The 300 Spartans *** (1962, Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson, Diane Baker, David Farrar, Barry Coe, Donald Houston, Kieron Moore, John Crawford) – Classic Movie Review 11,076

It’s Greece against Persia in 480BC, but with only 300 brave Spartans to defend the border from the immense Persian army – a little like Mike Tyson versus Norman Wisdom – though the inspirational fighting of the outnumbered soldiers serves as a fine example to the rest of the Greek army.

Director Rudolph Maté’s 1962 historical adventure drama The 300 Spartans stars Richard Egan as King Leonidas of Sparta, Ralph Richardson as Themistocles of Athens and David Farrar as Xerxes, with Diane Baker as Ellas, Barry Coe as Phylon, Donald Houston as Hydarnes, Kieron Moore as Ephialtes, John Crawford as Agathon the Spartan Spy and Robert Brown as Pentheus.

The 300 Spartans is filmed on eye-catching locations in Greece, with fine DeLuxe color CinemaScope cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth, exciting action, lots of extras and quite effective battle scenes. But the dialogue is in best wooden Hollywood epic mode, giving the actors a hard time, and also serving to undermine the film’s impressively well-above-average production values.

Also in the cast are Anne Wakefield, Anna Synodinou, Laurence Naismith, Ivan Triesault, Charles Fawcett and Michalis Nikolinakos.

It is the last of three films 20th Century Fox made in Greece in 1957-1961 when the studio was headed by Spyros Skouras of Greek origin, following Boy on a Dolphin (1957) and It Happened in Athens (1962).

It was backed by the Greek royal family, giving the resources and logistics of the Royal Hellenic Army as troops for both Spartan and Persian soldiers. Battle scenes were shot around Lake Vouliagmenis, south of Athens, standing in for the battle site of Thermopylae to the north.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,076

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