Helen of Troy (1956)

Film Title: Helen of Troy
Released: January 26, 1956
Directed by: Robert Wise
Written by: Hugh Gray & John Twist based on an adaptation of Homer's Iliad by Hugh Gray & N. Richard Nash
Starring: Rossana Podestà, Jacques Sernas, Cedric Hardwicke & Stanley Baker

Plot: While on a diplomatic mission, Prince Paris of Troy falls in love with Helen, Queen of Sparta, and the two flee from her jealous husband, King Menalaus, sparking the Trojan War.

IMDb: 6.2/10
My Score: 3/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Helen of Troy is a 1956 epic from venerated director Robert Wise. Paris (Jacques Sernas) leaves from Troy on a diplomatic mission to the Greek kingdom of Sparta, against the wishes of his priestess sister Cassandra (Janette Scott), who fortells that his journey will spell doom for Troy. With his mission blessed by his father, King Priam (Cedric Hardwicke), Sernas leaves for Sparta but a sudden and violent storm causes him to be swept overboard. He is found ashore by Helen (Rossana Podestà) who nurses him back to health but does not reveal her identity as the queen of Sparta. Cernas is smitten with her and she returns his affections but knows that they can never be together so she urges him to abandon his quest. Not dissuaded, he continues on the the court of King Menalaus (Niall MacGiniss), where the king has gathered the rulers of the Greek kingdoms to start a war on Troy and take their riches. When MacGinnis sees how Podestà reacts to Cernas, he knows that they have met and infers her feeling for the Trojan. As MacGinnis prepares a treacherous end for Cernas, Podestà sends her handmaiden (Brigitte Bardot) to aid his escape from the palace. She also arranges his safe passage out of the country but when they two of them get cornered by soldiers and threatened with death, they both make their way to the boat that carries them away. A grief-stricken MacGinnis calls for war to retrieve his bride and the fellow his Greek rulers use the opportunity to rally all of Greece against Troy, thus beginning the Trojan War. Entertaining if a bit overlong, Helen of Troy evokes a time in American film history when costumed epics were the rage and in true Hollywood fashion, this version differs quite a bit from Homer's Iliad. Major changes include casting the Greeks in such an unfavorable light, essentially as pirates, and making Paris a heroic leader. The large supporting cast is filled by many distinguished European actors, including Stanley Baker as Achilles, Robert Douglas as Agamemnon, Torin Thatcher as Odysseus, Maxwell Reed as Ajax, Marc Lawrence as Diomedes, Nora Swinburne as Queen Hecuba (her real-life husband Esmond Knight appears as a high priest), Harry Andrews as Hector, Ronald Lewis as Aeneas, Robert Brown (who would go on to play M in four James Bond films) as Polydorus, and Eduardo Cianelli as Andros.