Katherine Hepburn in THE TROJAN WOMEN (1971)
As the new THE ODYSSEY movie will be released this Friday, I'd like to remind people of this movie. Directed by Michael Cacoyannis, who directed several movies based on Greek mythology, filmed mostly with barebones production values. The emphasis of his films were the actors, dialogue and emotions. Not the spectacle side of the PEPLUM genre. Though not for everyone, I appreciate these movies. While watching THE TROJAN WOMEN, I never got bored. It is minimalistic, with barely any sets. Just the cast standing in some dusty location. It must have been an interesting shoot. Personally, I like Katherine in this movie. She gives the movie and her role a lot of gravitas. Irene papas is also great. But Hepburn gives a heartfelt performance.
Katherine didn't make many PEPLUM style movies but she did star way back in the early days of her career, in a play called THE WARRIOR'S HUSBAND, which was one of her breakthrough roles in 1924. When it was eventually made into a movie, Elissa Landi, of SIGN OF THE CROSS (1932), played the role Katherine played on stage. The movie is almost impossible to find. I got a copy from someone who recorded it while it played at a museum in New York. One of the reasons I'm bringing this up with the soon-to-be-released THE ODYSSEY, the new film is being perceived to be a feminist take on Homer's work. I suspect THE TROJAN WOMEN is a better movie, seen from a female perspective, than the $250 million production.
