Ben-Hur

Directed by William Wyler with Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins and Hugh Griffith, color, 212 minutes, 1959

In his review of the film at his website, derrickwinnert.com, Derrick Winnert declared that "Unfortunately, this incredibly popular and sincere 1959 remake of the 1925 Ramon Novarro silent epic Ben-Hur about the conflict of the Jews and the Romans at the time of Christ just plain hasn’t aged too well."

"Now it seems arid and stuffy. But it was a sensation in its day, and swept up 11 Oscars (the all-time record holder until equalled in 1998 by Titanic), including best film, director, actor (Charlton Heston), supporting actor (Hugh Griffith), colour cinematography, art direction, sound, scoring, editing, special effects and costumes. Painstaking director William Wyler’s outrageously over-long film...hasn’t worn at all well, and a lot of it is stodgily filmed and boringly written. In a bit of a snub by Academy voters, Karl Tunberg’s screenplay, based on the book by Lew Wallace, was its only nomination that didn’t turn into an Oscar, but then James Cameron’s for Titanic wasn’t even nominated. Christopher Fry, Gore Vidal and Maxwell Anderson all worked to improve Tunberg’s work, which Wyler had labelled ‘awful’ and ‘horrible’.

"However, the MGM production is the best money...could buy. Charlton Heston is seen at around his best, very noble and heroic as the rich Jewish prince and merchant Judah Ben-Hur, who becomes a converted Christian, is betrayed by his boyhood friend, Roman commander Messala (Stephen Boyd), sold into slavery, is eventually freed and seeks revenge. And the cast of Boyd, Haya Harareet (Esther), Jack Hawkins (slave owner Quintus Arrius), Hugh Griffith (as a very Welsh Sheikh Ilderim), Martha Scott (Miriam, mother of Hur), Sam Jaffe (Simonides), Finlay Currie (Balthasar / narrator), Frank Thring (Pontius Pilate),...all turn cartwheels to make it work, even some of them who are desperately miscast and obviously struggling.

"On the visceral epic front, it still delivers its magic. The second unit boss Andrew Marton-directed chariot race against Boyd’s Messala, now deadly rival of the vengeful Ben-Hur, plus the great sea battle still thrill (though even so aren’t as spectacular as in the 1925 Fred Niblo version). Yakima Canutt’s stunt work on the race is still incredible. There are 15,000 extras in the chariot race sequence, filmed on an 18-acre site, over five weeks. Technically it looks pretty shaky now, even though it won the best special effects Oscar. But there’s fine work on the cinematography by Robert Surtees, score by Miklos Rozsa and set designs/art direction by Edward Carfagno, Hugh Hunt and William Horning.

"It was a big gamble for MGM – it was the most expensive film then made – that paid off handsomely, earning $75 million....Gay actor Rock Hudson turned down the role of Messala because of its gay subtext, which the very heterosexual actor Heston always denied existed. Writer Vidal said he persuaded Wyler to direct Boyd to play Messala as if he were a spurned gay lover. Wyler agreed and told Boyd to play the role that way, but they decided to keep Heston in the dark about Messala’s motivations. This story is told in the 1995 film The Celluloid Closet. In 2012 Raquel Welch claimed that Boyd (her co-star on Fantastic Voyage) told her he was gay after he rejected her advances....Paul Newman turned down the star role, saying he didn’t have the legs to play Ben-Hur!"

"Ben-Hur...is MGM's three and a half hour, wide-screen epic Technicolor blockbuster - a Biblical tale, subtitled A Tale of the Christ.

"Director William Wyler's film was a retelling of the spectacular silent film of the same name (director Fred Niblo's and MGM's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)). Both films were adapted from the novel (first published in 1880) by former Civil War General Lew Wallace. Wyler had been an 'extras' director on the set of DeMille's original film in the silent era. MGM's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), featuring a cast of 125,000, cost about $4 million to make after shooting began on location in Italy, in 1923, and starred silent screen idols Ramon Novarro and Francis X. Bushman. This figure is equivalent to $33 million today - it was the most expensive silent film ever made.

"This remake of the novel was inspired by the fact that three years earlier, Cecil B. DeMille and Paramount had remade the 1925 version of his film as a successful 50's epoch Biblical tale titled The Ten Commandments (1956). The heroic figure of Charlton Heston (an iconic and righteous Moses figure) would again be commissioned to play the lead role in this film of a Jewish nobleman (the Prince of Judea) - after the role was turned down by Burt Lancaster, Rock Hudson and Paul Newman. In the plot, prince Judah Ben-Hur was enslaved by a Roman tribunal friend (with a homosexual subtext provided by co-writer Gore Vidal), but then returned years later to seek revenge in the film's centerpiece, a chariot race....

