Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ

Twenty years after the birth of Christ, Jerusalem suffers under the oppressive reign of Imperial Rome. Judah Ben-Hur (Ramon Novarro), a Jewish prince of the House of Hur, was a boyhood friend of Messala (Francis X. Bushman), who's now a harsh Roman centurion, and their friendship breaks up due to Messala's anti-Semitism. When a Roman general is killed by a fallen roof tile that was accidentally knocked down by Ben-Hur, Messala arrests him, along with his mother (Claire McDowell) and sister, Tizrah (Kathleen Key). Ben-Hur is sentenced to be a galley slave on a Roman ship, and while crossing the burning desert, he encounters Christ, who gives him water and comfort. As a slave on the ship, Ben-Hur impresses the Roman fleet commander Arrius (Frank Currier) with his strong spirit, and when the ship is attacked by pirates, Ben- Hur saves Arrius's life, who frees him, and makes him his adopted son.

Time passes, and Ben-Hur has become the idol of Rome as a champion charioteer, and tirelessly searches for his sister and mother, who are still rotting away in the dungeons under Jerusalem. While in Antioch to find Simonides (Nigel de Brulier), an old employee of the House of Hur, Ben-Hur discovers that Messala is there, and enters a chariot race against him. After a brutal battle, Ben-Hur prevails and Messala is killed. Ben-Hur is given riches by Sheik Ilderim (Mitchell Lewis), but becomes a follower of Christ and builds an army to defend Him against Pontius Pilate. Meanwhile, Ben-Hur's mother and sister have become lepers and are banished from prison to live in the Valley of Lepers, but are found by Simonides's daughter, Esther (May McAvoy), who takes them to see Christ as He is about to be crucified. Christ cures their leprosy, and they're all reunited with Ben-Hur.

The best-selling novel by General Lew Wallace (who was Governor of the Territory of New Mexico when it was published in 1880), inspired a number of lavish Broadway stage versions and even an unauthorized one-reel short in 1907, which included a chariot race that was being staged by Brooklyn firemen! In 1923, the Goldwyn company began an official film in Rome with director Charles Brabin and star George Walsh, but when Goldwyn merged with Metro Pictures and Mayer Productions in 1924, new production head Irving G. Thalberg deemed the rushes worthless and fired virtually everybody, then sent a whole new cast and crew to Italy to start over again. After months of filming, and more problems, the production returned to Hollywood, where the giant Antioch Coliseum set was built and the chariot race was shot. When all was said and done, MGM had spent between $4 and 6 million and, although the film eventually became a huge success, the studio actually made very little profit due to a 50% royalty deal that Goldwyn had made with Wallace's estate.

The film itself is still quite stirring and entertaining in the best silent tradition, filled with thousands of extras, mammoth sets, impressive special effects, and some beautiful two-strip Technicolor sequences. Interestingly, William Wyler worked as an uncredited production assistant on the film, and visually, the whole film is strikingly similar to his 1959 version, particularly the opening birth of Jesus sequence with the night sky filled with shooting stars, and the famous action set-pieces. The rousing sea battle and the spectacular chariot race easily surpass those in the remake in terms of brutality and sheer excitement, and are expertly staged by second unit director B. ("Breezy") Reeves Eason and a small army of technicians, who didn't have to deal with annoying little things like concern for human or animal life, resulting in some mind-boggling shots of slaves fighting on the ship (some of whom reportedly really drowned), and horses being tripped and their riders being trampled. Matinee idol Ramon Novarro gives a relatively restrained performance as Ben-Hur, but Francis X. Bushman is an eye-rolling, teeth-gritting ham as the villainous Messala, while all of the scenes involving Christ only show his hands or feet, cleverly refraining from revealing his face. The two-strip Technicolor sequences, which were discovered at the Czech Film Archive by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill during their 1988 restoration, have a vivid, painterly quality that give the impression of being real historical time-capsules. BEN-HUR may be a hokey religious pageant of sin and salvation, but as an example of the kind of ornate and profligate spectacle that just couldn't be made anymore, it's a lot of fun. (Violence.) leave a comment