Ben-Hur: The Stories Behind the Story

Everyone knows the story of Ben-Hur, how it begins with the birth of Jesus Christ, tells the story of Judah Ben-Hur and his family during the Roman conquest of Jerusalem and the oppression of Jews during this period, as well as the events of the life of Jesus Christ. Of course, most people know Ben-Hur as Charlton Heston and his childhood friend turned enemy Messala as Stephen Boyd. What many do not know is that the bilblical epic Ben-Hur from 1959 is not first or only version of the story.

The original story was written by Lew Wallace, a Union general in the civil war, statesmen, lawyer, and author. Wallace’s book Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ was originally published in 1880, making the story close to 130 years old. The book was the bestseller of the Nineteenth Century and has never been out of print since it’s first publishing, though more people know the story of Ben-Hur than they do anything about Lew Wallace. Later, in 1899, the book was turned into a Broadway play, literally setting the stage for it to be filmed when the technology came along.

The first film version of the movie was made in 1907, titled simply Ben Hur. Most versions made of the biblical epic are at least two hours long, since the book is around 575 pages long. Not this version. Canadian director Sidney Olcott managed to condense the film down to a mere 15 minutes, which is some serious talent. You can read two reviews I have found for this version, the first one at the Bible Films blog and another thanks to absoluteastronomy. I have also posted the films below here divided up into two parts. The first is a mere eight minutes and the second is a little over three, so it isn’t a long drawn out film to watch.

The next version is yet another silent one, from 1925, titled Ben-Hur. It followed a similar plot to that of the book and the more famous 1959 version. This version has been preserved by the National Film Registry. You can get some film stills and history on this page and you can access some of the music from the film here, thanks to You Don’t Have to Visit blogspot.
Below is a trailer from this 1925 film.

And finally, we come to the famous 1959 version, which for a long time held the record of the most Academy Award nominated film. If you want more information on this flim, you can access this page, thanks to Filmsite.org, or this one, thanks to reelclassics.com. For a good review, you can read this article, thanks to Associate Content.If you notice, the one thing all of the film versions have in common is that they all include the chariot race scene, perhaps since this is action not to be missed out on. Below is an original trailer from this Ben-Hur for some entertainment.

A Bio Pic of Biblical Proportions

With a name like The Greatest Story Ever Told, your film pretty much has to be guaranteed good. Of course, with a cast as star-studded as this one, it was pretty hard for director George Stevens and writer Henry Denker to go wrong with their 1965 biblical epic. The film was based on a book of the same name by Fulton Oursler, who wrote several novels, plays, and short stories. The film chronicles the life of Jesus of Nazareth from birth until death.

The cast, as I mentioned before, is one of the greatest assemblages of acting talent in motion pictures. The leading role of Jesus was portray by Swedish actor Max von Sydow, an acclaimed actor who has done mostly foreign language films. Michael Anderson Jr. played John the Baptist, Carroll Baker as Veronica, Pat Boone as the Young Man at the Tomb, and Charlton Heston as St. John the Baptist. Mary and Joseph were respectively played by Dorothy McGuire and Robert Loggia. I won't name every single part, but the cast list continues on with such fine actors and actresses as Claude Rains, Martin Landau, Roddy McDowall, Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Ed Wynn, John Wayne, Angela Lansbury, Van Heflin, Sal Mineo,Telly Savalas, Paul Stewart, Harold J. Stone, Joseph Schildkraut, Victor Buono, Jose Ferrer, Robert Blake, Donald Pleasence, Richard Conte, Jamie Farr, David McCallum, Ina Balin, Janet Margolin, and Cyril Delevanti. This film figures in at Christmastime not just because of the Jesus element but also because of his retrospective on faith and its meaning.

Darryl F. Zanuck was the one who acquired the rights for the film from Oursler, who was then a senior editor of Reader's Digest. Zanuck, as many of you know was working for Fox and now the film is in the hands of MGM. George Stevens at the time was directed the film version of The Diary of Anne Frank (which we'll get to on Hanukkah) and since the studio wasn't doing anything with the rights, decided he wanted to produce the epic of biblical proportions. The American southwest was chosen for many of the films locations, since Stevens wanted to give a dramatic look to the film he did not think he would find in the settings of the Middle East. The film took years to right and an estimated $20 million to make. Critics were divided when the film was released, though Stevens thought the film was a masterpiece.

You can watch the film divided up into short segments here thanks to YouTube and Google Video. MGM now owns the film and has a site for it with trailers, info, and still shots from the movie, which can be found here. Some wonderful screenshots from the film can be found at the Movie Screen Shot Blog and more info and a synopsis can be found here, thanks to Mahalo.com. You can read two reviews, one from The New York Times and another from soulfoodcinema.com. And if you want to see the film on your TV rather than your computer, Turner Classic Movies is running the film on Christmas Day, which you can read about here.

"Uh, you folks American citizens...?"

Today Entertainment Weekly did a review for the 50th anniversary of Touch of Evil, a 1958 film with an all-star team behind it. Orson Welles directed and played a part in the film with Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, and Marlene Dietrich in various roles. One of the last of the Film Noir genre, the controversially made film still remains timeless.

The last film Orson Welles made, he was reluctant to sign on for the project. He was fired during post-production and in his will left instructions on how the film should be edited. The studio ignored his request and Welles's version of the film was not created until a version of it was released in 1998. Monsters and Critics did a good piece on Welles's problems with the film and how the modern version he wanted was finally created.

The story of Touch of Evil is that of Mexican narcotics officer, Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston), having a quickie honeymoon in a border town with his newly wed wife Susie (Janet Leigh), who is an American. Vargas must testify against drug lord Grandi (Akim Tamiroff) , who has all of his goons out to threaten and scare Vargas out of testifying. Soon, Vargas gets too involved in the case, endangering his wife, after a wealthy US developer is killed by a car bomb. Vargas catches a famed US cop (Orson Welles) planting evidence to make a Mexican national responsible for the bombing. The plot gets thicker and Vargas uncovers twisted tales of corruption, lies, deceit, drugs, and that justice and law don't mean the same thing to everyone.

The Chicaco Reader has done a great overview and analysis of the film that you can read here. This film is truly a marvelous one. You can tell from the all-star cast, Welles's direction, and the impact it has had on the culture since. It is amazing that we have had fifty years with this film.