"The colorful 1959 version was the most expensive film ever made up to its time, and the most expensive film of the 50s decade. At $15 million and shot on a grand scale, it was a tremendous make-or-break risk for MGM Studios - and ultimately saved the studio from bankruptcy....It took six years to prepare for the film shoot, and over a half year of on-location work in Italy, with thousands of extras. It featured more crew and extras than any other film before it - 15,000 extras alone for the chariot race sequence.

"Ben-Hur proved to be an intelligent, exciting, and dramatic piece of film-making unlike so many other vulgar Biblical pageants with Hollywood actors and actresses. Its depiction of the Jesus Christ figure was also extremely subtle and solely as a cameo - it never showed Christ's face but only the reactions of other characters to him.

"It was one of the most honored, award-winning films of all time. It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, Best Picture, Best Actor (Charlton Heston - his sole career Oscar), Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffith), Best Director (William Wyler), Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Score, Best Film Editing, Best Color Costume Design, Best Special Effects, and Best Screenplay (sole-credited Karl Tunberg). It was the first film to win eleven Oscars - it lost only in the Screenplay category due to a dispute over screenwriting credits (Maxwell Anderson, Christopher Fry, and Gore Vidal were all uncredited). Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) are the only films to tie this phenomenal record, although unlike this film, they came away without any acting Oscars....

"The chariot race sequence in the Circus Maximus (an amazing replica of the one in Rome) is one of the most thrilling and famous in film history....The site of the race, the Circus Maximus in Jerusalem (Judea), was constructed on over 18 acres of backlot space at Cinecitta Studios outside Rome, and the filming of the sequence took about five weeks. Except for two of the most spectacular stunts, both Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd did all their own chariot driving in the carefully-choreographed sequence...."

"A centurion informs Messala that 'there's a Jew outside' who wants to see him. The other Roman soldiers are surprised to see Messala agree to greet a Jew, a potential enemy of Rome. Messala has respect for the influential Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and tells his centurion: 'This was his country before it was ours. Don't forget that.' The two men have been like brothers, and they are reunited....They challenge each other to a friendly competition, hurling javelin spears into the point where two wooden beams cross in the ceiling, exclaiming: 'Down Eros, up Mars!' Their aim at the crossbeam and their friendship is 'still close...in every way' after so many years....Messala realizes it will be a difficult province to govern and asks for Ben-Hur's help and advice. Ben-Hur is opposed to Roman domination and suggests: 'Withdraw your legions. Give us our freedom.' But Messala cannot - he is second in command to the new governor who will arrive in a few days with two more legions....'There is rebellion in the wind. It will be crushed.'...Ben-Hur believes in the Hebrew people of Judea: 'I believe in the future of my people.' Messala asks that Ben-Hur, an admired and respected aristocrat, speak out against rebellion and futile resistance to Rome that would only end in the extinction of his people. But Ben-Hur finds it difficult to join in a pact against Jewish rebels. Messala realizes the difficulty of what he asks, as he pours wine for a toast: 'It's an insane world, but in it there's one sanity, the loyalty of old friends. Judah, we must believe in one another.' They cross arms and drink to that pledge.

"The next day, Judah's mother Miriam (Martha Scott) and his sister Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell) also receive Messala warmly in their home, almost as one of their family. Messala presents a Libyan brooch to Tirzah. Likewise, Ben-Hur gives Messala a valuable white Arabian horse as a token of their friendship....

"Messala also asks about their previous day's conversation, and inquires which of his friends are strong opponents of Roman rule. In effect, Messala asks Ben-Hur to turn traitor on his people, and reveal the names and identity of Jewish underground resistance leaders - referred to as 'criminals.' Judah refuses to betray his compatriots and coreligionists by becoming an informant in an act of friendship. In return for bringing order into Judea with Ben-Hur's help, Messala promises him advancement in the eyes of the new Emperor Tiberius. To Messala, the Emperor 'is God, the only God, he is power, real power on Earth.' Ben-Hur responds by pledging his allegiance to his own people, refusing to become part of the Roman world: 'You may conquer the land, you may slaughter the people. That is not the end. We will rise again.' Judah turns against Messala with an angry denounciation: 'Rome is an affront to God. Rome is strangling my people and my country and the whole earth, but not forever. I tell you, the day Rome falls, there will be a shout of freedom such as the world has never heard before.'

