The Amazon rental is only in standard definition, but the aspect ratio is 1.37. Plus it’s spoken in Italian (the almost constantly bare-chested, loin–clothed Kirk Douglas is dubbed) with English subtitles.

But you know what? It’s an intelligent film —low-budgety but honorable — unmistakably better than the Steve Reeves Hercules films at the very least.

The story moves along, it’s well-paced, the dialogue (partially written by Ben Hecht and Irwin Shaw) is better than servicable and almost eloquent at times. It’s even haunting here and there…a world of gods and sirens and crude, man-eating giants.

Found unconscious and memory-less on a beach by Rosanna Podesta, Ulysses is immediately regarded as a noble fellow, and Douglas sells this by behaving with restraint and dignity, by radiating a certain inwardness. One senses a man of maturity, thought, consequence.

I knew early on that I’d slagged this film unfairly. It’s really not half bad. It’s regrettable that HD streaming isn’t an option — what I saw last night looked like 16mm.