Ulysses (Ulisse)

Homer's Odyssey is the source of Ulisse (Ulysses), a sword-and-sandal fantasy adventure from 1954 that Mario Camerini directed. Italy, France and the United States joined forces on it as an international co-production, with Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti producing for Lux Film. Camerini wrote the script with Franco Brusati; seven writers worked on it, among them Ben Hecht and Irwin Shaw. After its Italian premiere on 6 October 1954, Paramount Pictures released it in the United States a year later, which is why it is often dated 1955.

Kirk Douglas plays Odysseus, king of Ithaca. Silvana Mangano takes a double role, as his faithful wife Penelope and as the enchantress Circe. Anthony Quinn plays Antinous, Penelope's suitor, and Rossana Podestà is Nausicaa. The film follows the epic fairly closely, though events were condensed, cut or rearranged to fit about a hundred minutes.

Georg Wilhelm Pabst was the first choice to direct, but he handled only the preparation and withdrew at the last moment, leaving the work to Camerini. Cinematographer Mario Bava helped direct the Cyclops sequence. The Technicolor photography is by Harold Hal Rosson, and the critic John Eames rated it above the average Italian epic of the period. It was Italy's top box-office film of the 1954-55 season.