Monday, May 9, 2016

By the Gods!

A scene from NIGHT LIFE OF THE GODS (1935)

The actors are Alan Mowbray, Florine McKinney, George Hassell, Robert Warwick, Pat DiCicco and Paul Kay. I don't know any of them. What's interesting about this very old and seldom seen film is the fact that Greek mythology is featured front and centre, which is something Hollywood has rarely done, back then or since. Aside from ALEXANDER THE GREAT, HELEN OF TROY, JASON & THE ARGONAUTS and CLASH OF THE TITANS (the original, not the remake), few Hollywood films have been set in Ancient Greece and even less about Greek mythology, which has always been a head scratcher to me. I don't know if it's a cultural blind spot of the people working in Hollywood, but if there's a rich and endless set of fantastic stories and characters, it's surely Greek mythology. Modern day Hollywood has attempted to fix this oversight with several projects, including TROY, 300, IMMORTALS, HERCULES, etc, but few of them are genuine to actual Greek mythos. Oh well...

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