Ben-Hur (1925 film)

This article is about the 1925 silent film. For other uses, see Ben-Hur.

Ben-Hur
theatrical Poster
Directed by	Fred Niblo Uncredited: Charles Brabin
Produced by	Louis B. Mayer
Written by	Novel: Lew Wallace Screenplay: June Mathis Carey Wilson
Starring	Ramón Novarro Francis X. Bushman May McAvoy Betty Bronson
Music by	William Axt
Cinematography	Clyde De Vinna René Guissart Percy Hilburn Karl Struss Glenn Kershner
Editing by	Lloyd Nosler
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Original Release) Thames Television Channel 4 (1989 Restoration for Turner Entertainment)
Release date(s)	December 30, 1925
Running time	143 minutes
Country	United States
Budget	$3,967,000
Box office	$10,738,000

Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ is a 1925 silent film directed by Fred Niblo. It was a blockbuster hit for newly merged Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was the second film based on the novel of the same name by Lew Wallace. The first version was released in 1907.

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."

Plot

Ben-Hur is a wealthy Jew and boyhood friend of the powerful Roman Tribune, Messala. When an accident 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 sent to work in the galley of a Roman warship. Along the way, he unknowingly encounters Christ, 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 remake of the film.

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

Cast

• Ramon Novarro as Judah Ben-Hur           
• Francis X. Bushman as Messala
• May McAvoy as Esther
• Betty Bronson as Mary
• Kathleen Key as Tirzah
• Carmel Myers as Iras
• Nigel De Brulier as Simonides
• Mitchell Lewis as Sheik Ilderim
• Leo White as Sanballat
• Frank Currier as Quintus Arrius
• Charles Belcher as Balthazar
• Dale Fuller as Amrah
• Winter Hall as Joseph

Crowd Extras During Chariot Race

• Reginald Barker
• John Barrymore
• Lionel Barrymore
• Clarence Brown
• Joan Crawford
• Marion Davies
• Douglas Fairbanks
• George Fitzmaurice
• Sidney Franklin
• John Gilbert

 

• Dorothy Gish
• Lillian Gish
• Samuel Goldwyn
• Sid Grauman
• Rupert Julian
• Henry King
• Harold Lloyd
• Colleen Moore
• Mary Pickford

Background

Costing $3.9 million to make, Ben-Hur was the most expensive film of the silent era. (It's the second most expensive silent film ever made, after 2011's The Artist, but only because of modern inflation.).

Ben-Hur had been a great success as a novel, and also as a stage play. Stage productions had been running 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.

Shooting began in Italy in 1923, starting two years of difficulties, accidents, and eventually a move back to Hollywood. Additional recastings (including Ramón Novarro as Ben-Hur) and a change of director caused the production's budget to skyrocket. The studio's publicity department was relentless in promoting the film, advertising it with lines like: "The Picture Every Christian Ought to See!" Although audiences flocked to Ben-Hur after its premiere in 1925 and the picture grossed $9 million worldwide, its huge expenses and the deal with Erlanger made it a net financial loss for MGM. In terms of publicity and prestige however, it was a great success. It helped establish the new MGM as a major studio.

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). This scene has been much imitated. It was re-created virtually shot for shot in the 1959 remake, copied in Prince of Egypt, and more recently imitated in the pod race scene in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace which was made almost 75 years later. Some scenes in the film were in two-color Technicolor, most notably the sequences involving Christ. One of the assistant directors for this sequence was a very young William Wyler, who would direct the 1959 remake.

Reissue

A 1931 reissue added music, 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 alternate black-and-white takes. The Technicolor scenes were considered lost until the 1980s when Turner Entertainment (who by then had acquired the rights to the film) found the crucial sequences in a Czech film archive.

Restoration

Current prints of the 1925 version are from the Turner-supervised restoration. The restoration 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.

It can be found 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.

This remains one of the few films at Rotten Tomatoes to maintain a 100% freshness rating.

Box Office

The film earned $9,386,000 on its initial release, meaning it recorded an overall loss of $698,000. However the film was successfully re-released in 1931, earning $1,352,000 and making a profit of $779,000 meaning it had an overall profit of $81,000.

See also

• List of American films of 1925
• Lillian Gish filmography
• List of early color feature films

References

Notes

External links

• Ben-Hur at the Internet Movie Database
• Ben-Hur at SilentEra
• Ben-Hur at AllRovi
• Ben-Hur (1925 film) at Rotten Tomatoes
• Getting It Right the Second Time — an comparative analysis of the novel, the 1925 film, and the 1959 film, at BrightLightsFilm.com
• A detailed article about the background of the movie