The Ogre of Athens
O drakos
Greece
1956
103 Min
Black and White
Greek
Synopsis
An insignificant bank clerk is about to spend New Year’s Day alone when he suddenly realizes with terror his ressemblance to a notorious criminal whom the newspapers call the “Ogre of Athens”. Because of this misunderstanding, when the police start chasing him he finds refuge in a cabaret and gets acquainted with a gang of criminals who think he is the Ogre and suggest he takes part in a robbery. A cabaret dancer shows interest in him and, driven by his desire to escape his gloomy life and finally become “somebody” he gets entangled in a web of unforeseen events. But the truth will come out and he will come to a sad end . —TFF
Director
Nikos Koundouros
Nikos Koundouros (Greek: Νίκος Κούνδουρος), is a Greek film director, born in Agios Nikolaos, Crete in 1926.
He studied painting and sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts, and was later exiled because of his political beliefs to the Makronissos island. At the age of 28 he decided to follow a career in cinematography. He started his career as a director of the film Magiki Polis (1954), where he combined his neorealism influences with his own artistic viewpoint. He cast Thanasis Veggos, who he had met at Makronissos, as one of the characters in Magiki Polis. After the release of his complex and innovative film O Drakos, he found acceptance as a prominent artist in Greece and Europe, and acquired important awards in various international and Greek film festivals. His 1963 film Young Aphrodites won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival. —Wikipedia
Wall
Displaying 4 wall posts.
Zachary George Najarian-Najafi
16May13
There are a lot of elements of Fritz Lang here, but also elements of Italian neorealism. Dinos Iliopoulos gives a great performance as the lonely banker Thomas who is both the quintessential desperate noir protagonist and something different altogether. I really wanted to be wowed by this one, but I walked away from it only just liking it. The story itself is nothing to write home about, and while Koundouros has some brilliant directorial flourishes, I can't help but feel that he was restraining himself here. There are moments of abstract wonder that I wanted more of. It seems like he allowed his imagination more free reign in his later works, and I'm really excited to explore more of his stuff, but this one didn't do as much for me as I'd like it to have.
Rohit
6Jan12
This film has a tremendous sense of unsettling humor under the dark and gloomy surface. Dinos Iliopoulos is iconic as one of the most unlikely noir hero in film history.
Jake La Motta and Dimitris Psachos like this
House of Leaves and 2 others like this
Related Films
Fans
Displaying 5 of 25 fans.
Lists
Displaying 5 of 33 lists.
- Unavailable Films Whose Release on (Eng. Lang.) DVD/Streaming is more important than getting Kubrick's work on Blu-Ray
- Greece of Cinephile Dreams
- 666 Opinions of an Asshole: A Personal Canon
- As I Was Browsing The Auteurs, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty: Submissions
- As I Was Browsing The Auteurs, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1
Desire, shame and power (spoilers)
By javier quintero on December 23, 2011
It’s very interesting that Koundouros gives a lot of importance to music and dancing sequences as fundamental rituals for desire, amusement and even sacrifice, all of them part of night life, instead… read review
Forum
Displaying
0 discussion topics.