Helen of Troy is the name of two films. They’re both adaptations of Homer's The Iliad.
The first film, from 1924, is a German-made film, the original title being "Helena." It was directed by Manfred Noa and featured many actors who never made it big in the film industry. Until recently it was believed to be a lost film and was rediscovered. It has since been remastered and is considered one of the jewels of German cinema.
The second film, from 1956, is an American-made picture directed by Robert Wise, with a cast that includes Rossana Podesta as Helen, Jacques Sernas as Paris, Cedric Hardwicke as Priam, Stanley Baker as Achilles, and a pre-superstardom Brigitte Bardot as Helen's maid Andraste. Though critics were less than kind, the film was a box-office hit and has since become the go-to example for films set in The Trojan War, even to the point that footage from this film is shown in documentaries. It has had quite the influence on the later theatrical film adaptation, 2004's Troy.
Not it be confused with the miniseries adaptation in 2003.
Helen of Troy provides examples of:
- Achilles' Heel: Mentioned by Ajax early on as a rumor, later comes into play when an arrow from Paris goes into Achilles' heel, supposedly the only vulnerable spot on his invulnerable body. Getting hit there might have caused more or less instant death, or not.
- Achilles in His Tent: Achilles quarrels with Agamemnon and resolves to sit out the rest of the war. He only comes out of his tent when Patroclus is killed by Paris, instead of Hector as in the original tale. But Hector claims he did it to spare Paris from Achilles's wrath.
- Adaptational Badass: Paris to the point that he beats Ajax in a cestus fight (boxing match), kills both Patroclus and Achilles and beats Menelaus in a duel.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: The blonde Achilles of the myths is portrayed by the black haired Stanley Baker.
- Adaptational Heroism: Naturally, Paris gets hit by this. He is portrayed as hero and a great leader as opposed to the evil hearted coward he was in the myths. Naturally, this results in Menelaus getting hit with...
- Adaptational Villainy:
- Yes, just like the later film Troy, Menelaus gets hit with this trope. Despite this however, he does come across as being sympathetic. With the exception of Menelaus and Achilles, all of the Greek Kings are basically pirates who want to loot Troy for its treasures. Ulysses even greets them as "my fellow pirates" to much laughter.
- Even the goddess Athena gets this from the film's pro-Trojan POV, as she appears in her war goddess aspect and her statue has a fearsome snarling Gorgon-like face.
- Adaptational Wimp: In the Iliad, Agamemnon is such a fearsome warrior that even Hector says he would rather face Achilles than the King of Mycenae. In the 1956 film however, Agamemnon declares that he does not want to fight Hector, making a reversal of his original portrayal.
- Adapted Out:
- Menelaus and Helen's children Hermoine and Nicostratus; Philoctetes, etc.
- Priam going to Achilles in the night to beg for Hector's body back. Instead Paris kills Achilles shortly after Achilles starts dragging Hector around in circles.
- Advertised Extra: Brigitte Bardot is billed high in the poster above despite having a small role. But she was already a rising star when the film was shot, though not yet the megastar she would become in the same year the movie was released.
- Age Lift: With a beard like that it is pretty obvious that Achilles is not fifteen years old at the start of the war.
- Aggressive Negotiations: After years of war, Helen decides to offer herself back to the Greeks out of guilt, to end the conflict. A truce is brokered out behind Paris's back with Hector escorting her to Menelaus, but the meeting goes belly up when Agamemnon demands half of Troy's riches and continuing tribute as further compensation. Paris crashes the meeting and he and Helen speed back to Troy on his chariot with Patroclus giving chase on his, and Paris kills him.
- Ancient Grome: Odysseus is called by his Roman name "Ulysses" and mention is made of "Mercury" rather than "Hermes".
- Anti-Villain: Menelaus comes across as being heartbroken when he realizes that Helen loves Paris and even more so when he is informed of her having left with Paris since by all appearances, it seems as if he has taken her by force.
- Artistic License – History:
- For some unknown reason, Troy was modeled off of Knossos on Crete rather than the actual Troy in Anatolia.
- Helen's maid-slave Andraste is presumably Greek by default, but has the same name as a Celtic goddess attested in Roman writings long after the Trojan War was supposed to have happened. The intended name might have been Adraste, Adrastea, etc.
- Big Bad: Averted. Menelaus is meant to be this but he comes across as being so sympathetic that he seems to be more more a Hero Antagonist.
