Athena (1954)

35% of users liked it
(434 ratings)

Health faddist Mulvain (Louis Calhern) and his astrology-minded wife Salome (Norma Varden) hold court over their seven musical-prodigy daughters. Each girl is named after a mythical Greek: Athena (Jane Powell), Minerva (Debbie Reynolds), Niobe (Virginia Gibson), Aphrodite (Nancy Kligas), Medea (Jane… More Health faddist Mulvain (Louis Calhern) and his astrology-minded wife Salome (Norma Varden) hold court over their seven musical-prodigy daughters. Each girl is named after a mythical Greek: Athena (Jane Powell), Minerva (Debbie Reynolds), Niobe (Virginia Gibson), Aphrodite (Nancy Kligas), Medea (Jane Fischer), Calliope (Dolores Starr) and Ceres (Cecile Rogers). They also run around dressed in skimpy miniskirts, for those of you not interested in mythology. Athena falls in love with lawyer Adam Shaw (Edmund Purdom) and Minerva is ga-ga over crooner Johnny Nyle (Vic Damone), neither of whom come up to Mulvain's notions of mental and physical perfection. A lesser product from the Joe Pasternak musical mill, Athena is unremarkable save for an early appearance by future Hercules star Steve Reeves and a nicely bitchy performance by the usually resistable Linda Christian. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By: Richard Thorpe
Written By: William Ludwig, Leonard Spigelgass
Genres: Drama, Romance, Musical & Performing Arts, Comedy

In Theaters: Nov 4, 1954 Limited
On DVD: May 26, 1993
Studio: MGM

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

Middling musical filled with pretty people. Purdom was never the greatest actor but was an extremely handsome man. Jane and Debbie are bubbly and fresh as sisters. The best performance comes from the terrific Louis Calhern as the somewhat daffy grandfather. Interesting to compare… More
Middling musical filled with pretty people. Purdom was never the greatest actor but was an extremely handsome man. Jane and Debbie are bubbly and fresh as sisters. The best performance comes from the terrific Louis Calhern as the somewhat daffy grandfather. Interesting to compare Evelyn Varden's spacy Grandma here and her portrayal of the vicious Icey Spoon in the next year's Night of the Hunter. Probably the only movie, musical or otherwise that stops cold to have a Mr. Universe contest stuffed into it. Pleasant but minor.