Rent Helen of Troy (1956)

Pre CGI Wonders - Helen of Troy review by AP

A pretty good load of enjoyable old hokum, with leading actors playing Paris and Helen I've never heard of, but who suit the historical epic of the 1950s style very well.

The story if what you'd expect, loosely based on Homer's 'Iliad' but with the essentials well in place: the stealing of Helen by Paris triggering of the war between the Greeks and Troy, Troy's determination to fight in spite of Paris' unwise action, the launching of a thousand ships, Achilles' petulancy, his defeat of Hector, Paris' arrow in Achilles' heel, the horse in which Greeks soldiers hide in order to infiltrate the city etc etc. Excellent on spectacle when a cast of thousands meant just that, lots and lots of galleys, heroic battle scenes with chariots and siege engines, costumes to admire, though those of the major characters seem clean enough for the catwalk most of the time. Even the dialogue rises occasionally above the banal, though the romantic scenes, just as I found them when I was a kid, struck me as being as tedious as ever. And there are so many princes and named characters that it's hopeless to try to remember who's who, though Achilles, Odysseus, Priam, Hector and the standout figures are all comfortably identifiable. And Paris is allowed to have a bit more all-American zip, gutsiness, skill as a warrior, and princely weight than he's often allowed though he plays the lover boy to love-struck order. Definitely a matinée idol.

In short, it's of its time, standing alongside films such as Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments and the later El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire. Did I enjoy it? - Yes, in a retro sort of way, but it was made for the wide screen and would be much more effective seen in a cinema, if truth be told.