- Big Good: Priam for Troy.
- Blood Knight: Achilles, Ajax, the Spartans, Polydorus
- The Cassandra: The Trope Namer herself appears. In this film she's the one who does the Title Drop.
- Cassandra Truth: She appears so it's only natural.
- Casting Gag: Priam is played by Cedric Hardwicke. In The Ten Commandments which came out that same year Priam of Troy is mentioned at the beginning of Act II. Who played Seti I in that movie? Hardwicke.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The Greek warriors wear black armour, Trojan warriors bluish-grey.
- Combat by Champion: Achilles vs. Hector. Anyone who knows the Iliad will know how this turns out.
- Comic-Book Adaptation: It received one by Dell, it is notable for sparing Paris. Three guesses what David Benioff read while he was writing the script for Troy.
- Composite Character: In the film Paris seems to have been combined with his younger brother Deiphobus. In the myths, after Paris was killed by Philoctetes before the Trojan Horse appeared on the scene, Helen was given to Deiphobus as his wife. In the sacking of Troy, Menelaus kills Deiphobus.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: After Paris has defeated Ajax in a cestus battle, Menelaus offers him a female slave, obviously to take to his bed. Paris' only objection is that he has another slave in mind (read: Helen, who had initially pretended to be one upon first meeting him).
- Demythification: The film actually prefigures the 2004 Troy by having characters reference the gods who don't appear physically. Achilles's invulnerability with the exception of his heel is both rumored to be true and chalked up to his good luck or the quality of his armor by others scoffing at the rumor, and arrows do just bounce off his armor. He gets hit in the heel and dies after Paris prays that his arrow be guided to a weak spot, but he hits his head on a rock as he falls down, so it could be Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane.
- Everybody Loves Blondes: One thing the 1956 film and 2003 miniseries have in common with the 2004 film Troy is Helen being blonde. This is in keeping with the myth.
- Evil Genius: Due to Adaptational Villainy Ulysses comes out as this.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The Greek warriors wear black armour, Trojan warriors bluish-grey.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Menelaus plots to have Paris killed out of jealousy after he senses Helen and him are smitten with each other. Helen warns Paris and they run off together.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Despite portraying the Trojans as heroes and the Greeks as villains this does end up happening. While many of the Trojans are indeed good hearted people, Helen does come across as a bitch at some points. Just as Agamemnon, Ulysses and the Greeks are portrayed as pirates Menelaus and Achilles come across as being better off. Menelaus is indeed largely a sympathetic character who genuinely seemed to love Helen and was very much hurt when he realized that she loved Paris, albeit he then plots to have Paris killed, while Achilles is shown to have a strong relationship with his friend Patroclus leading to him seeking revenge for Patroclus' death, albeit then he desecrates Hector's body out of spite.
- Hero Antagonist: Menelaus largely comes across as this due to his sympathetic portrayal, apart from plotting to murder Paris out of jealousy after he senses Helen and him are smitten with each other.
- In the Back: Paris gets this from an an unnamed soldier during his duel with Menelaus.
- King Incognito: Helen first meets Paris after he's been washed ashore after a storm. She pretends to be one of her own slave-maids at first.
- Red Shirt: The only reason Polydorus exists. Even in the Iliad he is only there so Achilles can kill him.
- The Siege: The whole Trojan War basically. The Greeks camp outside Troy and build siege towers, catapults, battering rams and other siege equipment at Ulysses's advice after he says the city walls can't simply be charged by their infantry. The initial attack has the Greeks and Trojans fighting atop the walls but the Greeks are driven back with their siege towers set aflame. In a montage, the Trojans counter by raiding the Greek camps, and the war goes back and forth for years.
- Shout-Out: When the Greek fleet arrives in the Trojan bay, Priam admonishes Helen by calling her "the face that launched a thousand ships". This well-known phrase is actually from Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and not from Homer.
- Trojan Horse: The Trope Namer naturally shows up. Like most depictions it appears to be an intricately carved statue instead of the roughly put-together look it has in Troy.
- Twice-Told Tale: It tells The Iliad from the Trojans point of view. In fact, there is only a few scenes that features only the Greeks making this trope all too apparent.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Paris is more often than not topless in his scenes in Greece, as here he got lost at sea, leading to Helen finding him washed ashore. He's more fully covered up back in Troy.
- What a Drag: Achilles briefly drags Hector behind his chariot before Paris kills him.