|
|
Rating:  - Ben-Hur (Four-Disc Collector's Edition)
Wow!!! I have loved this movie ever since I saw it when it first came out in 1959. My mother always took us to first run epic movies during spring break. Ben-Hur has always been one of my all time favorite movies. How nice to see it in a great DVD transfer. Picture and sound are great. It was nice to see that the 1925 version is included.
Rating: - Excellent Movie
I've always loved this movie and this collector's edition is outstanding, I'd never seen the original Ben-Hur before and although it was old it was very well done. You can't go wrong with this product.
Rating: - Charlton Heston
I got this DVD just before Charlton Heston passed away. Ben Hur is, of course, the classic of all classics when it come to movie making. A lot of today's directors have used the same format as Ben Hur. But on a personal note: I have never seen Ben Hur on widescreen format until now. Ben Hur must be seen this way to enjoy even better.
Rating:  - Ben-Hur DVD
"Ben-Hur" is just as good as I remember it from years ago. It's nice to have it in a format for viewing at home (including being able to pause it) because it's a long movie.
Rating: - STILL THE GREATEST CHRISTIAN FILM OF ALL TIME
The first film version of Ben-Hur was a 15-minute unauthorized version in 1907. This lead to a law suit by author Lew Wallace that set the precedent for future book-to-movie copyright cases. Eventually, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the rights, and produced the first legitimate adaptation in 1925. It was silent, 35 mm black-and-white (1.33:1 ratio) with some tinting and a few 2-strip Technicolor scenes. Fred Niblo directed Ramon Novarro as Ben-Hur, Francis X. Bushman as Messala and May McAvoy as Esther in an outstanding production. But it was plagued with many problems, including a sea battle shot in Italy, in which one of the ships actually caught fire, sending the extras into the sea, some of which may have drowned. In the famous chariot race, which was shot in LA, there was a big pile-up of chariots that injured numerous drivers and killed quite a few horses. All of these scenes were left in the final cut.
In 1959, William Wyler directed a second Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production of the book, this time with sound, in 65 mm Panavision (2.76:1 ratio) and in Technicolor. MGM was on the verge of bankruptcy; so, in one bold move, they invested everything they had in the film - and it paid off, making top box office for that year. Charlton Heston, who had worked with Wyler in The Big Country the previous year, played the title role and won an Oscar for it. Stephen Boyd, who would again drive a chariot in The Fall Of The Roman Empire (1965), played Messala. Haya Harareet, the only native Palestinian in the cast, played Esther. All the Romans were played by British actors, including Jack Hawkins,as Quintus Arrius. Hugh Griffith won a Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as the wonderful Sheik Ilderim, owner of the four white Arabians that pull Ben-Hur's chariot.
There were 11 Oscars won in all - still the most ever, sharing honors with Titanic (1997) and The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003). The other Oscars won by Ben-Hur were Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography for a Color Film, Best Art Direction-Set Direction for a Color Film, Best Costume Design for a Color Film, Best Effects-Special Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Music-Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, and Best Sound. The only one it was nominated for that it didn't win was Best Writing-Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
I found the novel by Lew Wallace to be more charming and less "big" than the 1959 film. Even the characters were more life-size. I pictured a Robert Taylor in the role of Ben-Hur rather than Charlton Heston. The only actor from the film that seemed to fit the novel was Finlay Currie as Balthasar, the wise man from Egypt. He was perfect. Currie also narrates the film.
There is far more focus on Christ in the novel, the 1900 stage play (in which he is played by a beam of light) and the 1925 film than in the 1959 version. The book wrestles with the question of whether He will be an earthly King or a Savior of souls. Ben-Hur, who is a Sadducee, hopes he will be an earthly King, and actually trains three legions of Galileeans in preparation to help Him overthrow the occupying Romans. But Balthasar is convinced Christ will be a Savior of souls, and tries to convince Ben-Hur of the same. It is not until the miraculous events at the end that he accepts that fact, and accepts Christ as his Savior.
To date, Ben-Hur is still the greatest Christian novel ever written, and the greatest Christian film ever produced, as well as one of the all-time great classics. I don't agree with the AFI ranking of Ben-Hur at #100. I believe it, and the silent version, should share a position in the top 40 at least. There will never be another Ben-Hur, the 2003 animated version notwithstanding. It has been estimated that to reproduce Ben-Hur as it was produced in 1959, it would cost over a quarter of a billion dollars. That just isn't going to happen. And CGI won't cut it. You can't reproduce a live chariot race like the one in Ben-Hur in CGI and catch anyone's breath. So, this is a classic that will live as long as films are made. And, in my opinion, beyond that.
Waitsel Smith
|
|