Seeing Europe with the Movies in My Mind
July 25, 2004 | 12:00am
It was more than three decades ago, when, as a university student on a break, we urged our mother to take us to Pireaus in Greece. Why Pireaus of all places, she asked, and we answered, "Because that’s where Never on Sunday was shot on location." And so off to Pireaus we went.
Never on Sunday is a 1960 black and white movie of a prostitute played by Melina Mercouri (nominated Academy Awards Best Actress) who beds various men in port, except on Sundays which she keeps sacred. Her leading man Jules Dassin (also the writer-director and real life husband — nominated Best Director and Writer) plays an American scholar of Greek culture who falls for her and attempts to change her ways ala Pygmalion.
The movie had such an impact on us, we remember Mercouri and many details, which is a wonder, as we normally forget having watched a film a week after.
Upon discovering Pireaus was a port destination on the Star Princess Mediterranean Cruise we were invited to join, our excitement immediately doubled. We even decided to forego nearby Athens to spend a day in Pireaus, which we remember years ago as a sleepy fishing village where men fished with poles at the pier, and where we were first introduced to pita bread.
Alas, today’s Pireaus is a bustling modern port with none of our memories of old. And although prostitutes must still abound, they are said to conduct their trade in air-conditioned comfort. But no matter, there were other ports waiting, and other film memories to relive.
The Mediterranean cruise covered old Europe and naturally brought to mind the good old movies. Other ports were Naples, Rome, Livorno, and Venice in Italy; Barcelona in Spain and Ephesus in Turkey.
Since many of our favorite old Italian films starred Rome-born Sophia Loren who grew up in the slums of Naples to become a star of the ’60s, we recalled It Started in Naples, 1960, which starred Sophia and Clark Gable as an American who comes to Naples in search of the son of his brother who has died in a car accident, in order to bring him back to America. The brother’s Italian wife had died along with her husband, and her sister (Sophia) refuses to allow the boy to leave. In the end, Clark falls in love with Sophia and Naples, and decides to stay behind.
The 1926, the silent version of the epic Ben Hur was shot partially in Anzio, Italy, and the sea battle at Livorno, Italy (another Princess destination). The 1959 version starring Charlton Heston brought to the screen even more vividly the era of the gladiators who fought in such arenas as the Colloseum in Rome, and in Ephesus, Turkey (both also on the Princess’ itinerary).
Ephesus, in fact, has served as an important archeological site where tests on bits of bone from 70 gladiators buried there provided important data to researchers for such movies as Spartacus starring Kurt Russel, and the more recent Gladiator starring Russel Crowe.
By this time, our appetite had been completely whetted for more movie locations, and we sailed on to savor Venice which seemed a favorite location from the silent era (numerous Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy movies) to more recent horror movies from Roger Corman. Many stars and celebrities came over to Venice to build summer homes like Chaplin, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dudley Moore, Wesley Snipes, Suzanne Sommers, Oliver Stone, and Dennis Hopper.
Finally, we reached Rome which for us will always be Three Coins in a Fountain, 1954, (about three American women — Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters, Maggie McNamara — who toss coins into the Trevi Fountain to make their wishes come true), and Roman Holiday, 1953, (Audrey Hepburn as the European princess who goes incognito in Rome, and falls in love with a reporter played by Gregory Peck). For this role, Audrey won the Oscar for Best Actress.
Romantic Paris has always been celebrated in film, the most recent of which was Moulin Rouge, 2001, that much applauded picture which garnered eight Oscar nominations, and gave Nicole Kidman a Golden Globe Best Actress. The wildly popular Lady Marmalade (Cristina Aguilera), sometimes ranked among the trashiest songs in the world, is also associated with the movie.
We will always be grateful to Princess Cruises, and to Lufthansa who flew us to and from the ship, for this chance to vicariously relive the past that had always entranced us in many of our favorite movies.
(For inquiries on Princess Cruises call Cruise Professionals at tel. 813-7408, and Lufthansa at tels. 580-6400/580-6475).
Never on Sunday is a 1960 black and white movie of a prostitute played by Melina Mercouri (nominated Academy Awards Best Actress) who beds various men in port, except on Sundays which she keeps sacred. Her leading man Jules Dassin (also the writer-director and real life husband — nominated Best Director and Writer) plays an American scholar of Greek culture who falls for her and attempts to change her ways ala Pygmalion.
The movie had such an impact on us, we remember Mercouri and many details, which is a wonder, as we normally forget having watched a film a week after.
Upon discovering Pireaus was a port destination on the Star Princess Mediterranean Cruise we were invited to join, our excitement immediately doubled. We even decided to forego nearby Athens to spend a day in Pireaus, which we remember years ago as a sleepy fishing village where men fished with poles at the pier, and where we were first introduced to pita bread.
Alas, today’s Pireaus is a bustling modern port with none of our memories of old. And although prostitutes must still abound, they are said to conduct their trade in air-conditioned comfort. But no matter, there were other ports waiting, and other film memories to relive.
The Mediterranean cruise covered old Europe and naturally brought to mind the good old movies. Other ports were Naples, Rome, Livorno, and Venice in Italy; Barcelona in Spain and Ephesus in Turkey.
Since many of our favorite old Italian films starred Rome-born Sophia Loren who grew up in the slums of Naples to become a star of the ’60s, we recalled It Started in Naples, 1960, which starred Sophia and Clark Gable as an American who comes to Naples in search of the son of his brother who has died in a car accident, in order to bring him back to America. The brother’s Italian wife had died along with her husband, and her sister (Sophia) refuses to allow the boy to leave. In the end, Clark falls in love with Sophia and Naples, and decides to stay behind.
The 1926, the silent version of the epic Ben Hur was shot partially in Anzio, Italy, and the sea battle at Livorno, Italy (another Princess destination). The 1959 version starring Charlton Heston brought to the screen even more vividly the era of the gladiators who fought in such arenas as the Colloseum in Rome, and in Ephesus, Turkey (both also on the Princess’ itinerary).
Ephesus, in fact, has served as an important archeological site where tests on bits of bone from 70 gladiators buried there provided important data to researchers for such movies as Spartacus starring Kurt Russel, and the more recent Gladiator starring Russel Crowe.
By this time, our appetite had been completely whetted for more movie locations, and we sailed on to savor Venice which seemed a favorite location from the silent era (numerous Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy movies) to more recent horror movies from Roger Corman. Many stars and celebrities came over to Venice to build summer homes like Chaplin, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dudley Moore, Wesley Snipes, Suzanne Sommers, Oliver Stone, and Dennis Hopper.
Finally, we reached Rome which for us will always be Three Coins in a Fountain, 1954, (about three American women — Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters, Maggie McNamara — who toss coins into the Trevi Fountain to make their wishes come true), and Roman Holiday, 1953, (Audrey Hepburn as the European princess who goes incognito in Rome, and falls in love with a reporter played by Gregory Peck). For this role, Audrey won the Oscar for Best Actress.
Romantic Paris has always been celebrated in film, the most recent of which was Moulin Rouge, 2001, that much applauded picture which garnered eight Oscar nominations, and gave Nicole Kidman a Golden Globe Best Actress. The wildly popular Lady Marmalade (Cristina Aguilera), sometimes ranked among the trashiest songs in the world, is also associated with the movie.
We will always be grateful to Princess Cruises, and to Lufthansa who flew us to and from the ship, for this chance to vicariously relive the past that had always entranced us in many of our favorite movies.
(For inquiries on Princess Cruises call Cruise Professionals at tel. 813-7408, and Lufthansa at tels. 580-6400/580-6475).
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