"Messala offers an ultimatum - be with him in helping to eliminate rebellion or against him. 'If that is the choice, then I'm against you,' Judah affirms....

"A caravan returns from Antioch and Ben-Hur's servant Simonides (Sam Jaffe) and his daughter Esther (Haya Harareet) arrive at the household. Judah grants her permission to marry a merchant in Antioch, offering her freedom from slavery as a wedding present. Later in their darkened upper room in the tentative love scene, they share a few memories of their childhood and he offers her a loving thought before she departs:

"Shortly thereafter, the new Roman governor Gratus (Mino Doro) rides in a heavily-guarded parade into Jerusalem. Townspeople watch quietly from the rooftops and streets as the provincial governor marches through the crowds. At the house of Ben-Hur on the parade route, Judah watches with Tirzah from the roof of their palace. When Tirzah leans forward over the rail to get a better view of the governor, she accidently loosens a heavy roof tile which breaks off. It falls to the ground below, spooking Gratus' horse, throwing him into a wall and injuring him. Although it is clearly an accident, and Judah attempts to take the blame, it is interpreted as an assassination attempt. Troops under Messala's command are ordered to break into the palace and they arrest Judah and his entire family as rebels. Messala goes to the roof alone to examine the tiles and accidently dislodges pieces of the tiles himself, realizing Judah told the truth.

"In prison, Judah learns he is to be taken to Tyrus to become a galley slave without a trial. He makes a daring escape from his guards, forces his way into Messala's presence with a spear, and is allowed to speak. Ben-Hur demands that Miriam and Tirzah be freed, accusing Messala of being evil....

"'I wanted your help. Now you have given it to me. By making this example of you, I discourage treason. By condemning, without hesitation, an old friend, I shall be feared.'

"A heartless Messala plans to frame them, to make an 'example' of the family to advance his own position in the new government. In utter frustration, Judah begs for their freedom but is denied. He threatens to spear him unless he frees Miriam and Tirzah. Messala counters with a promise that they will be put to death that day (nailed to crosses in front of him) unless Judah surrenders. In anger, Judah hurls his spear into the wall next to Messala. As he is taken away, he vows revenge on Messala: 'May God grant me vengeance. I pray that you live till I return.' Messala replies, mockingly: 'Return?'...

"Ben-Hur is sentenced into exile to the slave galleys, and forced to join other prisoners chained together on a forced march across the desert in the searing hot sun to Tyrus. Along the way under the heat and lash, many prisoners die. When they stop enroute at the small town of Nazareth for water, the slaves are permitted to drink only after the soldiers and their horses are finished. The guards allow all the slaves to drink except Judah. As he lies in the sand, collapsed from dehydration and crying 'God, help me,' a hand (from the carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth) quietly reaches toward him with a gourd of drinking water and defies the centurion's orders. In the uplifting dramatic moment, Ben-Hur is protected from harm from the dumbstruck Roman guard. Ben-Hur gains fortitude and strength from the encounter.

"Over three years later, Ben-Hur has toughened, surviving the galley slave ordeal so far. He is one of over 200 galley slaves shackled to an oar in a Roman galley flagship. A new Roman officer Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins) arrives on board to take command. Below deck, Arrius surveys the health and condition of the slaves, and he speaks to Ben-Hur, identified as condemned galley slave number Forty-One. Arrius realizes much about Forty-One's character after whipping his back, realizing that his hate has kept him alive:

"'You have the spirit to fight back but the good sense to control it. Your eyes are full of hate, Forty-One. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength.'...

"Arrius notices Judah's prominent attitude and sends for him to learn about his background during his relief period. Ben-Hur asserts that he is not ready to die - the god of his fathers will save him. Arrius offers to take Judah to Rome and train him as a gladiator or charioteer. Ben-Hur believes that his existence has a purpose, that his God will free him to take revenge on his enemy for wrongfully condemning and imprisoning him and his family. Forty-One's stubbornness and hate have kept him alive while other men have perished all around him....

