- Never on Sunday
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Never on Sunday Directed by Jules Dassin Written by Jules Dassin Starring Melina Mercouri
Jules Dassin
Giorgos FountasEditing by Roger Dwyre Distributed by Lopert Pictures Corporation (1960, original)
MGM (2003, DVD)Release date(s) 1 October 1960 Running time 91 minutes Country Greece
United StatesLanguage English
Greek
RussianNever on Sunday (Greek: Ποτέ Την Κυριακή, translit. Pote Tin Kyriaki) is a 1960 Greek black-and-white film which tells the story of Ilya, a prostitute who lives in the port of Piraeus in Greece, and Homer, an American tourist from Middletown, Connecticut — a classical scholar enamored with all things Greek. Ilya is a character close to the "hooker with a heart of gold" cliché.[citation needed] Homer feels Ilya's life style typifies the degradation of Greek classical culture and attempts to steer her onto the path of morality. It constitutes a variation of the Pygmalion story.
The film stars Melina Mercouri and Jules Dassin, and it gently submerges the viewer into Greek culture, including dance, music, and language (through the use of subtitles). The signature song and the bouzouki theme of the movie became hits of the 1960s and brought the composer, Manos Hadjidakis, an Academy Award.
It won the Academy Award for Best Song (Manos Hadjidakis for "Never on Sunday"). It was nominated for the Academy Awards for, respectively, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Melina Mercouri), Best Costume Design, Black-and-White, Best Director (Jules Dassin) and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay as Written Directly for the Screen (Dassin). Mercouri won the award for Best Actress at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
Contents
Cast
- Melina Mercouri as Ilya
- Jules Dassin as Homer Thrace
- Giorgos Fountas as Tonio
- Titos Vandis as Jorgo
- Mitsos Ligizos as The Captain (as Mitsos Lygizos)
- Despo Diamantidou as Despo
- Dimos Starenios as Poubelle
- Dimitris Papamichael as A Sailor (as Dimitri Papamichael)
- Alexis Solomos as Noface
- Thanassis Veggos as (as Thanassis Veggos)
- Faidon Georgitsis as Sailor
- Nikos Fermas as Waiter
Trivia
Ilya meets with two British sailors from the HMS MANCHESTER, the younger one offers less money, however, he appeals to Ilya. There was no HMS Manchester in the Royal Navy in 1960.
The two Soviet sailors arrive when Homer has Ilya out of her room. The name of the Russian ship is on the sailors' caps in the Cyrillic alphabet.
When the American fleet arrives, the destroyer, USS Douglas H. Fox (DD-779), is shown from stock footage and recognizable by the large numbers 779 painted on her bow section.
DVD
Never on Sunday was released in a Region 1 DVD by MGM Home Video on July 1, 2003.
References
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Never on Sunday". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3308/year/1960.html. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
External links
The films of Jules Dassin 1940s The Tell-Tale Heart • Nazi Agent • The Affairs of Martha • Reunion in France • Young Ideas • The Canterville Ghost • Two Smart People • A Letter for Evie • Brute Force • The Naked City • Thieves' Highway1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Categories:- 1960 films
- Greek films
- American films
- English-language films
- 1960s romantic comedy films
- Best Song Academy Award winners
- Films about prostitution
- Films directed by Jules Dassin
- Films set in Greece
- Films shot in Greece
- Piraeus
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