Helen of Troy is a 1956 Warner Bros. epic film, based on Homer's Iliad. It was directed by Robert Wise, from a screenplay by Hugh Gray and John Twist, adapted by Hugh Gray and N. Richard Nash. The music score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography by Harry Stradling Sr. The film stars Rossana Podestà, Stanley Baker, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Jacques Sernas, with Niall MacGinnis, Nora Swinburne, Robert Douglas, Torin Thatcher, Harry Andrews, Janette Scott, Ronald Lewis, Eduardo Ciannelli, Esmond Knight and a young Brigitte Bardot as Andraste, Helen's handmaiden.

Helen of Troy is a television miniseries based upon Homer's story of the Trojan War, as recounted in the epic poem, The Iliad. This TV miniseries also shares the name with a 1956 movie staring Stanley Baker. It stars Sienna Guillory as Helen, Matthew Marsden as Paris, Rufus Sewell as Agamemnon, James Callis as Menelaus, John Rhys-Davies as Priam, former Bond girl Maryam d'Abo as Hecuba, and Stellan Skarsgård as Theseus.

The film is placed in the early classical period rather than the correct early Bronze Age; the Greeks are shown with post-Bronze Age classical hoplite dress and arms. Made on a relatively low budget, Helen of Troy was released at a time when interest in the subject was high due to the soon-to-be-released Troy.

The film also focuses more on the life of Helen herself rather than simply the Trojan War. The entire first half deals with Helen's life before Troy, and includes a number of mythological facts that other versions either gloss over or omit, such as Helen's abduction by Theseus and the actual agreement of the Greek kings to use her marriage as their peace agreement.

In contrast to Troy (which was roughly based on The Iliad which itself only depicts some of the events of the final year of the war), the film tells much of the story of the War. Most notably, Helen of Troy features and discusses the intervention of the gods (the film's opening scene shows Hera, Athena and Aphrodite at the Judgement of Paris) as written by Homer. This does not mean, however, that it is more accurate, as a number of the characters (namely Paris, as stated above), do not resemble their Homeric counterparts. Both films feature the interpretation of Agamemnon as a power-hungry tyrant, although this Helen of Troy adds a new dimension by addressing Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter Iphigeneia to the gods.

In this version, Prince Paris of Troy, shipwrecked on a mission to the king of Sparta, meets and falls for Queen Helen before he knows who she is. Rudely received by the royal Greeks, he must flee...but fate and their mutual passions lead him to take Helen along. This gives the Greeks (treated here as plunder-hungry belligerents) just the excuse they need for much-desired war. The long, wasting conflict and climactic treachery are portrayed with large-scale spectacle. Written by Rod Crawford

ammemnon: [to Menelaus] You are a smudge on history's ledger, but you are my brother.

ris: War is waged by nations, but it is human beings who pay the price.

ssandra: You should be dead. ris: Give me a minute.

ris: The Greeks have other ideas. ard: What sort of ideas? ris: Like, cut of our heads, put them on pikes, let birds eat our eyes... that sort of thing.

len: ...but tonight, when I saw you, something began to tear away my shield to expose the one thing I cannot endure: hope.

len: Loving me kills people, destroys families, causes such grief you cannot imagine!

ammemnon: There is no peace with Troy!

eseus: The most beautiful girl in the world is here in Sparta. rithous: She's just a child! eseus: I'll ripen her like grapes; I'll age her like wine. When she ages just enough, I'll taste her.

llux: Someday, soon, you will marry. len: I already know who to. llux: You do? len: I saw him. llux: Where? len: In the water. llux: You'll marry a fish? len: He's a shepherd. llux: Oh that's likely.

eseus: Someday, some place, you'll find someone better, someone worthy. When you do, neither the gods will nor the earth's turning will keep you from him. len: That's how I feel about you. eseus: Well, Helen, this is only a kind of practice. Someday you'll know the difference.

ammemnon: The weight of a crown has made my brother wise beyond my expertise.

ctor: Now he's talking war against Troy. ris: Why? ctor: Because we control access to the silks and spices of Byzantine. ris: Psh ctor: What? ris: I can't believe people go to war over nutmeg. ctor: Well, they do, Paris, and you'd better get used to it.

hilles: You should have killed me when you had the chance. ctor: I don't fight like that. hilles: I do! chilles throws his spear at Hector]

ctor: The prophecy has been fulfilled. ris: What prophecy? ctor: Because you live, we all must die.