"In one of the more spectacular scenes in the film, the Romans fight against Macedonian pirate war ships in an exciting sea galley battle. Arrius orders that Judah's leg be unchained during the coming battle to give him a chance to survive. Their ship is rammed, oars are smashed, bodies are splintered, and their ship is boarded. Judah breaks loose, strangles one of the guards and retrieves the keys, frees many of his fellow prisoners from their chains, and goes on deck to find the flaming galley ship boarded by pirates in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Roman soldiers.

"Ben-Hur miraculously saves the life of Quintus Arrius who has been knocked overboard and quickly sinks with his heavy armor. Judah pulls him to a piece of floating debris and prevents him from drowning. They view the flaming wreckage. Thinking he has been humiliated in a defeat, Arrius tries to commit suicide but Judah prevents him....

"Arrius is not allowed to repeat his suicide attempt, and begs: 'Let me die.' Judah repeats back the words he has heard so often: 'We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well and live.' A Roman ship picks them up, and they learn that the Roman fleet was victorious, although five ships were lost. Arrius tells Ben-Hur: 'In his eagerness to save you, your God has also saved the Roman fleet.' Arrius offers Judah the first drink from a cup of water....

"Quintus Arrius celebrates victory with Ben-Hur in Rome, riding side-by-side with him in a golden chariot to an appearance before the divine Emperor Tiberius (George Relph). Although the emperor is aware that Judah was a galley slave, condemned as a threat to a Roman governor years earlier, Judah is given to Arrius as his slave. Ironically, Judah becomes an expert charioteer in the great circus (arena), one of the classic Roman arts of war that he once rejected. In gratitude, Arrius legally adopts him as his foster son and rewards him with his freedom. He also is given control over his stable of racing horses.

"Although Judah is devoted to Arrius, and attains worldly citizenship, money, position, and praise, he cannot forget his homeland and his family's fate. He tells Arrius that he must leave and return to Jerusalem. Months later, on his long journey on the return to Judea, Ben-Hur meets Balthazar (Finlay Currie) of Alexandria (one of the three men who followed the Bethlehem star and put gifts before a newborn baby).

"Balthazar introduces him to his host - a wealthy, bearded Arabian horse trainer Sheik Ilderim (Hugh Griffith), who is training his four splendid white horses for the upcoming chariot races. Judah impresses the Sheik with his 'keen eye' and knowledge of horse racing. The sheik attempts to talk Ben-Hur into being his charioteer: 'Would you make my four run as one?' Judah is invited into the Sheik's tent for refreshment and to tell of his racing days in Rome.

"The polygamous sheik is dismayed that Ben-Hur hopes to have only one wife some day: 'One wife? One god, that I can understand - but one wife! That is not civilized. It is not generous.' With a clap of his hands, the team of four Arabian horses, called 'beauties,' are invited into the tent like his 'children,' members of the family. [In Wallace's novel, the names of the white horses are specified (they are named after stars): Altair, Aldebaran (the youngest), Antares, and Rigel.] Ben-Hur's curiosity is aroused when he learns that Messala will race in Jerusalem's circus. The Sheik tries to capitalize on Judah's interest and asks again:

"Judah Ben-Hur, my people are praying for a man who can drive their team to victory over Messala. You could be that man! You could be the one to stamp this Roman's arrogance into the sand of that arena. You've seen my horses. They need only a driver who is worthy of them. One who would rule them with love and not the whip. For such a man, they would have raced the wind.

"Judah would rather confront Messala on his own: 'I must deal with Messala in my own way.'...

Balthazar: And your way is to kill him. I see this terrible thing in your eyes, Judah Ben-Hur. But no matter what this man has done to you, you have no right to take his life. He will be punished inevitably....

"Returning to Jerusalem for a homecoming after seven years, Judah enters his neglected and overgrown home. In the shadows he sees Esther, startling her when he identifies himself: 'Esther, it's Judah.' She cannot believe he is alive. He learns that her father, his old steward, Simonides, was imprisoned and nearly killed by Roman torture. Ever since then, they have been living there in hiding as recluses....

"The next day, Messala is interrupted in his home during whip practice" by Judah who tells him that when he had condemned to the galleys, his ship had sunk and he saved the consul's life.

"Judah then boldly confronts him and asks about his mother and sister, threatening: 'Find them Messala! Restore them to me, and I will forget what I have vowed with every stroke of that oar you chained me to.' He demands that Messala trace his loved ones and learn whether they are still alive in prison. Judah will return the next day for the news: 'Don't disappoint me, Messala.' An aide is dispatched to the citadel to find out and is horrified to find that they have contracted leprosy after years of being kept in solitary confinement deep in Roman dungeons. Miriam and Tirzah are ordered to be freed, but moved as outcasts to the Valley of the Lepers, outside the city....

