It Happened in Athens ** (1962, Jayne Mansfield, Trax Colton, Nico Minardos) – Classic Movie Review 11,079

‘When Jayne Mansfield Becomes the Olympic Prize… It’s An Outdoor Variation on an Inside Sport!’

Director Andrew Marton’s 1962 CinemaScope and DeLuxe color film It Happened in Athens stars Jayne Mansfield as Greece’s most glamorous actress Eleni Costa, who declares she will wed whoever wins the first revived marathon at the 1896 Olympic Games, confident it will be her lover Lieutenant Alexi Vinardos (Nico Minardos).

It Happened in Athens is a ridiculously daft comedy, though the all-but-plain Jayne shows she has charm in her skimpy frocks. It all seems to be a schoolboy fantasy but it is actually based on a real event. However it is a fantasy version of a real event, hence the film’s disclaimer: ‘This photoplay is not a biography of Spiridon Loues. Any similarity to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental. All events except the Marathon victory are fictional.’

Trax Colton plays a wizard on the tracks Greek shepherd called Spiridon Loues, who defeats all on the tracks but uncharitably prefers his hometown true love Christina Gratsos (Xenia Kalogeropoulou), now the maid of Eleni Costa in Athens, to her mistress (Jayne). Lili Valenty and Titos Vandis play Mama Loues and Father Loues.

It ran 102 minutes but was cut by 10 minutes after poor previews.

Also in the cast are Bob Mathias as Coach Graham, Charles Fawcett, Ivan Triesault, Jean Murat, Roger Browne [Bill Browne], Marion Siva, Paul Muller, Gustavo De Nardo, Roger Fradet, and Brad Harris.

Foot-race scenes were shot over much of the marathon race course used in the 1896 Olympic Games, still largely used when the Olympic Games returned to Greece in 2004.

People in the crowd are wearing 1960s clothes.

Writer: László Vadnay.

Trax Colton, born Louis Morelli on May 26, 1929, was briefly a 20th Century-Fox contract player in the early 1960s, but Fox’s plans to make him a heartthrob never panned out and he left the industry. Allegedly, Mansfield and Colton had a brief affair during filming.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,079

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