Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925 film)

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a 1925 American silent epic adventure-drama film directed by Fred Niblo and written by June Mathis based on the 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by General Lew Wallace. Starring Ramon Novarro as the title character, the film is the first feature-length adaptation of the novel and second overall, following the 1907 short.

Ben-Hur
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Produced by
Screenplay by
Based onBen-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
by General Lew Wallace
Starring
Music by
Cinematography
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • December 30, 1925 (1925-12-30) (New York City, premiere)
  • August 2, 1926 (1926-08-02) (Los Angeles)
[1]
Running time
143 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language
  • Silent
  • (English intertitles)
Budget$4 million[2][3]
Box office$10.7 million[2][3]

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." [4][5]

Plot
Ramon Novarro as Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur is a wealthy young Jewish prince and boyhood friend of the powerful Roman tribune, Messala. When an accident and a false accusation 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 sentenced to slave labor in a Roman war galley. Along the way, he unknowingly encounters Jesus, 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. However, Messala does not die, as he does in the more famous 1959 adaptation of the novel.

Ben-Hur is eventually reunited with his mother and sister, who are suffering from leprosy but are miraculously cured by Jesus Christ.[6]

Cast

Production

Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ had been a great success as a novel, and was adapted into a stage play which ran 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.

Choosing the title role was difficult for June Mathis. Rudolph Valentino and dancer Paul Swan were considered until George Walsh was chosen. When asked why she chose him, she answered it was because of his eyes and his body. Gertrude Olmstead was cast as Esther.[7][8] While on location in Italy, Walsh was fired and replaced by Ramon Novarro. The role of Esther went to May McAvoy.

Shooting began in Rome, Italy in October 1923 under the direction of Charles Brabin who was replaced shortly after filming began. Additional recastings (including Ramon Novarro as Ben-Hur) and a change of director caused the production's budget to skyrocket. After two years of difficulties and accidents, the production was eventually moved back to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Culver City, California and production resumed in the spring of 1925. B. Reeves Eason and Christy Cabanne directed the second unit footage.[9]

Costs eventually rose to $3.9 million compared to MGM's average for the season of $158,000,[3] making Ben-Hur the most expensive film of the silent era.[10]

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).[11] Film critic Kevin Brownlow has called the chariot race sequence as creative and influential a piece of cinema as the famous Odessa Steps sequence in Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, which introduced modern concepts of film editing and montage to cinema.[12] This scene has been much imitated. Its opening sequence was re-created shot for shot in the 1959 remake, copied in the 1998 animated film The Prince of Egypt, and more recently imitated in the pod race scene in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

Some of the scenes in the film were shot in two-color Technicolor, most notably the sequences involving Jesus. One of the assistant directors for this sequence was a young William Wyler, who would direct the 1959 MGM remake. The black-and-white footage was color tinted and toned in the film's original release print. MGM released a second remake of Ben-Hur in 2016.[9]

Reception
Messala's winged helmet, worn by Francis X. Bushman in Ben-Hur, sold at the Debbie Reynolds auction of film memorabilia (2011)

The studio's publicity department was relentless in promoting the film, advertising it with lines like: "The Picture Every Christian Ought to See!" and "The Supreme Motion Picture Masterpiece of All Time". Ben Hur went on to become MGM's highest-grossing film, with rentals of $9 million worldwide. Its foreign earnings of $5 million were not surpassed at MGM for at least 25 years. Despite the large revenues, its huge expenses and the deal with Erlanger made it a net financial loss for MGM. It recorded an overall loss of $698,000.[3]

In terms of publicity and prestige however, it was a great success. "The screen has yet to reveal anything more exquisitely moving than the scenes at Bethlehem, the blazing of the star in the heavens, the shepherds and the Wise Men watching. The gentle, radiant Madonna of Betty Bronson's is a masterpiece," wrote a reviewer for Photoplay. "No one," they concluded, "no matter what his age or religion, should miss it. And take the children."[13] It helped establish the new MGM as a major studio.[14][15]

The film was re-released in 1931 with an added musical score, by the original composers William Axt and David Mendoza, and sound effects. As the decades passed, the original two-color Technicolor segments were replaced by alternative black-and-white takes. Ben-Hur earned $1,352,000 during its re-release, including $1,153,000 of foreign earnings, and made a profit of $779,000 meaning it had an overall profit of $81,000.[3] The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 9 reviews, with an average rating of 7.79/10.[16]

The film became notorious after its release for the egregious animal abuse involved in filming. A reported one hundred horses were tripped and killed merely to produce the set piece footage of the major chariot race. Animal advocates especially criticized the use of the "running W" on set, a wire device that could trip a galloping horse. It would take a decade before such devices lost favor in Hollywood.[17]

The movie was banned in the 1930s in China under the category of "superstitious films" due to its religious subject matter involving gods and deities.[18]

Restoration

The Technicolor scenes were considered lost until the 1980s when Turner Entertainment (who by then had acquired the rights to the MGM film library) found the crucial sequences in a Czechoslovakian film archive. Current prints of the 1925 version are from the Turner-supervised restoration which 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.

Home media

Ben-Hur was released 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.

See also

References

Explanatory notes

    Citations

    1. Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro, André Soares p 99
    2. "Ben-Hur (1925)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
    3. H. Mark Glancy, 'MGM Film Grosses, 1924–28: The Eddie Mannix Ledger', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 12 No. 2 1992 pp. 127–44 at p. 129
    4. "New to the National Film Registry (December 1997) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin". www.loc.gov. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
    5. "Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
    6. "Plot Summary for Ben Hur". Classic Film Guide. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
    7. Marshall, Eunice (April 1924). "What Will Happen to Ben-Hur?". Screenland. New York: Screenland, Inc. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
    8. Marshall, Eunice (April 1924). "What Will Happen to Ben-Hur? (Continued)". Screenland. New York: Screenland, Inc. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
    9. "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ". silentera.com. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
    10. Hall, Sheldon; Neale, Stephen (2010). Epics, spectacles, and blockbusters: a Hollywood history. Wayne State University Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-8143-3008-1.
    11. Brownlow, Kevin (1968). The Parade's Gone By... New York: Bonanza Books. p. 409. ISBN 0-520-03068-0.
    12. Brownlow, p. 413.
    13. "The Shadow Stage". Photoplay. New York: Photoplay Publishing Company. March 1926. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
    14. Hoffman, Scott W. (2002). "The Making and Release of Ben-Hur". findarticles.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2009. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
    15. "Commentary on Ben-Hur". www.albany.edu. Archived from the original on December 5, 2006. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
    16. "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1926)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
    17. "8 troubling tales of animal abuse on film shoots". November 19, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
    18. Yingjin, Zhang (1999). Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922–1943. Stanford University Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780804735728. OCLC 40230511.

    Further reading
    • Keel, A. Chester, "The Fiasco of 'Ben Hur'," Photoplay, November 1924, p. 32.
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