Ulysses and the Giant Polyphemus (1905)

When Ulysses of the Odyssey is trapped on the island of Calypso, he must fight Polyphemus, the giant monster that lives there.

Director:

Georges Méliès

Storyline

When Ulysses of the Odyssey is trapped on the island of Calypso, he must fight Polyphemus, the giant monster that lives there.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to homer's odyssey | falling asleep | blinding | nymph | reference to polyphemus | 

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Genres:

Short

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User Reviews

The Mysterious Island

L'île de Calypso (1905)

*** (out of 4)

aka The Mysterious Island

Ulysses finds himself on a strange island where he passes out shortly after getting there. A bunch of nymphs then do a dance around him and offer him to their goddess Calypso. Ulysses awakes and goes after the woman but he's stopped by a cyclops who he must do battle against. Okay, this is a pretty interesting little film for a number of reasons but the biggest is the inclusion of the cyclops. I'm not sure if this was the first time one was put in a movie but I really loved how it's used here. It's funny because when we see the creature we only get to see its head and the strange thing is that the director did a good job building up its fake one eye yet he left the actors other two (real) eyes clearly visible and only had the actor keep them closed. A great touch is when the cyclops gets an arrow through the eye and it starts leaking white liquid. Quite violent for 1905! The film uses narration (on DVD in French or English) to tell its story and it's probably best that you use it even with the Music Only track. Melies does a good job playing Ulysses so fans will enjoy seeing him here.

Details

Country:

France

Language:

None

Release Date:

1905 (France)

Also Known As:

Ulysses and the Giant Polyphemus

Company Credits

Production Co:

Star-Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

4 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1