"L'odissea" (1968) TV mini-series

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Directors:

Franco Rossi
Piero Schivazappa

Writers:

Giampiero Bona (writer)
Vittorio Bonicelli (writer)

Release Date:

24 March 1968 (Italy)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

Plot Keywords:

TV Mini-Series | Ancient Greece

Cast

Bekim Fehmiu	...	Ulysses / Odysseus
Irene Papas	...	Penelope
Michèle Breton	...	Athena
Fausto Tozzi	...	Menelaus
Renaud Verley	...	Telemachus
Marina Berti	...	Arete
Samson Burke	...	Polyphemus
Roy Purcell	...	Alcinous
Stefanella Giovannini	...	Cassandra
Karl-Otto Alberty	...	Eurymachus
Maurizio Tocchi	...	Leocritus
Barbara Bach	...	Nausicaa (as Barbara Gregorini)
Vladimir Leib	...	Aeolus
Scilla Gabel	...	Helen
Duje Novakovic	...	Elpenor

Also Known As:

Die Odyssee (West Germany)
L'odyssée (France)
Le avventure di Ulisse (Italy) (theatrical title)
Odissea (Italy) (video title)
The Adventures of Ulysses (Europe: English title) (theatrical title)

Runtime:

Italy:109 min (theatrical version) | Italy:446 min (video version) | Italy:55 min (8 episodes) | Spain:91 min (theatrical version)

Country:

Italy | Yugoslavia | West Germany | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:GP

Filming Locations:

Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the bow of Ulysses is taken form the storage room it is clearly strung. Bows have to be stored unstrung or they lose their strength over time (and this one is said to have not been touched for 20 years). As a result the movie deviates from the epic in the essential part that in the epic the bow is useless to the suitors because they are unable to string it (either due to lack of strength or not knowing that a composite bow is strung backwards). The movie on the other hand shows the suitors (rather unconvincingly) unable to simply draw the bow.

Movie Connections:

Version of As Aventuras sexuals de Ulysses (1998) (V)

haunting & unforgettable

I've been trying to find out about this series for ages! Thank you, IMDb! I saw this as a child and have never quite been able to get it out of my mind. As a 6-year old, of course, I was particularly struck by the episode of the cyclops, which was absolutely chilling (I talked about it so much that my older brother made me a cyclops out of a plastic cave man figurine, which I still have) What I also remember, though, was the atmosphere, which was unusual right from the beginning - mysterious, austere, and extremely authentic. When I read the original many years later I experienced that same sensation. It's a very hard thing to capture - and probably impossible in Hollywood. Every 'Odyssey' I've seen since has been an enormous let-down. The characters in this series seemed genuine, real people - ancient Greek people - and not some Hollywood stars in costumes. This is a real masterpiece! But - Why is it not better known? And why isn't it available on VHS or DVD? I would just love to have the chance to see this again!