L'Odissea
| L'Odissea/The Odyssey (TV-series) | |
|---|---|
|
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| Genre | Mythology, Adventure |
| Created by | Mario Bava, Franco Rossi |
| Written by | based on Homer's epic poem |
| Directed by | Franco Rossi, Mario Bava |
| Presented by | Giuseppe Ungaretti |
| Starring |
Bekim Fehmiu Irene Papas |
| Country of origin |
Italy France Germany Yugoslavia |
| No. of episodes | 4-8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Vittorio Bonicelli |
| Producer(s) | Dino de Laurentiis |
| Location(s) |
Italy Yugoslavia |
| Running time | 446 min. (110 min. cut edition) |
| Release | |
| Picture format | Color |
| Original release | 24 March 1968 (RAI) |
L'Odissea was a European TV miniseries broadcast on RAI (Italian state TV) in 1968 and based on Homer's Odyssey. An Italian, Yugoslavian, German and French (Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française) coproduction, it was directed by Franco Rossi, assisted by Piero Schivazappa and Mario Bava; the cast included Bekim Fehmiu as Ulysses and Irene Papas as Penelope, Samson Burke as the Cyclops, as well as Barbara Bach as Nausicaa, and Gerard Herter (of Caltiki fame). The outdoors were shot in Croatia and Montenegro.
There were 8 episodes in the original version. Each episode was preceded by an introduction in which poet Giuseppe Ungaretti read some verses of the original poem. The adaptation is considered to be the most faithful rendering of Homer's epic on screen. The major omission was the absence of the passage of the strait of Messina with the encounter with Scylla and Charybdis.
Special effects were designed by Mario Bava (who, in particular, directed the episode of Polyphemus) and Carlo Rambaldi. The show ran on television in Europe between 1968 and 1970. In Italy alone, the episodes had an audience of over 16 million viewers. An abridged theatrical version was released to European theatres as well, also dubbed into English.
The entire television series was dubbed into English, ran several times on the TVO network in Ontario, Canada, and was broadcast by CBS in 1978. However, the English dub was lost. There has been DVD editions in Italian and in German.
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