Search - Ulysses on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1954 DVD Release: 12/07/1999 Format: DVD Audio Tracks: English, French, Italian SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 44 mins Studio: Fox Lorber Members Wishing: 7 Genres: Adventure, Mythological Fantasy, Fantasy Adventure, Sword-and-Sandal See Also: Ulysses

This very expensive Italian-made adaptation of Homer's "The Odyssey" stars Kirk Douglas as seafaring hero Ulysses. The story begins, as ever, with Ulysses leaving his faithful wife Penelope (Silvano Magnano) behind as he goes off to fight in the Trojan Wars. Having the poor taste to set himself above the gods after a stunning military victory, Ulysses is doomed to journey aimlessly across the sea until he can make amends. Along the way, our hero battles a cyclops, resists the fatal singing of the Sirens, and enjoys a brief interlude with pig-fancying enchantress Circe (also played by Silvano Magnano). Years and years later, Ulysses returns to Penelope, where he must meet and master a final challenge. Acceptable enough when first released in 1954, Ulysses pales in comparison to the high-tech, all-star 1997 TV miniseries version of The Odyssey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kirk Douglas - Ulysses
Silvana Mangano - Penelope/Circe
Anthony Quinn - Antinous
Rossana Podestà - Nausicaa
Jacques Dumesnil - Alicinous

Mario Camerini's Ulysses occupies a unique place in cinematic history. Although superficially a European knock-off of the kind of costume adventures that Hollywood had flirted with during the late '40s and early '50s, it has several attributes that put it above any of the European sword-and-sandal films that followed later in the 1950s, starting with Kirk Douglas in the title role. If any Hollywood actor was born to play the bold, powerful, clever king and warrior, it was Douglas. Silvana Mangano and Anthony Quinn also acquit themselves well in the roles of Penelope and Antinous, respectively. The photography by Hal Rosson is also outstanding, and the story is told as well as it possibly could have been in the context of the time in which it was made.
The disc looks as good as any small-screen presentation that the movie has ever received. Mastered cleanly and in rich color with lots of detail, and with a clean (if somewhat low-level) soundtrack, this is a good account of the movie -- the flesh tones are radiant and the details fully visible in the arms and armor used in various scenes. The scenes involving the one-eyed giant Polyphemus are done about as well as can be expected in the absence of good stop-motion special effects and within the limits of the photographic technology of the time. The film has been treated fairly well, although eight chapters for a 104-minute film is a bit skimpy. The film has had a fairly wide-ranging distribution history, originally issued by Paramount, then picked up by Warner Bros., and lately in the hands of Fox-Lorber. Considering how good it looks here, its owners have either been extremely lucky or extremely careful. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide