Helen of Troy (1956)

Director:

Robert Wise

Writers:

Hugh Gray (screenplay) &
John Twist (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 January 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Action | Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

Its towering wonders span the age of titans!

Plot:

The Iliad's story of the Trojan war, told from the Trojan viewpoint.

Plot Keywords:

Trojan War | Queen | King | Warrior | Battle

Cast

Rossana Podestà	...	Helen of Troy
Jacques Sernas	...	Paris (as Jack Sernas)
Cedric Hardwicke	...	Priam (as Sir Cedric Hardwicke)
Stanley Baker	...	Achilles
Niall MacGinnis	...	Menelaus
Nora Swinburne	...	Hecuba
Robert Douglas	...	Agamemnon
Torin Thatcher	...	Ulysses
Harry Andrews	...	Hector
Janette Scott	...	Cassandra
Ronald Lewis	...	Aeneas
Brigitte Bardot	...	Andraste
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Andros
Marc Lawrence	...	Diomedes
Maxwell Reed	...	Ajax

Also Known As:

Elena di Troia (Italy)

Runtime:

Germany:111 min (theatrical version) | Germany:116 min (with overture and exit music) | USA:118 min | UK:116 min (uncut) | UK:114 min (cut)

Country:

USA | Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Warnercolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (RCA Sound Recording) (magnetic prints) | Mono (RCA Sound Recording) (optical prints)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | South Korea:15 | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Among those interviewed for parts were Barbara Leake and Gabriel Woolf.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#32.12)" (2004)

a Homer ' un

It is good for the viewer to see this cinemascope spectacular from 1956 after seeing the new TROY with Brad and Eric. HELEN OF TROY as directed by craftsman Robert Wise is very pleasingly made and with excellent action and spectacle - especially in the well populated fiery siege scenes. No CGI in those days, there really was a couple of thousand dressed and armed extras running all over the huge set. Apparently Robert Wise is on record as having said he took the $6 million assignment because he hadn't yet directed a spectacular....! Told from a different perspective than the 2004 version, this 50s view is from the point of Paris as opposed to Archilles in the new one. It would be like the new one being told from Orlando Bloom's perspective rather than from Brad Pitt's. HELEN OF TROY on DVD has good extras including the TV specials made with Gig Young as a promo of the time. The huge set created in Italy was recycled into SODOM AND GOMORRAH given the orange pillars and layout. HELEN OF TROY has excellent Warnercolour and beautiful art direction. It is a good film and well worth seeing after you see TROY as a companion/chaser.