Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Helen of Troy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson August 23, 2023

With the release of The Robe in 1953, Hollywood studios rapidly took notice of the large-format capabilities that CinemaScope could offer. Warner Brothers' Helen of Troy (1956), which was one of the most expensive pictures the studio undertook up to that point, can be considered Warners' answer to the Fox production. Since director Robert Wise had not made a sword-and-sandals epic yet, the versatile filmmaker wanted to cut his teeth into a new genre. The studio cast two relatively unknowns for the leads. According to a 1955 article in the Detroit Free Press, Jacques Sernas did a screen test for Wise and Gerry Glattner, head of Warner's production in Rome, for the role of Aeneas, a confidante of Prince Paris of Troy. Wise and Glattner were so impressed with Sernas's "engaging performance" that they cast him as Paris instead. For the important titular role, the studio selected 19-year-old Italian beauty Rossana Podestà. The actress was then best known for appearing in Ulysses (1954) with Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn. Sernas's English was very limited and Podestà didn't speak any at all so she had her lines dubbed. During Helen of Troy, reports arrived from Italy that Wise was pleased with the chemistry between Sernas and Podestà.

Set in 1100 B.C., Helen of Troy is told primarily from the perspective of the Trojans. Paris (Jacques Sernas), son to King Priam (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) and Queen Hecuba (Nora Swinburne), wants to travel to Sparta as an ambassador with hopes of forging a peaceful alliance with the Greek city states. Paris's younger sister Cassandra (Janette Scott) doesn't want her brother to venture there because she has visions the peace plan will fall apart. Paris goes anyway and aboard a ship, a terrible storm maroons him on a Spartan beach. He is approached by the luminous Helen (Rossana Podestà), the queen of Sparta, although Paris does not know her title. The two seem to click. Helen is wary of Paris approaching the Greek council because she doesn't trust her uncouth husband, King Menelaus (Niall MacGinnis). Paris has an amicable meeting with the Spartans but since Menelaus plans to eventually dispatch of him, the Trojan prince escapes with aid and assistance from Helen, who joins him to Troy. Paris's family and the Trojans take some time getting used to a Spartan but they come to accept Helen. Agamemnon (Robert Douglas), Achilles (Stanley Baker), and Ulysses (Torin Thatcher) each have attack plans in a siege of Troy and hopes of returning Helen to Sparta.

In his 2012 book Robert Wise: Shadowlands, Wes Gehring described Helen of Troy derisively as a "slow-moving mastodon." While it is true the picture take its leisurely time to set up the romance between Paris and Helen, it's only a two-hour feature, which is substantially less than the three-plus-hour epics that Hollywood was churning out during this period and well into the next decade. Some lengthy battle scenes help to accelerate the pace. Wise, his screenwriters, the casting director, and Warners' publicity team should be credited with exploiting the attractive features of the two leads. Although the picture was a box-office disappointment, the filmmakers and marketing personnel tailored it well to both demographics. Not only is Podestà's pretty face and petite figure on display for the male viewer's pleasure, but Sernas's sun-baked chest and pectoral muscles demonstrate his masculinity and considerable sex appeal for the female viewer. There are some lengthy scenes where he's bare chested. His blond hair reminds me somewhat of Richard Burton's bleach-blond look in Alexander the Great, which was released the same year. (Sernas and Burton were nearly the exact same age.)

Helen of Troy encountered so many difficulties during its lengthy production that it's a miracle it was completed. In his book, The Films of Robert Wise (2007), Richard C. Keenan gleaned from the trade papers at the time that a large fire at Cinecittà destroyed 80 percent of an eighteen-unit set. Also, there were frequent delays from Wise's 2,000 Italian extras. In his 1961 memoirs, published a few years before his untimely death, Sir Cedric Hardwicke wrote that Raoul Walsh was brought in to "pep up the production" because the love interest [between Sernas and Podestà] "was proving tepid." However, author Marilyn Ann Moss chronicles in her 2011 book on Walsh that the prolific director traveled to Rome in early 1955 as an obligation to carry out the second half of his Warners contract. Walsh was the second unit director in charge of the battle scenes. Hardwicke remembers that on Walsh's first day of shooting, approximately fifty extras were injured. By the third day, Walsh packed his suitcase to return to Hollywood. Hardwicke, who doesn't even mention Wise in his autobiography, claims that Walsh "saved the movie."

