In this fantasy-adventure based on Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, Kirk Douglas is larger than life in the title role and Silvana Mangano is spellbindingly beautiful in the dual role of Penelope/Circe. Most importantly, the story & script are compelling. The Cyclops sequence is a highlight and the F/X are surprisingly good for 1954. Moreover, the climax when Ulysses is revealed after posing as a beggar is dynamic. Sometimes it's necessary to temporarily kowtow to the arrogant in order to assess the situation and bide your time for an effective strike. In my humble opinion this version is better than the 1997 rendition with Armand Assante, "The Odyssey," because it's more streamlined, lacks the eye-rolling manifestations of the gods and it's hard to beat Douglas' imposing portrayal. However, "The Odyssey" is still worth checking out since the effects are more modern and there are some quality cast members and effective sequences, particularly the crew's horrific confrontation with the three-headed monster, Scylla, and the entire final act.The movie runs 117 minutes and was shot in Italy, the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa.GRADE: A

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.

A lyrical and beguiling adventure film from the early-'50s. Kirk Douglas looks the part as Ulisse, the intrepid, shrewd ancient Greek hero. In appearance he is bearded, with curly fair hair and with fiery green-blue eyes. His role complements his other flair performances, vis a vis 20000 Leagues under the Sea [1954], Paths of Glory [1957] and The Light at the Edge of the World [1971]. Filmed and produced in Italy the classical scenes with the Cyclops and the Sirens are so powerful and sensual: the psychological depths, super-bright colours and metaphysical undercurrent are profound. Excerpts from this film are featured in Cinema Paradiso. Actor and Yorkshireman, Brian Glover -a man of Barnsley, remarked some years ago how much he admired this film. In some ways Ulisse is a subtler depiction of the classical world than the alien, sentimental often televised Spartacus [1960].

I just bought a dvd of this film as it was going for under 10 euros and had always been interested in the adventures of Ulysses. I opted as always for the original version on the dvd and was amazed to hear Italian, not English !! I had no idea that Kirk Douglas could speak italian so fluently.......absolutely amazing !! That is, unless the notes on the dvd were incorrect and it wasn't the original version at all but one dubbed into Italian. I suppose we'll never know! I was expecting a better film than what I saw, something of the quality of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, but was rather disappointed with the script, a lot of useless talk and not enough action ! I suppose this is what we can expect of Italian cinema ( the director of the film was italian as were a number of the actors ! ). The picture quality, although announced as Technicolor had too much contrast plus clicks and spots and certainly left to be desired. There was a good passage with the Cyclops, Polyphemus, however, we saw nothing of the sirens and I was desperately looking out for Charybde and Scylla but saw no sign of them. I really thought too much of the story had been omitted and too much time given over to boring soporific chat. Certainly not a film to be recommended !