DINOS DIMOPOULOS
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.
Greece, 1968. Finos Film. Screenplay by Lakis Mihailidis. Cinematography by Giorgos Arvanitis. Music by Nikos Mamangakis. Production Design by Markos Zervas. Costume Design by Maria Savvaidou. Film Editing by Vasilis Syropoulos.
One of the lowest points of quality for the acting, singing (and, at that time, married in real life) team of Aliki Vougiouklaki and Dimitris Papamichael. He plays a poor sailor who has to travel to another part of Greece for work in order to make enough money to pay for his sister’s dowry. She is the daughter of a wealthy owner of a fleet of boats who scorns the man she has been told she must marry, a man who, as it turns out, was Papamichael’s former boss. Disguising herself as a boy, Vougiouklaki hits the road and meets up with our friendly hero, who takes this “young man” under his wing and protects him as they travel across the country in search of work, adventure, and more people to sing backup every time they whip out a song. When the jig is up and her disguise is revealed, they fall in love but continue their journey (she somehow managing to find a new dress at every corner) until they are dragged back home by the police and their love is put to the test of class differences. Nothing fresh or original here, sort of Swept Away without the sexy violence, and even the stars look bored with the material, but some of the songs are cute.