Helen of Troy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Warner Archive Collection has rolled out Helen of Troy on Blu-ray, which appears fresh in 1080p on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. The transfer comes from a new 4K restoration from the original camera negative. Screenshot #s 15-19 should demonstrate how cinematographer Harry Stradling makes full use of the 2.55:1 Scope ratio and each outer edge. The Bronze-Age palace of Knossos where King Priam and his family live in the Minoan Troy has a painterly look to the composition in #18. Closer shots of persons, buildings, and objects show a nice clarity and sharpness. Extreme long shots, such as the opening image to the picture (screen capture #20), do not look as sharp in focus. This is because of the use of matte paintings and probably process shots in other compositions appear fuzzier when added in to the background. Warners has thankfully not smoothed out or sharpened those parts of the image. One thing I noticed is in the scene outside the Spartan thatched hut, the sun goes from lavender (frame grab #22) early in the scene to pink/salmon (frame grab #23) later on. Did a matte artist paint those in to signify a time passage? Warners has encoded the feature at an average video bitrate of 34911 kbps.

Twenty-eight chapters can only be accessed and changed via remote.

Helen of Troy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Warners has provided a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround mix (3925 kbps, 24-bit) as the lone sound track. On the back cover of its 1996 LaserDisc, WB states: "The Overture is as optimally rendered as the surviving material allows." There's no sound issues with the Overture on the Blu-ray. The orchestrations sound warm sans any age-related defects. This 5.1 track is not a remix. The original four-track stereo mix is maintained along the fronts. Indeed, dialogue and f/x almost always come out of the front channels. The viewer should be able to hear Max Steiner's rousing score from the rear speakers. I am fortunate to have an album containing 108 minutes of Steiner's music, which is essentially the complete score. German record label Mythus released it on two CDs in 1995. Many of the tracks sound like they were recorded in stereo. Some of the others have a monophonic positionality in their delivery. Tsunami, another German label, released an hours-worth of Steiner's score (also in '95). The original recording has never been released in the US. Elmer Bernstein conducted a re-recording in ca. the early 1970s of parts of the score, which has been issued on LP and CD.

I watched Helen of Troy with the optional English SDH enabled and they deliver a 99 percent accurate transcription of the dialogue. One error I caught is "journey" is interpreted as "travel" on the subtitle track.

Helen of Troy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The three vintage mini-featurettes and trailer were initially included on the LD. ABC-TV aired the program segments in January and February, 1956. Actor Gig Young hosted them.

• The Look of Troy (6:06, upconverted to 1080p) - ABC originally titled this "Behind the Cameras:Don Juan/Models and Props." Young shows the Vitaphone equipment that was used to record early film sound. A clip from Don Juan (1926) is shown in which John Barrymore and Montagu Love's characters engage in a sword duel. Young showcases some models for the sets of Helen of Troy. A few excerpts from Wise's epic are shown. In English, not subtitled.

• Interviewing Helen (6:06, upconverted to 1080p) - Young interviews Rossana Podestà atop one of the Troy sets. In English, not subtitled.

• Sounds of Homeric Troy (6:06, upconverted to 1080p) - Young visits one of the film's technicians and explains how re-recording devices were used to simulate hundreds of arrow shots. The noises used to create the battering ram banging into the Trojan gates are also demonstrated. In English, not subtitled.

• Napoleon Bunny-Part (7:07, 1080p) - this vintage cartoon short sports bright colors and a very good transfer.

• Original Theatrical Trailer (4:11) - Warner's official trailer for Helen of Troy presented in 2.55:1 anamorphic widescreen. The trailer hasn't been restored but appears in fair to decent shape.

Helen of Troy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Helen of Troy has not been given a fair shake through the years. I hope this 4K-sourced Blu-ray gives audiences renewed appreciation for its artistry and the sedulous way DP Harry Stradling frames the battle scenes. The viewer needs to keep in mind that language barriers precluded Rossana Podestà and Jacques Sernas from partaking in long exchanges. Critics of the picture label their acting as wooden because of a stilted script. Podestà and Sernas did the best they could with the material they were given. Hopefully, Robert Wise will also be recognized for mounting a handsome epic that doesn't allow its surge and spectacle to leapfrog Paris and Helen's tribulations as well as the Trojan/Spartan conflict. The Warner Archive Collection delivers in my mind a faithful transfer of the original WarnerColor in glorious CinemaScope. I would have loved a historical commentary to go along with the vintage mini-featurettes. A VERY SOLID RECOMMENDATION.