Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Original title: Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ

1925
PG
2h 23m

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

8.1K

YOUR RATING

Ramon Novarro and Carmel Myers in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)

A Jewish prince seeks to find his family and revenge himself upon his childhood friend who had him wrongly imprisoned.

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Adventure Epic Epic Action Adventure Drama Romance

A Jewish prince seeks to find his family and revenge himself upon his childhood friend who had him wrongly imprisoned.A Jewish prince seeks to find his family and revenge himself upon his childhood friend who had him wrongly imprisoned.A Jewish prince seeks to find his family and revenge himself upon his childhood friend who had him wrongly imprisoned.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

8.1K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 wins

Trivia
This film had an "extra" cast like no other. Many Hollywood stars showed up on set to watch the shooting and were pressed into service as extras, especially in the chariot race. In addition, many who would later become Hollywood's top stars, but who were at the time just struggling actors, were also in the crowd scenes as extras. Among well-known and soon-to-be-well-known names "working" in the film were John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Marion Davies, Myrna Loy, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks, Clark Gable, Harold Lloyd, Carole Lombard, Janet Gaynor, Fay Wray, Mary Pickford, Colleen Moore, Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Samuel Goldwyn and Rupert Julian.

Goofs
At one point in the chariot race a man in modern clothing - light-colored shirt, long pants, dark shoes - can be seen running out of the crowd onto the track and waving his arms at the camera. That was assistant director William Wyler, who saw that one of the chariots - out of camera range - was approaching the curve of the track too fast and Wyler was signaling the director to have the crew cleaning up a crashed chariot to get out of the way.

Quotes
Jerusalem citizen: What chance has a Jew against a Roman?

Alternate versions
Music and sound effects were dubbed into the silent film for a 1931 re-release.

Connections
Edited into Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972)

User reviews70

Review

Featured review

10/10

Surprisingly wonderful

Since I was so impressed the the 1959 version of this film, I figured there was no way I could watch this 1925 version and not be let down by it. Not only is this original adaptation very good, but it stands very strongly next to the heralded remake. In some regards, I enjoyed this adaptation better than the remake. Romon Navarro makes an excellent title character. The highlight of this film for me is early on when the star of Bethlehem is formed. Eye-popping visuals especially considering the time they were produced. It blows away any CGI we have today.

The version I saw of this was the newly scored version by Carl Davis, who continues to impress me with his scores for silent films including those he has written for "Greed", "Safety Last", "The Crowd", "Intolerance", "The Phantom of the Opera", and "The Wind".