Other Titles • Ben-Hur • Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1959)
Synopses for Ben-Hur (1959)
1.
Anno Domini: the seventh year of Augustus Caesar’s reign. In the Roman province of Judea, Jews return to the city of their birth for the census. A bright star in the night over Bethlehem marks the birth of Jesus Christ. Years later, Roman commander Messala (Stephen Boyd), who was brought up in Judea, takes command of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem. His Jewish boyhood friend Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) greets him. Messala is delighted. But when Judah refuses to name Jewish patriots, Messala sentences him to the slave galleys and imprisons his mother, Miriam (Martha Scott), and sister, Tirzah (Cathy O’Donnell). Judah vows revenge.
In BEN-HUR, William Wyler’s much-lauded epic, the story of Judah’s search for his mother and sister and his quest for revenge intersects with crucial biblical events such as the Sermon on the Mount and the crucifixion. Wyler gets fine performances from Heston, Boyd, Jack Hawkins (as a Roman admiral who befriends Judah), and Hugh Griffith (as an Arab sheik who dreams of racing his beautiful white horses against Messala). Among BEN-HUR’s vivid dramatic sequences are a violent sea battle and the famous chariot race that pits Judah against Messala in one of cinema’s great action sequences.
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2.
Ben-Hur scooped an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards® in 1959 and, unlike some later rivals, richly deserved every single one. This is epic filmmaking on a scale that had not been seen before and is unlikely ever to be seen again. But it's not just running time or a cast of thousands that makes an epic, it's the subject matter, and here the subject--Prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and his estrangement from old Roman pal Messala (Stephen Boyd)--is rich, detailed, and sensitively handled. Director William Wyler, who had been a junior assistant on MGM's original silent version back in 1925, never sacrifices the human focus of the story in favor of spectacle, and is aided immeasurably by Miklos Rozsa's majestic musical score, arguably the greatest ever written for a Hollywood picture. At four hours it's a long haul (especially given some of the portentous dialogue), but all in all, Ben-Hur is a great movie, best seen on the biggest screen possible. --Mark Walker
3.
The numbers speak volumes: 100,000 costumes, 8,000 extras, 300 sets and a staggering budget in its day the largest in movie history. Ben-Hur's creators made it the best, the greatest Biblical-era epic ever.
Charlton Heston brings a muscular physical and moral presence to the role of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman in Palestine whose heroic odyssey includes enslavement by the Romans, a bold escape from an embattled slave galley, vengeance against his tormentors during a furious arena chariot race and fateful encounters with Jesus Christ. Heston's charismatic performance brought him the Best Actor Oscar; the winner as 1959's Best Picture with the legendary William Wyler earning his third Best Director trophy, the film won a total 11 Academy Awards - a tally unequaled until 1997's Titanic set sail.
4.
William Wyler's biblical epic is a production of unheard-of scale, exhibiting the work of literally tens of thousands of people. The film tells the story of Judah Ben-Hur, a Judean prince who as a galley slave saves the life of a Roman nobleman, changing his life forever. The 1880 novel by Lew Wallace had previously been filmed to great acclaim in 1927 with Ramon Navarro.
5.
Ben-Hur scooped an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards in 1959 and, unlike some later rivals to this record-breaking win, richly deserved every single one. This is epic filmmaking on a scale that had not been seen before, and is unlikely ever to be seen again. It cost a staggering 15 million dollars and was one of the largest film productions ever undertaken: the Circus Maximus set alone covered 18 acres and was filled with 40,000 tons of Mediterranean sand. But it's not just running time or a cast of thousands that makes an epic, it's the subject-matter that counts and in Ben-Hur the subject is rich, detailed and sensitively handled. Despite both the original novel's and the film's subtitle, "A Tale of the Christ", this is really a parallel life, that of Prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and his estrangement from old Roman pal Messala (Stephen Boyd). The eponymous character's journey of self-discovery through bitterness and hate to eventual redemption has many deliberate echoes of Christ's life (at one point, Judah is mistaken for Jesus, much as Brian would be later in Monty Python's masterful satire), and the multi-layered script from (uncredited) literary titans Gore Vidal and Christopher Fry wrings out every nuance and every possible shade of meaning.
Director William Wyler, who had been a junior assistant on MGM's original silent version back in 1925, never sacrifices the human focus of the story in favour of spectacle (he had the good sense to leave the great chariot race to second-unit director and experienced stuntman Yakima Canutt), and it is his concentration on human drama and fully rounded characters that gives Wyler's epic its heart. In this he is aided immeasurably by Miklós Rózsa's majestic musical score, arguably the greatest ever written for a Hollywood picture, in which the development of character-driven leitmotifs produces the effect of grand opera. The Christian theme concentrates on the central character's love and compassion for his family (evoked by the discovery of their leprosy) rather than any heavy-handed sermonising (the figure of Christ is seen but never heard--his presence signalled by a serene musical motif instead).
On the DVD: this long-awaited release presents the film's original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.76:1 in a glorious anamorphic print, complete with remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The music sounds fresher than ever, and both the theatrical "Overture" and "Entracte" are included (civilised times the 1950s: they had specially composed intermission music to enjoy while topping up on ice cream and popcorn!). There's an extensive and enjoyable documentary tracing the history of the story from Lew Wallace through stage productions to the first MGM version in 1925 and then to the 1959 production. Charlton Heston provides an intermittent commentary, evidently enjoying the experience of watching the film again, and his comments are usefully indexed so you can skip to the next bit without having to sit through chunks of silence (during the chariot race he voiced his concern to second-unit director Yakima Canutt that the stuntmen were better drivers. Replied Canutt: "Chuck, just drive the damn chariot and I guarantee that you'll win"). There's also a couple of screen tests, one with Leslie Nielsen in pre-Naked Gun days as Messala and a photo gallery and theatrical trailers complete an epic DVD package. --Mark Walker
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