Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Judah Ben-Hur is the son of a wealthy Jewish family in Jerusalem. His childhood friend Messala returns as an officer in the Roman army. The two meet and quickly find they no longer agree. During a procession a tile falls from the roof of the house and injures the governor. An accident. Messala does not treat it as one. Judah is sent to the galleys and his mother and sister are imprisoned. Judah pulls an oar. Years later he comes back, and Messala is waiting in the arena. Another life runs in the background. Fred Niblo directs. Ramon Novarro plays Judah and Francis X. Bushman plays Messala; May McAvoy and Betty Bronson are in the cast. It is an American production, made in 1925. The source is Lew Wallace's novel. The production was among the most expensive silent films ever made; shooting started in Italy, did not work, and the production was moved to Hollywood. The chariot race was shot on one of the largest sets of its time with a great many cameras. Some passages were shot in an early colour process. The narrative does not show the religious line directly; the figure of Christ is mostly outside the frame and only a hand is seen. The film comes at the founding period of MGM and is among the studio's first large productions. The same novel was filmed again thirty years later and that version became better known. Its limit is age; it is long, the telling belongs to the silent language, and the pace heavy. Who it is for: viewers who like silent epics and film history. Who it is not for: it is long, old, and the telling heavy.