The Battle of Marathon

Synopsis

In 490 BC J. – C. , Philippides , winner of the Olympic games, is named chief of the Sacred Guard of Athena . He falls in love with Andromeda, the daughter of an Athenian cleric, but she is promised to Theocritus, an ambitious aristocrat and deceitful ploy that the return to power of the tyrant Hippias refuge with Darius I ^er , king of Persia …

Technical sheet

• Italian title: La Battaglia di Maratona
• French title: La Bataille de Marathon
• English title: The Giant of Marathon
• Director: Jacques Tourneur , Mario Bava and Bruno Vailati (uncredited)
• Screenplay: Ennio De Concini , Augusto Frassinetti , Bruno Vailati
• Artistic direction: Mario Chiari ¹ , Marcello de Prato ²
• Sets: Massimo Tavazzi
• Costumes: Pier Luigi Pizzi
• Hairstyles: Mara Rocchetti
• Photography: Mario Bava
• Special effects: Mario Bava
• Sound: Giulio Tagliacozzo
• Editing: Mario Serandrei
• Music: Roberto Nicolosi
• Production: Bruno Vailati
• Production Companies :
  •  Galatea Film , Titanus
  •  Lyre Cinematographic Society , Lux Compagnie Cinématographique de France
• Distribution companies: Lux, MGM
• Country of origin: France , Italy
• Language: English
• Filmed at Titanus Studios (Italy), Centralni Filmski Studio Kosutnjak (Serbia)
• Format: Color ( Eastmancolor ) – 35 mm – 2.35: 1 (Dyaliscope) – monophonic sound
• Genre : peplum
• Duration: 82 minutes
• Release dates: Italy :  December 3 , 1959 ; France :  September 9 , 1960

Distribution

• Steve Reeves ( VF : Jean-Claude Michel ) : Philippidès
• Mylène Demongeot : Andromeda
• Sergio Fantoni ( VF : Roger Rudel ) : Theocritus
• Daniela Rocca ( VF : Paule Emanuele ) : Karis
• Philippe Hersent : Callimachus
• Alberto Lupo ( VF : Michel Gudin ) : Miltiade
• Daniele Vargas ( VF : Roger Treville ) : Darius , king of the Persians
• Ivo Garrani ( VF : Jean Davy ) : Croesus, the father of Andromeda
• Gian Paolo Rosmino ( VF : Jacques Berlioz ) : the high priest
• Miranda Campa : the maid of Karis
• Franco Fantasia ( VF : Richard Francoeur ) : the senator
• Ignazio Balsamo : the captain of the ship
• Anita Todesco : friend of Andromeda

Production

• Jacques Tourneur did not entirely realize this film, his ten-week contract having expired before the end of the filming. He added: “For photography, we had an extraordinary man, Mario Bava , who made a splendid photo and also some excellent models, the best I’ve ever seen. » ^{[Ref. necessary]}
• Turner realized the main scenes, but not some action scenes like the Philippidès race , the underwater scenes or the naval battle. In order not to continue to pay him at a high rate, the producer Bruno Vailati decided to make himself the scenes of the race and the naval battle, and entrusted the underwater scenes to Mario Bava ³ .

Around the film

• This film has been a huge success in the United States. In 1960 , he placed 3 ^th at the American box office behind Do not Eat the Daisies (Please do not eat the Deasies) of Charles Walters and The Apartment (The Apartment) of Billy Wilder . But it is not, for that, without incongruity. Mylène Demongeot remembers in particular a plan: “The hero, our Steve, is pursued by his attackers. He climbs up a mountain and begins with terrible efforts to push big rocks and swing on his enemies who must collapse, crushed. We will see in the image a huge rock (in balsa , very light wood), pushed by Steve, while dripping under the effort ( Baby Oil ) ⁴ , hurtling down the mountain with a terrible roar ( sound ), falling on the head a soldier and … bouncing gracefully like a ping-pong ball! It’s big ! » ⁵

See also

Related Articles

• Battle of Marathon
• Medical wars

External links

• (en) The Battle of Marathon [ archive ] on the Internet Movie Database
• The Battle of Marathon [ archive ] on the Ciné-Ressources website ( Cinémathèque française )

Notes and references