During the 1950's the films made in Greece by the young Hellenic helmsmith Michael Cacoyannis (1922-2011) showed great feeling for the simple working-class townspeople and the peasants of their locale, His first international success was with a comedy, Windfall in Athens (1954) and this enabled the director to secure finance for a couple of tougher social comment films; Stella (1955) starring Melina Mercouri in her first screen role as a woman who is hellbent on liberating herself from a state of virtual enslavement in Greek society and in the subsequent A Girl In Black (1956) a tale of murder and persecution in the after math of the overthrow of a village's petty nobility.
In A Matter of Dignity (1958), it was here in this fourth feature starring Ellie Lambeti who had appeared in tow of his earlier works and became a firm favorite garnering the respect of international audiences. In the 60s, Cacoyannis turned his attention to the classics of ancient Greek drama filming them with Lambetti and Irene Papas as the star draws. But it is for Zorba the Greek (1964) an international co-production that he will always be best remembered.