"As they enter their racing positions, Messala warns: 'This is the day Judah. It's between us now.'...Messala has outfitted his chariot with revolving blades at the end of each axle, effective in chewing the spokes of the wheels of other chariots. Before the memorable and spectacular 11-minute chariot race scene, the charioteers parade around the ring in a display of pageantry. The setting is majestically impressive with a central divider strip composed of three statues thirty feet high, and grandstands on all sides, rising five stories high....

"On his bloody death bed in a room beneath the coliseum, Messala has sent for Ben-Hur, delaying an operation to amputate his legs that will attempt to save his life. Messala hisses: "I don't receive him with half a body." Visited by Ben-Hur, the unrepentant Messala honors him:

Messala: What do you think you see? The smashed body of a wretched animal! Is enough of a man still left here for you to hate? Let me help you...You think they're dead. Your mother and sister. Dead. And the race over. It isn't over, Judah. They're not dead.

Messala:...Look for them in the Valley of the Lepers, if you can recognize them. (grabbing Judah's clothing) It goes on. It goes on, Judah. The race, the race is not over....

Judah rushes to the hideous Valley of the Lepers on the outskirts of the city to search for his family members. He is warned to stay away by attendants dropping food to the outcasts with a pulley apparatus: "Are you a madman? Keep well out of this place." He discovers Esther with Malluch delivering food for Miriam and Tirzah.

"In his first view of them, the sight is so painful that he hides behind a boulder. He weeps when he hears Miriam ask Esther: 'Is he happy?' Esther assures Miriam: 'Yes, he is well....' Overcome, Judah cannot speak to them. When they have left, Esther advises him: 'You can go back...They have one blessing left. To think you remember them as they were and live your own life. Forget what is here.'

Pontius Pilate: Where there is greatness, great government or power, even great feeling or compassion, error also is great. We've progressed and matured by fault. But Rome has said she is ready to join your life to hers in a great future...not to crucify yourself on a shadow such as old resentment or impossible loyalties. Perfect freedom has no existence. The grown man knows the world he lives in, and for the present, the world is Rome.

"Ben-Hur prefers to stay with his own people: 'I am Judah Ben-Hur.' The ruler re-asserts Roman authority:

Pontius Pilate: I become the hand of Caesar, ready to crush all those who challenge his authority. There are too many small men of envy and ambition who try to disrupt the government of Rome. You have become the victor and hero for these people. They look to you, their one true god as I called you. If you stay here, you will find yourself part of this tragedy.

Esther: I know there is a law in life. That blood begets more blood as dog begets dog. Death generates death. The vulture breeds the vulture. But the voice I heard on the hill today said, 'Love your enemy. Do good to those who despitefully use you.'

Judah: I could hardly draw a breath without feeling you in my heart. Everything I do from this moment will be as great a pain to you as you have ever suffered. It is better not to love me!

Esther: It was Judah Ben-Hur I loved. What has become of him? You seem to be now the very thing you set out to destroy, giving evil for evil. Hatred is turning you to stone. It's as though you had become Messala! I've lost you Judah.

"At the Valley of the Lepers, Esther tells Miriam that she is impressed by the preacher's words and miracles, and wishes Miriam and Tirzah to accompany her to see the new preacher in Jerusalem. Then, she learns from Miriam that this is not possible - Tirzah is dying. Ben-Hur rushes forward despite his mother's protests. He also hears that Tirzah is dying. Seeing Esther's faith in Jesus of Nazareth's message: 'Life is everlasting. Death is nothing to fear if you have faith,' Judah is persuaded to help take them to the great teacher.

"In Jerusalem, they fortuitously arrive just in time to hear that 'the young rabbi' from Nazareth is on trial, now a political prisoner of the brutal Romans. Pontius Pilate condemns him and two other common criminals to death, washing his hands afterwards. Jesus is paraded through the streets - he struggles through the crowd, carrying a heavy cross on his back, ready to be crucified and put to death. Ben-Hur recognizes Jesus as the one who had previously given him a cup of water when he was on the slave galley march: 'I know this man!' The moment of recognition occurs as the shadow of his cross passes over him as Jesus is on his way to Golgotha. Jesus stumbles in front of them....

