The Cinema Records Queen Helen's Loves in the Film "The Siege of Troy"

Those in charge of motion-picture production in the world, and in Hollywood in particular, find in history a fertile key for their output. Have we not ourselves seen some of these films — "The Robe," "Julius Caesar," "The Gladiators," and "Land of the Pharaohs"? The overwhelming majority of this production deals with the life of ancient Rome with all its luxury, its amusements, and its barbarous customs. The screen has presented it in an attractive mold, unconcerned with fidelity to the subject, and that for a reason the producers hold fundamental: the film's success in terms of material gain.

Yet this principle does not apply to every film. Our example of that is the film we are now concerned with. This great historical film, which ran in Beirut for four consecutive weeks owing to the great success it won with the public, is the film "The Siege of Troy," or the loves of the enchanting Queen Helen. It was entrusted to a director well known in cinema circles, Robert Wise. Wise held literally to the texts of history and made of this film a magnificent artistic masterpiece.

The success and popularity of this film are due to several causes. The chief of them:

1 - The writers' drawing of the text of the story from the scholars of history. This work took several months, spent in gathering the information needed for the writing of the story.

2 - The filming of the picture in its entirety in Italy instead of Hollywood, where the events of the story took place; this cost the Warner company, holder of the rights, the expenditure of millions of dollars to that end.

3 - And finally, let us not forget to praise the skill of the actors in mastering the roles entrusted to them; they succeeded so thoroughly that the spectator fancies he is truly living twenty centuries ago.

The film's two stars, Rossana Podestà and Jacques Sernas, and all who took part in it joined their efforts to bring the story out in this splendor. As for the color photography, recourse had to be had to the CinemaScope process; the colors came out in the utmost harmony and provided "Paris" the atmosphere befitting the love of "Helen" — that sweeping love for whose sake a savage war raged for ten years, without truce... In the film "Helen" has been given a Latin cast, and "Paris" the features of an intelligent, thoughtful young man...