The 1997 Hallmark Channel adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky and starring Armand Assante, has resurfaced on social media after author Joyce Carol Oates praised it as a "much more interesting interpretation than Nolan." The two-part TV movie features a star-studded cast including Greta Scacchi, Christopher Lee, Isabella Rossellini, and Vanessa Williams.
Initial Reception
Despite its cast, the adaptation received mixed reviews upon release. TV Guide said it "plays like a 'Classics Illustrated' adaptation of the original work." The St Louis Post-Dispatch claimed Konchalovsky "couldn't decide whether to make a cheerful comic book, in the style of Xena: Warrior Princess, or a Greek tragedy." The Arizona Republic reviewer wrote, "Even though the made-for-TV movie is only four hours long, I wasted a fifth stewing over how godawful it was." The Toronto Star offered faint praise: "This Odyssey is not all an arduous task to sit through."
Visual and Effects
The production shows its age with what the article describes as "dodgy wigs and glued-on beards," static extras in the Trojan War scenes, and a Cyclops portrayed as a "giggling muppet." The depiction of the god Hermes, played by Freddy Douglas, is particularly criticized: a flying figure with frosted tips appearing to wear a nappy, with egregious green screen use that "cannot possibly have looked convincing back in 1997 either." The article suggests that Christopher Nolan may have been influenced by these awkward portrayals in deciding to omit gods from his version, instead attributing divine actions to weather.
Storytelling Differences
In the Hallmark version, Odysseus copes with guilt from the Trojan War by immediately having sex with Calypso (Vanessa Williams), whereas in Nolan's film Matt Damon's Odysseus subjects himself to memory loss. The ending also diverges: the 1997 adaptation ends with Odysseus killing the suitors and then immediately having sex with Penelope (Greta Scacchi). Nolan's film instead has Odysseus voluntarily put himself into exile.
The article concludes that while the Hallmark Odyssey is longer and fits more content, it lacks the "intensity, propulsion and spectacle" of Nolan's film. It admires Hallmark's ambition but argues that the adaptation has been comprehensively usurped by Nolan's version.
