Ulysses

"Ulysses" (1954) is an Italian-American epic you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Mario Camerini. Kirk Douglas plays the king of Ithaca — a ten-year war veteran who can't seem to get home. The film opens with him washed ashore with no memory, and the odyssey unspoils in flashback.

Cyclops Polyphemus in his cave, Circe turning sailors into swine, the Sirens singing from the rocks, a descent into the land of the dead: each episode is its own set-piece. Silvana Mangano takes both lead female roles — Penelope and Circe — a casting decision that quietly echoes the whole arc. Anthony Quinn plays the chief suitor Antinous.

Made when Hollywood money was flowing into Italian studios, the production spent lavishly on its seafaring spectacle. For a 1954 mythological film, it holds up surprisingly well as pure adventure. Stream "Ulysses" (1954) online on iFILM.