"Judah follows along behind, and as the carpenter once gave Ben-Hur water in Nazareth, so does Ben-Hur offer the agonized 'King of the Jews' water when he falls again. With hundreds of others, including Balthazar, Judah witnesses The King of the Jews being nailed to a cross and the agonizing crucifixion. Ben-Hur asks Balthazar: 'What has he done to merit this?' Balthazar explains: 'He has taken the world of our sins unto himself. To this end he said he was born, in that stable where I first saw him. For this cause, he came into the world.'...

"In the grand and moving apocalyptic finale of the film, Miriam, Tirzah, and Esther are walking back to the Valley of the Lepers. Miriam and Tirzah have been transformed by their experience:

In his September 21, 2011 review for blu-ray.com, Jeffrey Kauffman provided the following commentary:

"A strange confluence of sociopolitical forces and technological innovations led to the 1950's being the preeminent decade for epic Biblical dramas on film. As television made more and more inroads on the box office receipts of big screen fare from Hollywood, executives were desperate for a countermeasure to stem the tide. Perhaps that desperation put them in a prayerful mood, for stories from the Bible, or which were at least tangentially related to stories from the Bible, seemed ideally suited to a whole gamut of new technologies which were in themselves designed to lure people away from their miniature flickering black and white living room screens.

"Widescreen processes like Cinemascope and multi-channel recording techniques that at the very least offered two track stereo (and often much more than that) literally and figuratively surrounded the viewer with pomp and pageantry. But epic productions haven't always been able to magnetically attract audiences, and there was something else at work in the fifties which was a symbiotic part of that decade's ascendancy of Biblically oriented fare and the immense success it enjoyed.

"While the decade hadn't yet erupted into the out and out nuclear fear that accompanied the Cuban missile crisis in the early sixties, when we actually did face nuclear holocaust, there can be no underestimating the psychological impact of the development of the hydrogen bomb and the Soviet Union's surprisingly fast ability to "catch up" to the West in destructive capabilities. The anti-Communist paranoia also led to a culture intent on conformity and assimilation, one which seemed perfectly personified by the 'grandparent' Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Part of that conformity was of course a conformity of belief and religious practice, and that no doubt helped to bring audiences to Biblical film dramas, as if attending these spectacles was a religious rite in and of itself.

"While Biblical dramas had of course existed from virtually the dawn of film, from The Robe onward, the fifties saw one gigantic production after another which sought to cash in on religious sentiment while making the most of widescreen framings and multi-channel sound design. It's perhaps no mere coincidence that the apotheosis of this trend should have come at the decade's end in 1959, with William Wyler's mammoth Ben-Hur, which is of course subtitled A Tale of the Christ. While Biblical dramas certainly continued to be produced well into the sixties (and occasionally beyond), the luster was obviously off as early as 1961's King of Kings, while at more or less the same time we faced nuclear annihiliation in the Cuban missile crisis less than stellar efforts like Sodom and Gomorrah were briefly visiting cineplexes. By the time The Greatest Story Ever Told and The Bible bombed in the mid-sixties, the handwriting was clearly on the wall, like some scribbled prophecy from the Book of Daniel. But everything that the fifties stood for and hoped to achieve in the genre of Biblical drama came together in, well, a miraculous fashion in Ben-Hur, one of the most eagerly anticipated Blu-ray catalog releases of this year, somewhat beyond the film's advertised '50th anniversary'.

"M-G-M was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy in the late 1950's, despite prestige (and often very successful) releases like 1958's Gigi. It was therefore a significant gamble when the studio put up the then unheard of sum of close to fifteen million dollars to underwrite the gargantuan production that Ben-Hur promised to be. It's hard to realize now, given the vantage point of what the film has become since its release, that there were really no guarantees for Ben-Hur, despite its impressive pedigree and its previous success as both a stage play and a silent 1925 film. (It's interesting to note that General Lew Wallace's original source novel took a few years to really ignite, and it wasn't until almost a decade after its initial printing that the book became an international sensation in the late 1880's). But looking back now Ben-Hur, much like Gone With the Wind a generation earlier, was a prime example of the stars aligning more or less perfectly to create a mammoth spectacular that virtually oozed filmcraft from every frame."

Ben-Hur, however, needs to be seriously cut. The scenes with Heston, Boyd and Griffiths are superb as is the arrival of Arrius in Rome.

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