{"id":32460,"date":"2025-11-15T22:58:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T06:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32460"},"modified":"2025-11-15T22:58:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T06:58:19","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-ogre-of-athens-1956","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32460","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE OGRE OF ATHENS (1956)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This feature film is available on November 18th<\/sup>\nas a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Most movie fans certainly think of themselves as being\nwell-versed and having seen a great deal of notable pictures. It seems like\nevery month Radiance Films finds and releases another hard-to-find yet\nincredible film from Europe or Asia that I hadn\u2019t been aware of. And in many\ncases, it truly is incredible to discover so many gems that haven\u2019t been\navailable in North America. They\u2019re keeping that remarkable streak running with\nThe Ogre of Athens<\/em>, aka O Drakos<\/em>, a Greek picture that flopped\nduring its initial release, but is now considered a classic and one of the\ncountry\u2019s all-time best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Radiance Films is releasing a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray\nof the feature. While the original materials used in the high-definition\ntransfer aren\u2019t in pristine shape, this is still an impressive disc and\npresents the best available version of the movie. It also comes with a few\ninteresting bonuses that give insightful background about the cinema of Greece\nduring the era and the recurring themes of the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plot follows Thomas (Dinos Iliopoulos) a timid and mousy\ncivil servant who is lonely, but also doesn\u2019t seem willing to socialize. Not\nthat there are many people around for Thomas to befriend. Most of those\nintroduced in the film are selfish, and even the lead\u2019s landlord hates him and\nwants him out. Just as New Year\u2019s Eve is about to arrive, an article appears in\nthe local paper. It features feared criminal mastermind The Dragon (or The\nOgre), who bears a striking resemblance to Thomas. When Thomas goes out that\nevening and visits a club, he is mistaken for the crook. People are suddenly\nafraid and treat him favorably, and women begin approaching him. At first,\nThomas is taken aback, but he soon appears to enjoy the attention and power he\nis receiving from others. But it isn\u2019t long before he\u2019s drawn into a heist plot\nrun by the club manager and his lies result in a life-threatening\nsituation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As noted, the film starts with a satirical tone as the shy\nfigure is first treated poorly, before being mistaken for a major crime figure.\nHis reactions are very entertaining as he slowly realizes that this persona is\nraising his public stature. A lot of the film takes place in the club, and\nthere is a hilarious moment when Thomas sees threatening, dark-coated figures\nentering the establishment during a lively dance number. They try to bounce in\ntime to the music as they stiffly make their way through the club and towards\ntheir target. It\u2019s a very funny sequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The satire is solid, showing how difficult life was at the\ntime. Greece was occupied by Nazis during World War II, and shortly after its\nend went through a brutal civil war. A far-right wing government took control,\nleaving most citizens poor and struggling to get by. The buildings and streets\n(which are real locations) look beat up and there\u2019s a general sense of despair\nto the surroundings. Policemen aren\u2019t any help to the public and appear\ncorrupt, and the public is suffering so much that it isn\u2019t surprising to see\nthem taking advantage of each other. The world presented is a dangerous one,\nand while there is a strong element of comedy early on, the film can\u2019t help but\ndelve into those darker realities as it progresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also a relationship between Thomas and a dancer at\nthe club that\u2019s surprisingly sweet and effective. The two become close and he\ndiscovers they share some of the same thoughts about loneliness and worries\nabout life in general. Events take an effectively grim turn when Thomas\u2019 real\nidentity begins to come to light. The crooks depending on him to help start up\ntheir profitable scheme become fearful, the police are untrustworthy, and a\nlocal soon gives away Thomas\u2019s identity. By this point, the humor dissipates\nand it all ends on a memorably tragic note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a strong film that pays homage to Italian neorealism\nwhile still having its own unique voice. The picture quality on the Blu-ray is\nthe best currently available. It\u2019s admittedly imperfect, and a few scenes have\nmarks or scratches on the print (the opening scene being one such example).\nThere is also an occasional bit of softness, but this is due to the original\nphotography and not the transfer. It\u2019s not too distracting and otherwise the\nrelease contains impressive and sharp photography, specifically in the club and\nduring a few exteriors (like a streetcar).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Blu-ray also contains some great bonuses. There is an\nintro to the picture (that can also be watched as a standalone extra) with\nauthor Jonathan Franzen, who has written The Corrections<\/em>, Freedom<\/em>\nand Crossroads<\/em> among many other notable titles. He talks about seeing\nthis picture in his early 20s and states that it had a lasting impression on\nhim, inspiring many aspects of Freedom<\/em>. Franzen also mentions that,\nhaving recently revisited the movie later in life, he had misremembered certain\nelements (which is probably for the best, at least in the case of his famous\nnovel). He goes over exactly what impressed him about the picture and its\nlasting effect on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In another segment, film critic Christina Newland talks about director Nikos Koundouros and his struggles during his career. This particular film was made at the end of the country\u2019s civil war and depicts the financial hardships of life in Greece resulting from a harsh rule. He had been imprisoned by the government and many of his works were censored because of their leftist views. While this picture was well-received by international festival audiences, it didn\u2019t do well in its home country. Only decades later was it recognized by Greek citizens as being an effective satire and critique of the country and its attitudes of the time. She notes that the film\u2019s morally gray characters were a part of the problem for audiences of the day, who didn\u2019t like the less-than-patriotic tone of the picture. She also is impressed by one of the final images after a violent act that takes place in front of a tourism banner. This is another informative and interesting piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a discussion from movie expert Dimitris\nPapanikolaou about this picture and its place in Greek film history. While many\nconsider the \u201cGolden Age\u201d of Greek cinema to be from a period slightly after\nthis picture and hitting its height with mid-to-late 1960s titles like Zorba\nthe Greek and Z, that impression began changing with reevaluations of titles\nlike this one. It\u2019s another piece that will entertain and give viewers ideas on\nmore features to check out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A booklet is also included with essays on the title and an\nappropriate extract from Jonathan Franzen\u2019s novel Freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While one hopes that even more restorative work can be done\non the original negative of this film, The Ogre of Athens<\/em> has still\nnever looked better. This is certainly as good as the movie can currently look,\nand the Blu-ray arrives with great extras that help give an even better\nunderstanding of the background of the production and life in Greece during\nthis period. I\u2019m happy to have been introduced to the feature, and any classic\nworld movie fan would be well advised to check this release out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature film is available on November 18th as a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films. Most movie fans certainly think of themselves as being well-versed and having seen a great deal of notable pictures. It seems like every month Radiance Films finds and releases another hard-to-find yet incredible film from Europe or Asia that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,2933,2939,5213,5885,6251,8609,8611,12427,14907,16584,17693,21751,21752,21753,21754],"class_list":["post-32460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-85","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-dark-comedy","tag-dinos-iliopoulos","tag-drama","tag-greece","tag-greek","tag-limited-edition","tag-nikos-koundouros","tag-radiance-films","tag-satire","tag-the-ogre-of-athens","tag-the-ogre-of-athens-blu-ray-review","tag-the-ogre-of-athens-disc-review","tag-the-ogre-of-athens-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}