Film Review: Helen of Troy (1956)

Certain films benefit a lot from low expectations, especially when those low expectations come together with relative obscurity, passage of time and inevitable comparisons with more recent products. One such example can be found in Helen of Troy, 1956 historical epic directed by Robert Wise.

Relatively loosely inspired by ancient Greek legends and Iliad, Homer’s famous epic poem, the plot is set around 1100 BC. Troy, rich city-state on the east coast of Aegean Sea, has sent its Prince Paris (played by Jacques Sernas, credited as “Jack Sernas”) to Sparta in hope of striking a trade deal with King Menelaus (played by Niall McGinnis) and avoiding costly war. The mission fails because Paris meets Menealus’s wife Helen (played by Rosanna Podesta), the most beautiful woman in the world. Two of them fall in love and Paris escapes Sparta with Helen which is well-greeted by Paris’ father King Priam (played by Cedric Hardwicke). Her escape from Sparta, on the other hand, causes outrage among Greek kings, including Agamemnon (played by Robert Douglas), Mycenian king and king of Mycenae, who easily talks other kings and warlords like Achilles (played by Stanley Baker) to launch massive campaign of conquest under the excuse of avenging the wrong. Massive Greek army lands near Troy, but appears the unable to conquer the city, just as the Trojans, led by heroic prince Hector (played by Harry Andrews) are unable to throw invaders to the sea. After much bloodshed Greek finally get the upper hand when Ulysses (played by Torrin Thatcher), crafty king of Ithaca, devises clever ruse in a form of wooden horse.

Despite being one of the more ambitious Hollywood production of its time, Helen of Troy sank into relative obscurity where it stayed for nearly half a century before interest for it being renewed with the release of Troy, a historical epic that could be seen as its remake. Both films have a lot in common – they were both produced by Warner Bros., they had enormous budgets for its time and their scripts abandoned any supernatural elements from the literary source and interpreted events through the prism of Bronze Age geopolitics. Robert Wise, a very experienced director by that time, had top technical resources at age, since Warner, like other studios, tried very hard to fight emerging competition from television by providing visual spectacle tiny boxes with black-and-white images could not. Helen of Troy was one of many such projects made with new technique of Cinemascope which allowed impressive widescreen vistas as well as Warnercolor, studio’s own technique of colour cinematography which represented huge improvement over increasingly impractical Technicolor. But the most important thing that made Helen of Troy “larger than life” was the use of thousands of extras and spectacular sets, the latter being provided Cinecitta studios in Rome, which were becoming powerhouse of world cinema at the time.

Despite many similarities, Helen of Troy is very different film from Troy, but the inevitable comparisons give slight edge to the earlier film. The main reason that the script is tighter, more focused and slightly more faithful to the traditional narrative, with film makers’ sympathies clearly tilted towards Trojans who are portrayed as peaceful people who just want to preserve their freedom and way of life, unlike aggressive, cynical and tyrannical Greek invaders who look very much like Soviets in Cold War propaganda. Helen of Troy is a good film, but at the end it is nearly ruined by terrible miscasting of Paris and Helen. While a case could be made that Italian actress Rossana Podesta might be seen as “the face that launched a thousands ships” and Jacques Sernas has the proper looks for the role of dashing prince, both of them didn’t speak English and had to have their voices replaced by bad dubbing. This, as well as lack of chemistry between the actors, undermines the most important plot element of Helen of Troy. Wise’s film is nevertheless a solid piece of cinema that could be enjoyed by viewers who aren’t hardcore cinephiles. Those who are might be interested in the film which featured French superstar Brigitte Bardot making her first Hollywood appearance in the small role of Helen’s handmaiden Andraste or the film in which future Italian film making legend Sergio Leone gained valuable experience as assistant director.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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