Here we go folks, I am jumping on the Odyssey bandwagon! There is a ton of movies about the Odyssey. I just decided to go with the most famous one out there: Ulysses with Kirk Douglas. It was written and directed by Italian/Americans, and overall it is pretty darn good. This is it, folks. the movie that launched a thousand sword and sandal films!
Did critics think it was great? No, of course not. It was still the biggest grossing film in Italy at the time, which shows you what critics know about making a popular film. The audience loved it. As much as possible Ulysses was filmed in Italy, and local museums contributed weapons and armor. Doesn’t get more realistic that that. For bonus points It was shot in Italian, and then dubbed into English (trivia: Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn dubbed their own voices — IMDB).
Does Ulysses closely match Homer’s Odyssey? Within reason. It’s a book, you adapt it for a screenplay and then have to compromise to get it to fit in a ridiculously short time frame. You gotta get that good stuff in there, like the Cyclops and lonely Circe, so they did that. I like the scene with the Sirens as well. Gotta get that in there.
I did not go back and refer to my copy of The Odyssey to see what was missing (see picture) due to a lack of time*. I am going to leave it to you fine people to discuss any details you thought should have been included.
Trivia! This was shot in 3D alongside the normal film process we are watching tonight. That explains some of those camera angles you will notice as the movie rolls on. It’s not as obvious as the Three Stooges 3-D shorts, but it’s there. I have never seen Ulysses in the 3-D process. I am not sure that version was ever released. Does anyone here know?
It is time for me to stop rambling. So relax, put down your tridents and torches, and enjoy this epic! It’s a good one. Is it better than the latest version? Do you have a favorite version? Let me know in the comments!
So watch! Or don’t! Everything is voluntary! Next week, it’s time for the GlibFlick Anniversary show! Holy cow, did that sneak up on me! Five years of shows! Over 250 posts! I will see if there is some way to embed the Excel GlibFlick Master List now that we are bereft of the Forum. It’s a heck of a list of movies.
*Yes, I actually own books. I do not exclusively watch movies. Although it feels that way sometimes.
I think I got the number of posts wrong. I think I just went over 200. I’ll check later when I don’t have a cat on my lap.
The alien knows who’s in charge on this planet! 😸🙄
OK. it is over 250. I will be over 300 next year!
“which shows you what critics know about making a popular film”
Holy ratio, Batman!
It’s my favorite ratio on Rotten Tomatoes.
This version is in the original Italian, with subtitles. Which I think is actually cooler than the dubbed version.
Diving in!
Douglas gets second billing.
At the time, that was appropriate.
Either Quinn or Douglas would have been reasonable top billing in 1954. I think Douglas had already been nominated twice for an Oscar and Quinn had won his first.
If there was a dispute among the actors as to who should get top billing, they could always do like Irwin Allen on The Towering Inferno, and use diagonal billing from lower left to upper right 😉
They should have dubbed each other’s roles instead.
Or dubbed the women’s voices in falsetto.
Another Odyssey
“Free” and even no data submission with a temporary/disposable email address. I’ll probably send them a few $ anyway since I’m going to go through several of the lectures.
Hmm….
There is a British movie on The Odyssey out there on Tubi. I enjoyed it, but it had BBC pacing. You folks would have fallen asleep. There is an animated version too. Did not have time to scan it.
I think I remember one (English with Spanish subs?) that had stop motion special effects for the monsters.
I did not get far enough to see if it did. It had too much of a Masterpiece Theatre vibe.
Here it is:
https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/682058
That one doesn’t look old enough.
Odd, it doesn’t list a year.
Maybe it was this?
https://tubitv.com/movies/674726/jason-and-the-argonauts
Oh yes! That is the Ray Harryhausen classic! Fantastic film. Have you not seen it all the way through?
I just shot Kirk Douglas in the forehead with my new rubber band gun. Behold, my birthday present to me:
https://www.glibertarians.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/IMG_5721.jpeg
Someday soon I will do a Sean parody photo with buffalo steak and the 1911.
More reliable than a hi point!
It actually is! It has a basic accuracy too, unlike the Elastic Precision PPK I have owned for about ten years.
BTW, it was not uncommon in Italian movies of that era for all the actors to redo their dialog in post, even if it was their native language. I believe Burt Lancaster dubbed himself in both the Italian and English-language versions of The Leopard.
There’s a great scene in the Truffaut film Day for Night where Valentina Cortese is playing an actress having trouble remembering her lines and hitting her marks. After a bunch of takes she finally asking the director of the film-within-a-film (played by Truffaut himself) whether they can dub the dialog in post. After all Fellini let them do that and just say numbers instead of delivering their lines, at which point she goes around the set giving “dialog” of numbers.
The dubbed version of this showed periodically on channel 11 in Dallas. I have seen this a few times. UHF TV showed Steve Reeves films, which really cemented my love of sword and sandal films.
I figured out how to embed files in a post. So the latest movie list is now a download on the Anniversary show next week.
Burritos for the win
Fucks sake, giving up paying attention to the news and politics was probably the best decision I’ve ever made.
But what do you read?
I like how the U gets replaced with a V in the opening credits. Archaic style font sets the mood. i hope there are wenches. Many wenches.
Circe is a babe.
As is Penelope.
Ulysses, I’ll grant.
Heh. And the Cyclops parties in Eyebiza.
That’s just like Ulysses.
Nice harp.
“STAG LINES: The Anthology of Virile Verse”
Ya whip that out to arouse the poor deer you invite in, do ya?
That is quite the book of blue verses.
Bright colors, beautiful costumes, sweaty men wrestling. That Nolan guy could learn a thing or two from this.
How has this not been posted?
Cream – Tales of Brave Ulysses
It was waiting for you!
That crazy British professor from the last few posts has just resigned. Good.
https://notthebee.com/article/cambridge-professor-accused-of-plagiarism-now-charged-with-using-ai-to-write-resignation-letter
LOL because of course. That guy (? – not entirely sure) is the gift that keeps on giving.
These are the worst rowers.
Call-em what they are
This is how I feel when I’ve played more than a few computer games, especially more than a few Infocom games.
ヨルシカ – あぶく