Ben-Hur (1925)
Country: US
Technical: bw/col 170m (16fps)
Director: Fred Niblo
Cast: Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman
Synopsis:
Ben-Hur is sold into slavery in the galleys by Messala but finally defeats him in a circus chariot race and reclaims his family.
Review:
The star of David sequence certainly packs a frisson but this early promise is not fulfilled, for the story is awkwardly handled on the whole, with the Christ passages standing apart from the main action as ostentatiously colourful frescoes, rather than being integrated as in the Wyler version. This is nonetheless a landmark film, in scale and conception an epic undertaking, something which the Thames Silents re-release with Carl Davis's orchestral backing brought home to the jaded modern viewer.
Country: US
Technical: bw/col 170m (16fps)
Director: Fred Niblo
Cast: Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman
Synopsis:
Ben-Hur is sold into slavery in the galleys by Messala but finally defeats him in a circus chariot race and reclaims his family.
Review:
The star of David sequence certainly packs a frisson but this early promise is not fulfilled, for the story is awkwardly handled on the whole, with the Christ passages standing apart from the main action as ostentatiously colourful frescoes, rather than being integrated as in the Wyler version. This is nonetheless a landmark film, in scale and conception an epic undertaking, something which the Thames Silents re-release with Carl Davis's orchestral backing brought home to the jaded modern viewer.
Country: US
Technical: bw/col 170m (16fps)
Director: Fred Niblo
Cast: Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman
Synopsis:
Ben-Hur is sold into slavery in the galleys by Messala but finally defeats him in a circus chariot race and reclaims his family.
Review:
The star of David sequence certainly packs a frisson but this early promise is not fulfilled, for the story is awkwardly handled on the whole, with the Christ passages standing apart from the main action as ostentatiously colourful frescoes, rather than being integrated as in the Wyler version. This is nonetheless a landmark film, in scale and conception an epic undertaking, something which the Thames Silents re-release with Carl Davis's orchestral backing brought home to the jaded modern viewer.