The Trojan Women (1971)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Mihalis Kakogiannis

Writers:

Euripides (play)
Edith Hamilton (English translation)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The strength of mankind has always been its women.

Plot:

The women of Troy face enslavement after the fall of their city.

Plot Keywords:

Greek | Female Nudity | Trojan War | Queen | Place Name In Title

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Katharine Hepburn	...	Hecuba
Vanessa Redgrave	...	Andromache
Geneviève Bujold	...	Cassandra
Irene Papas	...	Helen
Patrick Magee	...	Menelaus
Brian Blessed	...	Talthybius
Alberto Sanz	...	Astyanax
Pauline Letts	...	Woman
Rosalie Shanks	...	Woman (as Rosalind Shanks)
Pat Beckett	...	Woman (as Pat Becket)
Anna Bentinck	...	Woman
Elsie Pittas	...	Woman (as Ersie Pittas)
Esmeralda Adam García	...	Woman (as Esmeralda Adam)
Esperanza Alonso	...	Woman
María García Alonso	...	Woman (as Maria G. Alonso)

Also Known As:

Troades (Greece)

Runtime:

Portugal:109 min | USA:105 min | Argentina:110 min | West Germany:105 min (TV)

Country:

UK | USA | Greece

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U | USA:GP | Argentina:13 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Atienza, Guadalajara, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Company:

Josef Shaftel Productions Inc.

Trivia:

The Edith Hamilton translation of "The Trojan Women", which is used in this film, premiered on the Broadway stage in 1938. It was immediately acclaimed as being superior to the antiquated Gilbert Murray translation, which was the standard version used then.

Quotes:

Talthybius: [to Hecuba about the ordered death of Asyanax] A herald who must bring such orders should be a man who feels no pity and no shame ether ... not like me.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Ifigeneia (1977)

Tell Ya 'Bout Them Trojan Women Who Lived In The Olden Days

It's all over now, the Greeks have taken Troy and have killed every male in the place. The wooden horse idea worked beautifully and now it's to divide up the spoils which in this case is the women of Troy, both high and low born.

Highest born of the lot is Hecuba, widow of the late King Priam and mother of Hector and Paris, both dead now. Imagine Eleanor of Aquitaine if her husband and all those loving sons had been slain in a cataclysm. Then you have some idea of what Katharine Hepburn's performance as Hecuba is all about.

Hepburn is aided and abetted in this film by three other international stars and each of their stories is told in relation to Hecuba. As Cassandra, Hepburn's daughter, Genevieve Bujold takes refuge in madness. The Gods gave her the gift of prophecy with the caveat that no one would believe her prophecies and it's all come too true. Vanessa Redgrave is Andromache, widow of Hector who has her little son killed by order of the Greeks to make the triumph complete before becoming part of the Spartan king's harem.

Then there's the one whose hormones started it all. Fair Helen, older and not terribly wiser, played by Irene Papas. Her scenes with Hepburn have some real bite to them, the best in the film. And Irene Papas is the only Greek in this Greek tragedy.

It's a powerful film, an anti-war film made at the time Vietnam was still a war zone. It only had limited release at the time it was out, it wasn't exactly box office material.

But it's a good film adaption of a classic and nice that one of Euripedes plays is preserved for us by four of the best players around of the female genders.

In the years labeled BC good woman's parts were actually being written.