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An agenda? Let's see; I taught "Medea" to gifted matriculation English students - that is tangentially linked to "Jason and the Argonauts".
I thought the film was actually so bad it was funny! Was it just the American accents; I dunno.
Really?
The Medea who Euripides wrote about in his play, yes? A different take.
The one who sings about the irrational and earth-spirituality against the cold laws of civilisation?
...by killing her own children?
I hope you don't kill yours, Regie?
Most of the actors were British, by the way. In fact all of them, minus Jason, who adopted (or was dubbed in) a more or less English accent. It actually came out sounding a little Australian.
Nigel Green, Gary Raymond, Douglas Wilmer, etc., etc.. There's not an American amongst them!
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Posted: |
Jun 21, 2014 - 5:58 PM
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By: |
pp312
(Member)
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I thought the film was actually so bad it was funny!
Reminds me of when I saw it as a double feature with the guys from work. The first half was Seige of the Saxons, through much of which I laughed so much it's a wonder I wasn't violently ejected. At interval my companions all said, "If you thought that was funny wait for the next one'. Thing is, I didn't laugh at all through Jason, not because I thought it a masterpiece but because, for all its faults, so much of it worked (thanks, Ray Harrhausen) and in the process managed to achieve that rarity in filmland, convey something of the wonder and awe of the Greek myths.
As Tom Hanks said at the Academy Awards, "You can talk about your Casablancas and Citizen Kanes, but anyone who was a kid in the early 60s knows that the greatest film ever made is Jason and the Argonauts."
It was hugely successful financially, so clearly not everyone was laughing.
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Clearly, it wasn't the American accents then!! And that's a big name cast you've identified right there!! All our familiar matinee idols and great actors and in the one film too; amazing.
Well, let's see. All three actors I cited were distinguished. Shakespearean Raymond in 'Look Back in Anger', Green in 100 British movies in character parts, and Wilmer ... famous as a household name once in the Beeb's Sherlock Holmes. Plus all those tongue-in-cheek gods and goddesses like Honor Blackman, Niall McGinnis, etc., etc..
I'm wondering when the presence of matinee idols ever hinted at greatness.
And what about the gratuitous comment about me killing my own children??!!!
Yeah, it was kinda gratuitous. I didn't get a helluva kick out of it, more a sort of brief ripple.
Look up Wiki and you'll see a link in the mythical story of Jason and Medea. Euripides did not write about Jason; the information I gave you is a background to the story of Medea before the play begins.
"Well... YOU began the argument about my voyage; and that's my answer".
..... JASON, Euripides' 'Medea'.
One of the nicest things about the film is the treatment of the gods ... as whimsical projections of our own internal components and passions. As Jason says, 'The gods of Greece are cruel: one day men will learn to live without them'. The film is unpretentious and has a sort of innocence at times that is just right for Greek myth. It shouldn't be polished. And it's for children. If they don't get eaten that is.
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'She was only the sergeant-major's daughter, but she knew what Reggie meant'.
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