Oedipus the King (1968 film) However, in 1968 the "Illustrated London News" praised its "cinematic fluidity" and Jon Solomon in 2001 said that the film was "distinguished by intensity and fine acting", with Plummer's Oedipus boasting "an arrogant, strong-willed title character". However, Solomon also remarked that the film "would never have won first prize at an ancient Athenian contest. Leonard Maltin in 2006 said that the "film version of Sophocles play is OK for students who have a test on it the next day, but others won't appreciate this version." The script was originally based on Paul Roche's translation directly from the Greek done in
Oedipus Rex and the state in "Antigone". The dilemma that Oedipus faces here is similar to that of the tyrannical Creon: each man has, as king, made a decision that his subjects question or disobey; each king also misconstrues both his own role as a sovereign and the role of the rebel. When informed by the blind prophet Tiresias that religious forces are against him, each king claims that the priest has been corrupted. It is here, however, that their similarities come to an end: while Creon, seeing the havoc he has wreaked, tries to amend his mistakes, Oedipus refuses to listen