Never on Sunday (1960)| Full Length Romantic Comedy Movie| English Subtitles

Greek romantic comedy film, written by, directed by, and starring Jules Dassin and Melina Mercouri.
Beautiful and corrupt, sociable and sensitive, Ilya (Melina Mercouri), an independent, happy-go-lucky streetwalker in the bustling Port of Piraeus, Greece, is the talk of the town. Intrigued by her character, the love-smitten American intellectual Homer Thrace (Jules Dassin), sets his sights on becoming Ilya’s Pygmalion, and in the process, attempts to explain the decline of the great Ancient Greek civilization. Of course–as Ilya belongs to no one, and the handsome Greek-Italian dockhand, Tonio, is bent on winning her heart–this is a challenging task, especially when proud Ilya swears that she leads a full and exciting life. Now, the romantic philhellene has two short weeks to accomplish his task. Will he learn a thing or two about life, and maybe, just maybe, find the secret of happiness?
(Nick Riganas)

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IMDb rating: 7,3/10
Original Title: Ποτέ την Κυριακή

Cast:
Melina Mercouri
Jules Dassin
Giorgos Foundas
Dimitris Papamichael
Aleka Katselli
Faidon Georgitsis
Nikos Fermas
Dimos Starenios

Movie Trivia:
1. The movie features the first song (“Never On Sunday”) from a foreign-made movie to win an Oscar. The song – also known by its original Greek title “Τα Παιδιά του Πειραιά” (Ta Pediá tou Pireá) – was written by famous Greek composer Manos Hatzidakis and sung by Mercouri herself. The song has since been recorded by numerous artists (including the american band Pink Martini) and has gained various degrees of success throughout the world.

2. Melina Mercouri, Despo Diamantidou, and Tito Vandis all appeared in the Broadway musical version of “Never on Sunday”, “Illya darling”, which ran between April 1967 through January 1968, and was a huge success as well.

3. The film was also nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Mercouri), Best Costume Design, Black-and-White, Best Director, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay as Written Directly for the Screen (both Dassin). Mercouri won the award for Best Actress at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival.

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