On Page and Screen: Helen of Troy
Last night, I watched Helen of Troy , a 1956 swords and sandals epic on TCM. The film was pretty boring, but at least Helen (played by Italian actress Rosanna Podesta) in this version, had something of a storyline. She wasn't just a pretty piece of scenery while the men do all the heavy lifting. In this film, the Greeks are all blowhards and boring, and the Trojans are all pretty boys. Poor Cassandra runs around with a doily on her head, as she weeps that no one will listen to her. After the film was over, I realized that it's rare that Helen is the center of the story surrounding the Trojan War, despite the fact that the Greeks allegedly went to war with the Trojans over her 'kidnapping' by Paris. In most films, we briefly see her love story with Paris, they run off together, and then film directors go to town on gory war scenes. Just think of the 2004 film Troy or as I like to call it Brad Pitt's thighs since Wolfgang Petersen spent more...