Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur (Ramon Novarro) and Messala (Francis X. Bushman) meet again as adults, this time with Roman officer Messala as conqueror and Judah as a wealthy, though conquered, Israelite. A slip of a brick during a Roman parade causes Judah to be sent off as a galley slave, his property confiscated and his mother and sister imprisoned. Years later, as a result of his determination to stay alive and his willingness to aid his Roman master, Judah returns to his homeland an exalted and wealthy Roman athlete. Unable to find his mother and sister, and believing them dead, he can think of nothing else than revenge against Messala.
- Actors:
- Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Betty Bronson, Claire McDowell, Kathleen Key, Carmel Myers, Nigel De Brulier, Mitchell Lewis, Leo White, Frank Currier, Charles Belcher, Dale Fuller, Winter Hall, Reginald Barker, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Clarence Brown, Manuel Caballero, Gilbert Clayton
- Directors:
- Fred Niblo, Charles Brabin, Christy Cabanne
- Producers:
- Kevin Brownlow, J.J. Cohn, David Gill, Samuel Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayer, Irving Thalberg
- Writers:
- Lew Wallace, June Mathis, Carey Wilson
- Aka:
- Ben-Hur
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Children & Family, Classics, Drama, Romance
- Collections:
- A Brief History of Film..., The Thin Man At 90
Reviews (1) of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Silent Epic. - Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ review by Steve
This initial feature length adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 bestseller is a cinematic landmark for its incredible action sequences and for its recreation of the ancient world. The famous 1959 remake far exceeds this in scale of production... but for my money the legendary chariot race* is more astonishing in the silent original.
And there is a more exotic, decadent dimension, most obvious in the costumes... Plus the moments in primitive Technicolor. The massive Francis X. Bushman is one of the great screen villains as the Roman who commits Ben-Hur to a living hell on a slave galley. Ramon Novarro is impassively hunky/sexy as the obsessive hero who swears revenge.
There are problems with the pacing. The initial 15 minutes which recreate the birth of Jesus is sluggish, unnecessary and sticky with the usual Hollywood awe for religious themes. The dialogue scenes are inevitably difficult in silent films and this could have been more sharply edited. And the sentimental melodrama is off the scale!
But this matters less than it sounds because it is mostly action. There is the famous visual effect of the miracle of Ben-Hur's mother and sister's recovery from leprosy, within a single edit... but this probably has little impact unless you're looking for it. This is not so much a classic silent picture, but remains an impressive and epic action spectacular.
*Warning. Many horses had to be shot because of the barbaric attitude to animal welfare.
This is available as an extra with the 1959 version.