Since the unexpected success of his complex and wildly splintered “Memento” in 2000, Christopher Nolan has earned a reputation as one of the most intelligent and literate filmmakers in Hollywood, as well as one who dares to break Hollywood’s cardinal rule by assuming audiences are likewise intelligent and literate. In more recent films like “Interstellar” (2014), “Dunkirk” (2017) and “Oppenheimer” (2023), he’s also revealed himself to be a filmmaker with an expanding vision, steadily moving into grander, more epic territory.
It’s little surprise, then, that at some point he would choose to wrangle with the grandest epic of them all. His latest film, “The Odyssey,” follows Ithaca’s King Odysseus’ long and what we’ll just call “bumpy” voyage home after mopping up the Trojan War. (For more background, see Homer’s prequel, “The Iliad.”). But Homer’s epic is rich enough to spawn a multitude of interpretations, and Nolan is merely following in the footsteps of (depending on how far you stretch the parameters) at least 40 other directors who have adapted the story since the earliest days of cinema. Although none of his predecessors were blessed with $250 million budgets, all-star casts and loads of CGI and artificial intelligence tools, some of them crafted adaptations that remain memorable, occasionally even stunning, to this day.
Stretching from 1905 to 2024 (and not including the Smurfs version), here are 15 of the best, or simply most unlikely, adaptations that beat Nolan to the punch. Some are faithful, some are oddball, and in some cases, Homer’s influence may not be immediately clear until you look a little deeper.
1. “L’île de Cœalypso: Ulysse et le géant Polyphèm,” aka “The Mysterious Island” (1905)
Through his innovative use of multiple exposures, splices, dissolves and mechanical effects, French director Georges Méliès remains a hugely influential wizard of cinematic sleight of hand. Best known for his 1902 short “A Trip to the Moon,” over 120 years ago, he also filmed the first adaptation of “The Odyssey.” Pulling out his usual bag of tricks, Méliès plays Odysseus in a picture that combines two unrelated sequences from the poem: the battle with the Cyclops and the scenes on Calypso’s island. It’s a nifty trick to pull off in four minutes.
2. “L’Odissea” (1911)
Made four years before D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation,” Francesco Bertolini’s adaptation is justly considered one of the first true cinematic epics. It premiered at a film competition that was part of a nationwide celebration marking the 50th anniversary of Italy’s reunification, and considering when it was made, remains impressive. It’s a faithful retelling, though at 45 minutes we get the Reader’s Digest version. All your favorite highlights are here: Giuseppe de Liguoro
Eugenia’s Odysseus contends with the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, Polyphemus and all those damned suitors who are after his wife Penelope back in Ithaca.
The film made quite a splash across Europe and the U.S., but one thing’s always nagged at me a little. If the film was intended as part of a celebration of Italy, why didn’t Bertolini adapt Virgil’s Roman epic “The Aeneid” instead?
An episode of the Walter Cronkite narrated series, “You Are There.”
3. “You Are There: The Return of Ulysses” (1953)
As educational TV show premises go, “You Are There” had a humdinger. This may explain why it ran on CBS for 20 years. Hosted and narrated by Walter Cronkite with most early episodes directed by Sidney Lumet, the weekly half-hour show took the form of a contemporary newscast, with cameramen and reporters covering historical events as if they happened yesterday. So, we got the death of Cleopatra, the trial of Galileo, the Hamilton-Burr duel and the assassination of Julius Caesar, complete with on-camera interviews with the major players and bystanders.
“The Return of Ulysses” was odd man out, in that it was one of the rare instances where the show stepped away from documented history into literature.
Filmed in Grand Central Station, as the name implies, the episode focuses on Ulysses’ return to Ithaca after 20 years to reclaim his throne and deal with all those suitors trying to woo Penelope. The climax is decidedly less bloody than Homer’s original.
4. “Ulysses” (1954)
While legendary filmmaker G.W. Pabst was originally slated to direct, he was soon replaced by Mario Camerini, who filled out the cast with a bevy of international stars including Silvana Mangano, Anthony Quinn and Kirk Douglas.
Even after more than half-an-hour was lopped off for the U.S. release, it remained a lavish production. It’s epic in scope, as faithful as it can be and is still held by many to be the gold standard of “Odyssey” adaptations. Douglas is moderately less annoying than usual, and future legendary filmmaker Mario Bava was on board as a cameraman and second unit director (he oversaw the Cyclops sequence).
