Helen of Troy is a 1956

1956 in film

The year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...

 Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 epic film

Epic film

An epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...

, based on Homer

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

's Iliad

Iliad

The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...

. It was directed by Robert Wise

Robert Wise

Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...

, from a screenplay by Hugh Gray and John Twist, adapted by Hugh Gray and N. Richard Nash

N. Richard Nash

N. Richard Nash was a writer and dramatist best known for writing Broadway shows, including The Rainmaker.-Early life:...

. The music score was by Max Steiner

Max Steiner

Max Steiner was an Austrian composer of music for theatre productions and films. He later became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Trained by the great classical music composers Brahms and Mahler, he was one of the first composers who primarily wrote music for motion pictures, and as...

 and the cinematography by Harry Stradling Sr

Harry Stradling

Harry Stradling Sr., A.S.C. was an American cinematographer with over 130 films to his credit.His uncle Walter Stradling and son Harry Stradling Jr. were also cinematographers.-Early career:...

.
The film stars Rossana Podestà

Rossana Podestà

Rossana Podestà is a former Italian actress.-Life:She was born in the Italian colony of Libya, where she spent her first years in Tripoli and later moved to Rome after World War II...

, Stanley Baker

Stanley Baker

Sir Stanley Baker was a Welsh actor and film producer.-Early career:William Stanley Baker was born in Ferndale, Rhondda Valley, Wales. In the mid-1930s his parents moved to London, where Baker spent most of his formative years...

, Sir Cedric Hardwicke

Cedric Hardwicke

Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...

 and Jacques Sernas

Jacques Sernas

Jacques Sernas is a Lithuanian-born French actor with an international film career.-Early life and education:He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, the son of Jokūbas Šernas, a signatory of the 1918 Act of Independence of Lithuania, who died when Sernas was a year old. His mother took him to Paris,...

, with Niall MacGinnis

Niall MacGinnis

Niall MacGinnis was an Irish actor who made 80 screen appearances.-Early life:MacGinnis was born in Dublin in 1913. He was educated at Stonyhurst College in England, and studied medicine at Dublin University. He qualified as a house surgeon...

, Maxwell Reed Nora Swinburne

Nora Swinburne

Nora Swinburne was a British actress, born Leonora Mary Johnson in Bath, Somerset, daughter of Henry Swinburne Johnson and his wife Leonora Tamar ....

, Robert Douglas

Robert Douglas (actor)

Robert Douglas was born as Robert Douglas Finlayson in Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire. He was a successful stage and film actor, a television director and producer....

, Torin Thatcher

Torin Thatcher

Torin Thatcher was an English actor born in Bombay, British India, India), to English parents. He was an imposing, powerfully built figure noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains....

, Harry Andrews

Harry Andrews

Harry Fleetwood Andrews, CBE was an English film actor known for his frequent portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Sergeant Major Wilson in The Hill alongside Sean Connery earned Andrews the 1965 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for the...

, Janette Scott

Janette Scott

Thora Janette Scott is an English actress. She was born in Morecambe, England. She is the daughter of actors Jimmy Scott and Thora Hird. She started her acting career as a child actress, known as Janette Scott, and became a popular leading lady...

, Ronald Lewis

Ronald Lewis

Ronald Lewis , was a Welsh actor, best known for his appearances in British films of the 1950s and 1960s.Lewis was born in Port Talbot and made his first screen appearance in 1953. From then on, he averaged one or two films a year until the mid-60s, including classics like The Wind Cannot Read ...

, Eduardo Ciannelli

Eduardo Ciannelli

Eduardo Ciannelli, sometimes credited as Edward Ciannelli, , was an Italian baritone and character actor with a long career in American films, mostly playing gangsters and criminals.-Early life:...

, Esmond Knight

Esmond Knight

Esmond Penington Knight was an English actor.He was an accomplished actor with a career spanning over half a century. For much of his career Esmond Knight was virtually blind...

 and a young Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...

as Andraste, Helen's handmaiden.

Plot

The film retells the story of the Trojan War, albeit with some major changes from the Iliad's storyline: Paris of Troy (Jacques Sernas) sails to Sparta to secure a peace treaty between the two powerful city-states. His ship is forced to return to Troy in a storm after he has been swept overboard on the shore of Sparta, but Paris is found by Helen, Queen of Sparta (Rossana Podestà), with whom he falls in love. He goes to the palace where he finds Helen's husband, King Menelaus (Niall MacGinnis), Agamemnon (Robert Douglas), Odysseus (Torin Thatcher), Achilles (Stanley Baker) and many other Greek kings debating whether to go to war with Troy. Menelaus sees that Helen and Paris are in love and, pretending friendship, plots Paris' death.

Warned by Helen, Paris flees and takes Helen with him to Troy. Under the pretense of helping Menelaus regain his honor, the Greeks unite, and the siege of Troy begins. Much blood is shed in the long ordeal, with the Trojans blaming their plight on Paris and Helen until it turns out that the Greeks are solely after Troy's riches, not Helen. The siege culminates in Greek victory through the ruse of the legendary Trojan Horse. While trying to flee, Helen and Paris are cornered by Menelaus. Paris faces the Spartan king in single combat, but just as he wins the upper hand he is stabbed from behind, denying him a fair trial by arms. Helen is forced to return with Menelaus, but she is serene in the knowledge that she will someday be reunited with Paris.

This project makes several departures from the original story, including showing Paris as a hero and great leader, and most of the Greek lords as treacherous and opportunistic pirates who are using Helen's flight as an excuse to win the treasures of Troy.

External links

• Helen of Troy (1956) at DBCult Film Institute