Did you people see the same film I saw?

A Brilliant Conflict

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

for me, "Ulysses" is a slide of childhood. and this does the things complicated and easy. easy because I can not imagine an alternative actor in the role of Ulysses except Kirk Douglas. because , for my inner child, Silvana Mangano is the perfect Penelope and Franco Interlenghi the right Telemach. the scene of the meet with Polyphem , the revenge against suitors, the song of mermaids and the courage are clothes for the images of Homer. so, I could not say if it is a decent film or a bad one. only , I admit, it is a slice from my childhood. so, unique.

Hello? Like, did movie-audiences back in 1954 really take this cheesy, cheap, badly-acted, Italian, costume drama (with its truly dreadful special effects) seriously? For me, I thought that actor Kirk Douglas, as the title character, was an utterly terrible choice. Wearing his little mini-skirt and sandals outfit, he looked more like a total wimp who actually belonged amongst the women rather than the men.Playing his part with absolutely no conviction, whatsoever, I thought that Douglas completely disgraced the name and the legend of this Greek hero/warrior named Ulysses.And, besides that, I thought that Douglas was far too old (almost 40) to be at all convincing as this supposedly robust, virile and gallant champion of the common man.Douglas' presence in this film did absolutely nothing to improve the overall amateurishness of this less-than-thrilling production.My guess is that Douglas (who was at the very height of his career at this point) was probably paid some really big bucks to appear in this garbage. And, so, with that, how the heck could he have possibly been expected to refuse the part? Ulysses' painfully predictable story, pretty much, contained every single, stinking "Greek Hero" cliché in the book, and then some.And, on top of all that, not one actor in the entire film put in a performance that could be described as anything else but "pure wood".And, the English dubbing was atrocious beyond words.Anyways - On the unintentionally hilarious side of things - The really weird eyes that were painted on the Trojan Horse got a howl-and-a-half of laughter out of me. And, the scene with the doofus Cyclops was so bloody moronic that it's certainly worthy of mention here for the chuckles that it produced, as well.All-in-all - This dumb movie (which had 8 screenwriters backing up its dreadful story) was the purest piece of trash to the 10th power.

I remember seeing this movie at about 8 yrs. old; I thought it was thrilling; I enjoyed it a lot better than Jason & The Argonauts; If any one knows where I can purchase the DVD/VCR please let me know; I've been waiting such along time to see it again. I think this is one of Kirk Doughlas' best; a lot of action and a good story; it doesn't matter if it were true or not, I think it was very well done; I was fully entertained; I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this movie. I think Kirk Douglas is such a great actor; I don't believe there were any of his movies that I didn't enjoy. He can play any character; I don't know if he ever won an Oscar but if he hasn't, he should have.

Homer's tale goes that after his brilliant idea of a huge wooden horse that decided the Greek's victory in the Troyan war, Ithaca's King Ulysses challenged the sea god Poseidon and he was punished to sail around for 10 years before he could get back to his island and his faithful wife Queen Penelope. During the hero's long absence many ambitious men have settled in his palace with the intention of marrying the supposedly widow Queen and rule Ithaca with her. The picture is about Ulysses's trip and all the tasks he has to go through before reaching home and, once there, how he deals with the men that are trying to take his place.Though the film is sort of slow by the middle part of the story and perhaps a little exceeded in its running time, it doesn't lack adventure, action and entertainment. Ulysses faces the cyclops who wants to have him and his crew for lunch, survives the seducing singing of the mermaids, visits the kingdom of the dead and escapes the spell of sorceress Circe who plans to retain him for herself. Arrived at last in Ithaca after loosing all his mates, he faces the pretenders to his throne in a memorable action and fighting sequence."Ulysses" is pure entertainment and adventure in ancient Greece. The film is well done and easy to watch (its excess in duration apart)with a correct direction by Mario Camerini. It shows well chosen locations and carefully designed settings. Special effects are more than acceptable for 1955. But perhaps the main feature is a well selected main cast.Kirk Douglas is the perfect choice for Ulysses and his performance is strong and convincing. Silvana Mangano renders a believable Penelope and Anthony Quinn is at his best playing the main pretender Antinoos ("the first in pride").It could be true that this picture inspired the sword and sandals sub genre that started a bit later with Steve Reeves's "Hercules", but you can be sure that fortunately this one doesn't belong to that category.A fine product in its genre.