Of the films on this list, this is the version most likely to draw comparisons with the Nolan version.
5. “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963)
Yes, I’m fully aware that Ray Harryhausen’s beloved and thrilling fantasy classic is based on “The Argonautica,” not “The Odyssey.” “The Argonautica” (eventually credited to Apollonius Rhodius) was another Greek epic poem about gods, monsters, quests, heroes and mischief. But it was performed by wandering bards at least two centuries before Homer came along. There’s no Trojan War, no irksome suitors and no Polyphemus. Thanks to a little cultural cross-pollination, though, its inclusion here is completely justified. Homer not only references “The Argonautica” in “The Odyssey,” he even lifts a few scenes wholesale, like the Scylla and Charybdis sequence. Beyond that, when Harryhausen set to work on retelling the tale of Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece, he dropped in more than a couple set pieces from Homer.
Star Todd Armstrong isn’t the most charismatic of cinematic heroes, but you don’t go to Harryhausen pictures expecting literary literalism or subtle human acting. You go for the stop-motion monsters. I don’t care what anyone says — no matter what Nolan’s digital effects team comes up with, their Polyphemus will never top Harryhausen’s.
6. “Ulysses” (1967)
Joseph Strick came to be known for his (often controversial) adaptations of unadaptable books like Henry Miller’s “Tropic of Cancer” (1970), so it’s not surprising he would produce a reasonably faithful adaptation of James Joyce’s 1922 novel. The title was quite intentional on Joyce’s part, as “The Odyssey”weaves its way in and around Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus’ meanderings around Dublin on June 16, 1904. The subtext is as clear in Strick’s film as it is in the source novel.
(As a footnote, like Joyce’s novel (and much to Strick’s horror), the film was subject to heavy-handed censorship even before its premiere at Cannes. It would continue to be censored and banned for years after its theatrical release. In fact, a fully restored version wasn’t legally available in the U.K. until 2001.)
7. “Odissea” (196
At six hours, Franco Rossi’s four-part miniseries for Italian TV remains by far the most ambitious, faithful and complete adaptation to date. It’s a gorgeous production in which Bekhim Fehmiu’s stellar turn as Ulysses emphasizes not just his heroic feats, but his psychological complexity.
Most interesting of all to me, though, is that 14 years after he was a cameraman and second unit director on the Kirk Douglas version, and a decade after establishing himself as the King of Italian Gothic Horror with films like “Black Sunday,” Mario Bava returned to Homer as co-director of “Odissea.” co-director. The complete miniseries, including subtitles, is available on YouTube.
8. “2001: A Space Odyssey” (196
While the Italians were glued to their TVs watching “Odissea,” the rest of the world was being dazzled and baffled by Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece. Screenwriters Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke made it clear the “Odyssey” in the title was no simple coincidence. Apart from “both are about long and treacherous voyages,” though, any other connections may not be so obvious on the surface. Dig a little deeper, and the clues are everywhere. Here’s an easy one. As far as mysterious and celestial intervention into human affairs goes, the monolith overseeing human evolution and the HAL-9000’s interference with the mission clearly echo the meddling of the gods as Odysseus is trying to make his way home.
9. “The Warriors” (1979)
When I first saw “The Warriors” upon its initial release, I came away thinking that Walter Hill’s cult classic about cartoonish NYC street gangs was really a celebration of the efficiency of the MTA. I mean, whenever a character needed to catch the subway in a hurry, the exact train they wanted magically appeared in the station. I still hold to that even though it doesn’t sound terribly Homeric. Upon subsequent viewings, however, the influence was impossible to deny.
The plot is deceptively simple. The Warriors, a third-rate multi-ethnic street gang, are trying to get from The Bronx to their Coney Island home turf while every thematic colorfully-costumed gang in town (including, yes, the baseball Furies) are out to get them. As efficient as the subway may be, their odyssey through late-’70s NYC is peppered with detours, traps, close shaves and countless small adventures, some of them quite familiar. The capper is the omniscient, demigod-like radio deejay who keeps throwing roadblocks in their path. Can you dig it?
10. “Ulysses 31” (1981–1982)
For some reason, Japanese anime series based on or inspired by “The Odyssey” remain the most overpopulated of all the “Odyssey adaptation” sub-sub-genres. As far as I’ve been able to determine there are at least 30 “Odyssey”-inspired shows out there. Of those I’ve tracked down, “Ulysses 31,” a sci-fi take set in the year 3100, is the most visually interesting, the art a blend of standard anime style and ancient Greek sculpture. Please, though, apart from the obvious, don’t ask me to recap the plot.
