Oi Thalassies oi Hadres | |
---|---|
Directed by | Giannis Dalianidis |
Produced by | Filopimin Finos |
Written by | Giannis Dalianidis |
Starring |
Zoe Laskari Kostas Voutsas Martha Karagianni Faidon Georgitsis Giannis Vogiatzis Mary Chronopoulou |
Music by | Mimis Plessas |
Cinematography | Giorgos Arvanitis |
Edited by | Petros Lykas |
Distributed by | Finos Film |
Release date
|
February 2, 1967 |
Running time
|
91 minutes |
Country | Greece |
Language | Greek |
Oi Thalassies oi Hadres (Greek: Οι Θαλασσιές οι Χάντρες, The Blue Beads) is a 1967 Greek musical film, directed by Giannis Dalianidis and starring Zoe Laskari, Kostas Voutsas, Martha Karagianni, Faidon Georgitsis, Giannis Vogiatzis and Mary Chronopoulou. At the time of its release it was among the most expensive films ever made in Greece and one of the most commercially successful Greek films.
Mary (Zoe Laskari) is a rich young lady that challenges problems in a traditional folk neighbourhood in Plaka, Athens, when she moves to play modern music in a store opposite a traditional taverna, where Fotis (Faidon Georgitsis), a bouzouki player, works along with Kostas (Kostas Voutsas), Sofia (Mary Chronopoulou) and others. The gang of the taverna soon turns against Mary, for the reason that she alters the character of the neighbourhood. Eventually, Fotis falls in love with Mary, but his friends margin him as he seems willing to sacrifice everything for her in order to be accepted by her social circles. A second love story involves in the film, as Eleni (Martha Karagianni), sister of Fotis, tries to attract Kostas using various ways.
After the success that the 1966 film Diplopenies made abroad, Finos Film's main goal was to make a film addressing to the foreign market and for this reason director Giannis Dalianidis was asked to include more elements of the Greek culture in this musical film, in order to diversify it from the American musical films and make it attractive for the general public. In addition to this, the production company spent a large amount of money to make the film more glamorous, an element that was absent for the great majority of the Greek films of the era.