Helen Of Troy (1956)

Paris (Jacques Sernas), a prince of Troy, while on a peace mission to Sparta is shipwrecked and falls in love with a girl (Rossana Podesta) who he thinks is a slave but is, in fact, Helen the wife of King Menelaus (Niall MacGinnis). Eventually, they flee Sparta to Troy but the fury of the Greeks follows them and Helen becomes the "face that launched a thousand ships" and the legendary siege of Troy by the Greeks begins. Based on Homer's ILLIAD, the film takes many liberties with the myth but director Robert Wise (THE SOUND OF MUSIC) has crafted a handsome and intelligent epic with enough pageantry, battles and romance (all accompanied by a superb Max Steiner score, one of his very best) to satisfy the most demanding sword and sandal connoisseur. The lovely Podesta and Sernas (looking like a young Richard Burton), both foreign born, have their voices dubbed but make an attractive couple. Shot in CinemaScope by the Oscar winning Harry Stradling (MY FAIR LADY), the film features many recognizable actors in supporting roles including Brigitte Bardot, Stanley Baker, Cedric Hardwicke, Torin Thatcher, Janette Scott, Robert Douglas, Marc Lawrence, Maxwell Reed and Nora Swinburne.