11. “Nostos: Il Ritorno” (1989)
Franco Piavoli’s quieter, more introspective take on Homer is sadly overlooked and well worth checking out. (Maybe as a double-feature with “The Warriors.”) The familiar story is here and more or less intact, but bucking tradition, the emphasis isn’t on spectacle as much as Odysseus’ inner life, in particular the dilemmas and doubts he faces at pivotal points on his peripatetic voyage home. Piavoli expresses this through numerous brief cutaways that follow Odysseus’ psychological state, which over time becomes a poetic parallel odyssey all its own.
12. “The Odyssey” miniseries (1997)
This Emmy-winning three-hour miniseries ran in two parts on NBC during the May sweeps. It was directed by Andrei Konchalovsky and produced by Hallmark Entertainment, at least one of which should unfurl a massive red flag. It featured a Hallmark-level all-star cast including the almost-passable Armand Assante as Odysseus, Isabella Rossellini as Athena and the always great Christopher Lee in a brief turn as the blind seer Tiresias.
NBC presented the miniseries under the delusional pretense that it was “important” and “literary.” It’s also — how do I put this politely? — dreary, low-rent and really dumb. Yes, it’s American network television and therefore dumb by default, but of all the straight adaptations I’ve seen I’ve never seen one get the basic story so utterly wrong.
Let me put this another way. Whenever you see Bernadette Peters and Eric Roberts among the top-billed cast of anything, it’s best to stay far, far away.
13. “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000)
It’s hard not to love the Coen Brothers’ Preston Sturges-inspired Depression-era musical comedy reinterpretation. In fact, it may well be the sharpest and savviest “Odyssey” adaptation on the list, infused more than most with Homer’s fundamental motifs and themes. The cast (especially George Clooney’s Ulysses Everett McGill) is pitch perfect, the 1930s re-imaginings of the epic’s gods, monsters and challenges are spot-on and hilarious, and the era-specific folk, country, blues and bluegrass soundtrack is just the icing.
14. “Ulysses: A Dark Odyssey” (201
Possibly taking a cue from the Coens, writer-director Federico Alotto’s film likewise shifts Homer’s tale to a new time and place, though the results aren’t quite as successful, subtle or funny. This time the action is set in a dystopian 2023. After a long stint fighting in a Middle East war, a soldier named Uly (Danny Glover) returns home to Taurus City, The United States of Europe. The problem is he’s suffering from a bad dose of post-traumatic amnesia. Even though he can’t recall who he is, he still somehow knows he has to find his wife Penelope. (Are you spotting the connections yet?)
He spends the night wandering the city searching for her, and along the way encounters a string of eccentric characters, including none-too-subtle stand-ins for Circe and Polyphemus. Whether their intentions are good or ill, each one offers him a clue to his identity and brings him a few steps closer to reuniting with his wife.
It’s an interesting and occasionally fun take, even if it owes as much to Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” as it does to Homer. The real saving grace for me is the appearance of the great Udo Kier as Alcyde. Kier has a knack for making any film that much weirder.
15. “The Return” (2024)
Even without the Wagnerian grandeur, pyrotechnics and godly shenanigans, Uberto Pasolini’s film may be the most solid and complex of the bunch. As the title indicates, the picture concerns Odysseus’ return to Ithaca after a 20-year absence, surprising everyone who long assumed he was dead. It would’ve been very easy and crowd-pleasing to simply whip out the splatter effects and spend three-quarters of the film watching Odysseus slaughter all those greedy and boorish suitors, but Pasolini chose a trickier route.
Ralph Fiennes is perfect as an exhausted, world weary and wiser Odysseus, and Juliette Binoche is just as great as a Penelope who’d put up with two decades of crap while trying to avoid accepting the very real possibility her husband was dead. Instead of heroism and monsters, it’s a quieter, more low-key, at times somber film about an estranged couple navigating a tapestry of emotions as they try to reconfigure where their relationship stands. It’s a philosophical meditation on love, loyalty and what time can and can’t take away from us. It’s not as rousing as we’ve come to expect from an “Odyssey” movie, but it’s a valid and unique take on what, apart from all the bloody mayhem, was quietly going on in the poem’s final books.
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