Phaedra

It is CRIMINAL that I was kept ignorant of this film until I was almost 57....Forgive me if I gush, but aside from THE LAW, I am almost a Dassin (and Mercouri) newbie. I bought the film because of my love for ancient Greek theater, and the candor of Western Civilization's first confrontations with the verities of human experience. I wasn't prepared for an absolutely first-rate slab of cinema: as far ahead of its time, if not farther, than LA DOLCE VITA; that is, current for the times, but well ahead of the movies, if one regards cinema as properly an art form for adults. Not only is it totally (I am aware of the superlatives I'm stacking up) technically assured, with black-white cinematography so crisp and deep you wouldn't want it in color, but so free of movie B.S. that I can't help noting Dassin achieved it age 51 after starting at age 30, whereas it took Steven Spielberg until age 66, after starting at 25, to come by such an effortless and masterly command of cinematic storytelling and mise en scene, informed by REAL LIFE as opposed to other movies (or TV shows, serials or comic books). One almost watches 99% of other films half-asleep, one knows so well what to expect at every moment. Such spontaneity, conviction so real it's almost casual, absolute belief from the cast, a peerless juxtaposition of male and female sensibilities (befitting, one might say, Dassin's script collaboration with Margarita Liberaki), even the most well-thought-out and efficacious use of lap-dissolves in decades before or since, vaults this film beyond so many made even since then that I was more excited seeing it on TV than by anything on the big screen since Guy Maddin's THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD or Orson Welles' TOUCH OF EVIL (two other brilliantly alive black-white films), and have made room in my top ten.How did I miss out on it? I can only suppose it had to do with Dassin's being blacklisted during the McCarthy era, such that his subsequent European output was overlooked; or because he and Melina Mercouri, whom he wed, were accused in 1970 of financing attempts to overthrow the Greek military junta, following the overthrow of which they returned to Greece, Mercouri entering Parliament and Dassin becoming a confirmed Philhellene. Here he has updated Euripides' HIPPOLYTUS, but without any irksome atmosphere of Forbidden Passion Awaiting Divine Punishment--this being a given with an ancient drama based on yet more ancient mythology. Dassin and Liberaki and Mercouri and Anthony Perkins (plus Raf Vallone) give us a portrait of passion so deeply felt, so accurately nailed, so out of the mainstream and so electric I can believe it came with personal resonance for either or both scenarists--it did for this reviewer. For sheer candor and quality, it might have enjoyed the same longevity in critical and popular esteem as Stanley Kubrick's LOLITA, which enjoyed the decisive advantage of being based on a notorious and newsworthy 7-year-old international bestseller, rather than a 2,500-year-old dramatization barely remembered by any but scholars of ancient Greek.It is no question of there being any life left in such antique materials, as Spike Lee's bracing, wildly ambitious CHI-RAQ (an update of Aristophanes' LYSISTRATA) demonstrates; in the West, the Greeks faced all the urgent questions first, bringing them no closer to resolution than anything since, but still welcome in their stark clarity and spare directness. These stories will occur and re-occur throughout human history; it is up to the breadth of vision, depth of feeling, and scope of imagination in a writer and director to make us forget that we've felt these things and then asked these questions since the beginning.

After years of watching cloudy and fluorescing prints of this film...with scratchy, squeaky sound...at museum screenings...storefront revival theaters...villainously bad bootleg DVDS...with everyone and his cousin Karen apologizing for the heinous quality....I finally saw a pristine print in a ground-breaking transmission on TCM in the properly letterboxed aspect ratio. It was glorious...and apparently MGM was the source of THAT print...for, here it is, available for purchase through AMAZON for home viewing. AT LONG LAST! RUN, DO NOT WALK, (figuratively speaking)TO OBTAIN YOUR OWN COPY. PLEASE! This DVD transfer is awesome! Spectacular! In 1962, when this film was first released, I saw this film in an Art House Theatre in Center City Philadelphia with a posse of my friends. I was eighteen at the time and quite possibly, for all my pose of sophistication, the most naive teenager living. And then came PHAEDRA. In the 116 minutes of the film's running time, I grew up very quickly! You see, this was a story about LOVE and LOVE AFFAIRS...in and of every permutation. The throbbing, sexually charged immediacy of almost everyone in this film...is REVELATORY! I will not stop here in this little review of mine to give a précis of the plot: that has been done to death since this film's release fifty years ago. When it was released in that dim, distant past, it changed cinema forever. It contain a scene of the most fearsome, fevered eroticism ever filmed. It was hardly explicit...one had to fill in the gaps in one's own mind...but it was filmed with such breathtaking beauty...such exquisite and ecstatic artistry...that it staggered and overwhelmed auditoriums filled with stunned spectators. The effect was unbelievable.I must, again, without detailing the plot wholesale, describe the EFFECT rather than the FACTS of this film. It is High melodrama, loosely adapted from the Hippolytus legend. We are in the land of Greek Tragedy with all the symmetries and Classic Schematics of the "genre" observed, But don't let that frighten you away. The tragedy is interpreted for modern sensibilities...and it is all at once bracing, shocking and immediate. And...it remains as current today as it was when it was first released. Despite the multiplicities of its tragic end... it is strangely life affirming. It left me, fifty years ago, with a determination to live my life right down to the dregs. And I have.If you've seen the film...you will want this particular version of it...because it is the best transfer of the movie ever offered...and it is a must have for every movie buff's collection. If you've never seen the film...this is a rare opportunity to experience one of the high-water landmarks of modern cinema. No one who buys this DVD will be disappointed!

There are two very strong features of this film: The chemistry between Mercouri and Perkins, and the scenery of London, Paris, and Greece. These alone make it well worth watching. The story is a tragedy, based on the play Hippolytus by Euripides. The plot, which is rather didactic, shows how bad behavior and the transgression of boundaries lead inevitably to unhappiness and disaster. Raf Vallone is not a very good actor (and not very credible as a Greek), and the other players are just competent, doing their jobs, but Mercouri and Perkins are magnificent. They put everything they have into their performances, which are the best of their careers, as far as I have seen them. Their passion just pours off the screen.The first half of the film, in which Phaedra and Alexis consummate their love, is by far the most interesting part of the film. The second half, in which the inevitable destruction occurs, seems to fall flat. Perhaps it's so obvious that things are going to turn out badly that when it finally does it seems anti-climactic. Mercouri and Perkins in their brief final scenes together again electrify the screen, and one hopes they can find a way out of their terrible predicament. But of course they can't.The sound track by Mikis Theodorakis is a beautiful compliment to the story. Theodorakis' best popular work is The Ballad of Mauthausen and Six Songs Ballad of Mauthausen .This is Jules Dassin's best film, well worth watching.epops

Vallone & Mercouri are brilliant, Perkins is irregular sometimes brilliant sometimes bored & boring. If anything, there is a lack of passion, that's the downside of treating the story as a film noir, it's a bit cold and mechanical whereas the characters should be swept off their feet with passion.I loved the adaptation but so much more could have been done and that's a shame because you expect some key scenes and when they don't come you're a bit disappointed :-(The photography is gorgeous.

A cinematic oddity it may be but Melina Mercouri and Anthony Perkins are both outstanding - as is Raf Vallone - in this curious but strangely compelling modern dress version of the great Greek tragedy. I found myself completely gripped by the intensity of the central performances as the story raced towards its inevitable unhappy ending.

Much longed for copy of film from my youth. Very helpful supplier. Thank you.

A classic of the 1960's - wonderful.

Bought for my sister.