| Ben-Hur | |
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theatrical Poster |
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| Directed by | Fred Niblo Uncredited: Charles Brabin |
| Produced by | Louis B. Mayer |
| Written by | Novel: Lew Wallace Screenplay: June Mathis Carey Wilson |
| Starring | Ramon Novarro Francis X. Bushman May McAvoy Betty Bronson |
| Music by | William Axt |
| Cinematography | Clyde De Vinna René Guissart Percy Hilburn Karl Struss Glenn Kershner |
| Editing by | Lloyd Nosler |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Original Release) Thames Television Channel 4 (1989 Restoration for Turner Entertainment) |
| Release date(s) | December 30, 1925 |
| Running time | 143 minutes |
| Country | United States |
Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ is a 1925 silent film directed by Fred Niblo. It was a blockbuster hit for newly merged Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was the second film based on the novel of the same name by Lew Wallace. The first version was released in 1907.
In 1997, Ben-Hur was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
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Ben-Hur is a wealthy Jew and boyhood friend of the powerful Roman Tribune, Messala. When an accident leads to Ben-Hur's arrest, Messala, who has become corrupt and arrogant, makes sure Ben-Hur and his family are jailed and separated.
Ben-Hur is sent to work in the galley of a Roman warship. Along the way, he unknowingly encounters Christ, the carpenter's son who offers him water. Once aboard ship, his attitude of defiance and strength impresses a Roman admiral, Quintus Arrius, who allows him to remain unchained. This actually works in the Admiral's favor because when his ship is attacked and sunk by pirates, Ben-Hur saves him from drowning.
Arrius then treats Ben-Hur as a son, and over the years the young man grows strong and becomes a victorious chariot racer. This eventually leads to a climactic showdown with Messala in a chariot race, in which Ben-Hur is the victor.
Ben-Hur is eventually reunited with his mother and sister, who are suffering from leprosy but are miraculously cured by Christ.[1]
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Costing $3.9 million to film,[2] Ben-Hur is the most expensive silent film ever made.
Ben-Hur had been a great success as a novel, and also as a stage play. Stage productions had been running for twenty-five years. In 1922, two years after the play's last tour, the Goldwyn company purchased the film rights to Ben-Hur. The play's producer, Abraham Erlanger, put a heavy price on the screen rights. Erlanger was persuaded to accept a generous profit participation deal and total approval over every detail of the production.
Shooting began in Italy in 1923, starting two years of difficulties, accidents, and eventually a move back to Hollywood. Additional recastings (including Ramón Novarro as Ben-Hur) and a change of director caused the production's budget to skyrocket. The studio's publicity department was relentless in promoting the film, advertising it with lines like: "The Picture Every Christian Ought to See!" Although audiences flocked to Ben-Hur after its premiere in 1925 and the picture grossed $9 million worldwide, its huge expenses and the deal with Erlanger made it a net financial loss for MGM. In terms of publicity and prestige however, it was a great success. It helped establish the new MGM as a major studio.[3][4]
A total of 60,960 m (200,000 ft) of film was shot for the chariot race scene, which was eventually edited down to 229 m (750 ft).[5] This scene has been much imitated. It was re-created virtually shot for shot in the 1959 remake, copied in Prince of Egypt, and more recently imitated in the pod race scene in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace which was made almost 75 years later. Some scenes in the film were in two-color Technicolor. One of the assistant directors for this sequence was a very young William Wyler, who would direct the 1959 remake.
A 1931 reissue added music, by the original composers William Axt and David Mendoza, and sound effects. As the decades passed, the original Technicolor segments were replaced by alternate black-and-white takes. These scenes were considered lost until the 1980s when Turner Entertainment (who by then had acquired the rights to the film) found the crucial sequences in a Czech film archive.
Current prints of the 1925 version are from the Turner-supervised restoration. The restoration includes the color tints and Technicolor sections, set to resemble the original theatrical release. There is an addition of a newly recorded stereo orchestral soundtrack by Carl Davis with the London Philharmonic Orchestra which was originally recorded for a Thames Television screening of the movie.
It can be found on DVD, complete with the Technicolor segments, in the four-disc collector's edition of the 1959 version starring Charlton Heston. As well as in the 2011 "Fiftieth Anniversary Edition" Blu-Ray Collector's Edition three-disc box set.
This remains one of the few films at Rotten Tomatoes to maintain a 100% freshness rating.[6]