Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Short description
Judah Ben-Hur and Messala were friends as boys, but as adults they stand on opposite sides of Roman rule in Judea. Messala, now a Roman officer, expects Judah to help him control Jerusalem; when Judah refuses, a public disturbance during a Roman parade gives Messala the excuse to destroy him. Judah is taken away as a galley slave, his property seized, and his mother and sister imprisoned. Surviving years of hardship at sea, he earns the favor of a Roman commander who comes to regard him as a son, and eventually he returns to his homeland a free and wealthy man. He cannot find his mother or sister and believes them dead, leaving him focused on vengeance against Messala. On his journey he also encounters Jesus of Nazareth, an experience that gradually changes him.
The film is based on Lew Wallace's novel and was directed by Fred Niblo, whose filmography also includes The Temptress and Dream of Love. It was produced by Irving Thalberg, Samuel Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Ramon Novarro as Judah, Francis X. Bushman as Messala, May McAvoy as Esther and Betty Bronson as Mary among a credited cast of 56. The production had a budget of four million dollars and took in about nine million worldwide, a return that indicates it was a substantial commercial undertaking rather than a modest one. On IMDb it holds a 7.8 rating from 8,400 votes, on TMDB 7.3 from 117 votes, and critics gave it 7.8 from 25 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on the novel of the same name by American writer Lew Wallace.
- The film is the most expensive silent film in history – $3.9 million USD was spent on its production. In early 21st-century prices, this amounts to approximately $40 million.
- The film is the second adaptation of Lew Wallace's novel. The previous one was released in 1907.
- Work on the film began with Goldwyn Pictures in 1923, but in 1924 it merged with Metro Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to form Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM).
- Filming began in Italy in 1923.
- Some scenes of the film were shot using the two-color Technicolor process.
- One of the film's assistant directors was a very young William Wyler at the time, who would create a famous remake of this film in 1959.
- During the filming of the chariot race scene, the charioteers acted very slowly and cautiously, which greatly irritated Mayer. To make the scene more believable, he offered a prize of $100 to the winner of the race. The resulting terrible crash was filmed by the operator and is present in the film. Several horses died.
- “Ben-Hur” was not only a very successful novel but also a highly popular theatrical production that ran on stage for twenty-five years. Only in 1922, two years after the last tour of the “Ben-Hur” show, was the film company “Goldwyn Pictures” finally able to afford to acquire the rights to adapt the novel. The show's producer, Abraham Erlanger, demanded a price that was insurmountable for the studio. An agreement was reached only by offering him a very significant share of the project's profits and the ability to control every detail of the filmmaking process.
- A total of 60,960 meters (200,000 feet) of film were used during the filming of the chariot race scene, of which only 229 meters (750 feet) remained after editing. This scene has been repeatedly replicated in other cinematic works. In particular, it was recreated by William Wyler when filming a remake of the film in 1959; it was also copied in “The Prince of Egypt”; it is impossible not to recall it while watching the race scene in the first episode of “Star Wars,” filmed almost 75 years later.
- The addition of extra actors (including the approval of Ramon Novarro for the role of Ben-Hur) and the replacement of the director significantly increased the film's previously planned budget. The studio's sales department, in advertising the film, used slogans such as: “This is a film that every Christian should see!” in an attempt to attract as wide an audience as possible to theaters. Although the film grossed around nine million dollars, its enormous expenses and the studio's onerous obligations to Erlanger prevented MGM from recouping its four million dollar investment in the film.
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