Zorba the Greek ***** (1964, Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Irene Papas, Lila Kedrova) – Classic Movie Review 1524

The 1964 Greek-American black and white comedy-drama film Zorba the Greek is based on the 1946 novel The Life And Times Of Alexis Zorba by Nikos Kazantzakis, and stars Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Lila Kedrova and Irene Papas. The film had seven Oscar nominations and won three Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress (Lila Kedrova), Best Art Direction Black-and-White (Vassilis Photopoulos) and Best Cinematography Black-and-White (Walter Lassally). But it is best remembered for Quinn’s iconic performance and Mikis Theodorakis’s haunting music score.

Producer-writer-editor-director Michael Cacoyannis’s faithful 1964 movie adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’s famous novel stars Alan Bates as an uptight, aimless intellectual English writer called Basil, who falls under the spell of the grizzled, gregarious, middle-aged Greek peasant Alexis Zorba (Anthony Quinn) on the beautiful Greek island of Crete.

Basil, an Englishman of Greek descent, finds he has a small inheritance and goes to Crete to see the family’s land. He plans to reopen the mine bequeathed to him by his father. Soon he meets Zorba and his life is changed for ever by the man’s incredible lust for life and the earthy pleasures of Greece.

Oscar-nominated Quinn is deliciously hammy but infectiously lusty in what became his most famous movie performance. It’s a highly exuberant, larger than life performance but it’s perfect for the movie. Subtly underplaying in contrast, Bates is ideal as the initially cool but gradually warmer writer, and his performance dovetails perfectly with the mighty Quinn’s. And Lila Kedrova is wonderfully appealing as Madame Hortense, an ailing, ageing prostitute living on her memories. Irene Papas also stars as the widow, though with few lines, she mostly just looks gloomy.

Early in the production, Lila Kedrova replaced Simone Signoret, who began filming the role of Madame Hortense.

Kedrova as Best Supporting Actress, Walter Lassally’s Best Black-and-White Cinematography and Vassilis Photopoulos’s Best Black-and-White Direction-Set Decoration won the film’s three Oscars. Great though they are, that result was a travesty, as it’s Quinn and Mikis Theodorakis’s music score that make the movie and that everyone remembers. And Cacoyannis should have won too. Surprisingly, there were no Golden Globes or Baftas.

Michael Cacoyannis [Mihalis Kakogiannis] was Oscar nominated for Best Picture, Michael Cacoyannis [Mihalis Kakogiannis] for Best Director and Anthony Quinn for Best Actor, with Mihalis Kakogiannis nominated for Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Unluckily it was the year of My Fair Lady, which won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.

The Mexican-born Quinn is for ever Greek thanks to this movie. He had frequent disagreements with the director, who felt he was acting way over-the-top in his performance. Quinn died on June 3 2001, aged 86.

The film was shot on locations on Crete, including the city of Chania, the village of Kokkino Chorio in the Apokoronas region and the beach of the village of Stavros in the Akrotiri peninsula (where Quinn dances the Sirtaki).

The film was low budget (only $783,000) and a smash hit. The worldwide gross was $23.5 million.

Also in the cast are Sotiris Moustakas as Mimithos, Anna Kyriakou as Soul, Eleni Anousaki as Lola, George Voyadjis as Pavlo, Takis Emmanuel as Manolakas and George Foundas as Mavrandoni.

Greek Cypriot film director Michael Cacoyannis died on 25 July 2011 in Athens, aged 89. His films Electra (1962), The Trojan Women (1971) and Iphigenia (1977) all also starred Irene Papas.

He was nominated for an Academy Award five times. He received Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for Zorba the Greek, and two nominations for Best Foreign Language Film for Electra (1962) and Iphigenia (1977). He received six Palme d’Or nominations at the Cannes Film Festival.

Walter Lassally died on 23 October 2017, aged 90.

Berlin-born cinematographer Walter Lassally died on 23 October 2017, aged 90. He is also known for his work on Tom Jones (1963) and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), among his over 100 credits. He was Bafta nominated for Heat and Dust (1983).

Mikis Theodorakis (29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021).

RIP Michail ‘Mikis’ Theodorakis (29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021). He scored for the films Ill Met by Moonlight (1957), Zorba the Greek (1964), Z (1969), and Serpico (1973).

Irene Papas (3 September 1926 – 14 September 2022).

Greek actress and singer Irene Papas (born Irene Lelekou (3 September 1926 – 14 September 2022) starred in more than 70 films over 50 years. They include The Guns of Navarone (1961), Antigone (1961), Electra (1962), Zorba the Greek (1964), The Trojan Women (1971), and Iphigenia (1977).

Papas knew Mikis Theodorakis from working with him on Zorba the Greek in 1964. RCA released Papas’s vinyl LP Songs of Theodorakis in 1969. It has 11 songs sung in Greek, conducted by Harry Lemonopoulos and produced by Andy Wiswell, with sleeve notes in English by Michael Cacoyannis. It was released on CD in 2005,

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1524

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/

F