Misplaced Pages

Atlas (1961 film): Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 22:32, 12 July 2022 editSer Amantio di Nicolao (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Administrators6,315,461 editsm Removing from Category:American films no longer non-diffusing using Cat-a-lot← Previous edit Revision as of 17:17, 14 July 2022 edit undoDr.K. (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, File movers, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers110,824 editsm Fix mangled Greek nameNext edit →
Line 23: Line 23:


==Plot== ==Plot==
The hero Atlas fights against the evil king Proximates. The hero Atlas fights against the evil king Praximedes.


==Cast== ==Cast==
*] as Atlas *] as Atlas
*] as Candia *] as Candia
*] as Proximates the Tyrant *] as Praximedes the Tyrant
*] as Garnis *] as Garnis
*Andreas Filippides as King Telektos *Andreas Filippides as King Telektos

Revision as of 17:17, 14 July 2022

1961 film
Atlas
Original film poster
Directed byRoger Corman
Written byCharles B. Griffith
Produced byRoger Corman
StarringMichael Forest
CinematographyBasil Maros
Edited byMichael Luciano
Music byRonald Stein
Production
company
The Filmgroup
Distributed byRealart Pictures
Release date
  • May 1961 (1961-05)
Running time79 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Greece
LanguageEnglish
Budget$108,804.75

Atlas is a 1961 action-adventure Peplum film directed by Roger Corman and starring Michael Forest and Frank Wolff. It was filmed in Greece. Corman's regular screenwriter Charles B. Griffith wanted to title the film Atlas, the Guided Muscle based on the first American intercontinental ballistic missile the SM-65 Atlas.

Plot

The hero Atlas fights against the evil king Praximedes.

Cast

Production

With the massive international popularity of Hercules, Roger Corman thought he would make his own entry in the sword and sandal genre with a film shot in Greece instead of Italy. Corman's original plan was for an epic film in wide screen and colour to be released initially on a roadshow circuit by his Filmgroup organisation instead of Filmgroup's usual black and white double features. Corman used two actors he had made several films with, Michael Forest and Frank Wolff.

Independent producer Vion Papamichelis agreed to put up half the budget, around $40,000. Corman hired Charles Griffith, who was living in Tel Aviv, and gave him four weeks to write the script. Griffith went on to work as production manager, assistant director, writer and extra on the film.

Corman's schemes changed when his Greek partner did not come through with the promised funds, leading Corman to rapidly find new American investors. Corman was also led to believe a donation in the right place would ensure 500 Greek soldiers fully costumed and equipped as extras for his massive army. Only 50 turned up, leading Corman to rapidly change his original screenplay to use a smaller group of soldiers.

Corman managed to complete his film, shot in ruins around Athens such as the Parthenon with sequences shot at UCLA with Dick Miller and Roger Corman himself as soldiers. Corman was able to use stock footage from Universal's Sign of the Pagan. Despite these problems, Corman was able to complete the film for US $108,000 rather than the planned $100,000 budget.

Notes

  1. Fred Olen Ray, The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers as Distributors, McFarland, 1991, p 42-43
  2. p.165 McGilligan, Patrick Charles B. Griffith Interview Backstory 3: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1960s University of California Press, 12/05/1997
  3. pp. 42–43 Ray, Fred Olen The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers As Distributors McFarland, 01/11/1991
  4. ^ Roger Corman & Jim Jerome, How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never lost a Dime, Muller, 1990 p 108-110
  5. p. 55 Weaver, Tom Michael Forest Interview I Was a Monster Movie Maker: Conversations with 22 SF and Horror Filmmakers McFarland, 2001

External links

Films by Charles B. Griffith
Director
Writer
Roger Corman
Filmography
Director
Producer only
Related
Categories: