays, well, an American communist and is as mis-cast as anyone could be in his own movie. Strange things happen when you don't have Joe McCarthy breathing down your neck.
All in all, this comedy ranks with such gems as "The Apartment" and "Some Like it Hot" as a throwback to a past era in the world of cinema that has moved beyond being dated to the realm of the classics. The visual and sound quality and the range of language and subtitle options are all very satisfactory. And so is the price of this MGM product.
Summary of Never on Sunday
Nominated* for five Academy AwardsÂ(r), including Best Actress, Director and Original Screenplay, and featuring the OscarÂ(r)-winning* song "Never on Sunday," this "racy, arty comedy"(The Hollywood Reporter) is as intoxicating as fine Greek wine...and a "rambunctious" (Time) delight! Glasses are smashing, fingers are snapping and everyone's dancing to the sultry music of the bouzoukies! It's just another glorious moment in the carefree world of Illia (Melina Mercouri), Greece's most radiant lady of the night. Sensuous Illia adores her life, and every man in her seaport paradise adores her. But when Homer (Jules Dassin), a stuffy American intellectual, sails into town and tries to reform her, Illia shows him that she's one free spirit who's happy with her wild life and not about to be tamed. *1960: Original Song (won), Costume Design