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

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)

The Best Interpretation of the Homeric Classic

Of all the versions of the Odyssey (or of any Greek mythological story for that matter), this in my opinion is the best of them all. Almost true to the original storyline - with some minor deviations and omissions, e.g. the absence of Scylla & Charybdis and the fact that Eumaeus the swineherd recognizes Odysseus in disguise in his hut - realistic acting and authentic scenery and costumes all contribute to make this a truly memorable masterpiece,not some Hollywoodish sword-and-sandal B-flick. Notwithstanding the fact that the dialogue and subtitles are completely in Italian, if one is familiar with the storyline, he can still make heads and tails of what is going on and what the actors are saying (provided you have a good handy text of the Odyssey at hand). At least I did, and so much so that it has inspired me to study the Italian language to better appreciate the movie even more.