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Ben Hur (4 Disc Special Edition) [1959]


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A marvel of cinema, a tribute to Charlton Heston
Review date: 2008-04-06 Rating: 10 out of 10

Today the news told of the death of Charlton Heston. I have owned this set for some time and have waited for the right opportunity to watch the main feature - today seemed to be that day. In tribute I watched the 1959 version of Ben-Hur that is on this DVD set.

The 1959 version we all know is spread over two discs, and is presented in a 2.76 aspect ratio which is very wide. Visually it is mostly excellent, with great clarity and vibrancy lending an intimacy and opulence (or oppression) to scenes that compels the viewer. Colour, light and shadow are used to great effect and most scenes have a detail and depth to them that is rare, especially so for a film nearly 50 years old. As I understand it from the extras disc, the camera system used was brand new at the time, utilising a 65mm film that was about four times the size of conventional film. Alas there are some flaws, although they can be forgiven when so much is so good. The most glaring flaw is I believe a product of the DVD encoding process, where solid reds such as the Roman cloaks are jaggedly framed against high contrast backgrounds and the body of red colour is rendered unsightly. This is evident mostly in medium and close shots and at times it is so artificial looking that the cloaks appear as if they are CGI additions. Fortunately the film is so detailed and intricate it is no burden to look elsewhere to avoid occasional visual offence. I've seen this in other discs also (the bar scene in Glengarry Glen Ross with the solid red background comes to mind). That or my DVD player is showing its age. The audio is in Dolby 5.1 and is excellent throughout. The surround channels even get a bit of a workout in some scenes, adding further to the film.

The 1925 version is included on it's own disc. I watched this a few weeks ago and found it a reasonably compelling film. The story is the same, but details differ. This is apparent in the slightly different trajectory of the characters' developments, which seems to take the momentum out of some scenes. I was surprised to see the sea battle and the chariot race in there, and I was even more surprised at how good they were. Particular mention goes to the use of primitive monochrome colours used in some scenes. The sound accompaniment was a little overwhelming for me, as it never lets up. I prefer the 1959 version in every way, but it still stands up as a good film and a great extra in this set. The remaining disc is full of extras, which will probably tell you everything you might ever want to know about the two films. I found the screen tests most interesting. I must mention that there is a commentary for the 1959 version by Charlton Heston and T. G. Hatcher (film historian) that I look forward to listening to in the future.

If I've learnt anything from Charlton Heston, it is to never break a stare and never blink, just let the look convey the scene. He does that a lot as Ben-Hur. Charlton Heston is gone now, but we can hold the stare and let the eyes glaze. That is enough to convey the loss. This is most definitely one of the greatest films made and this DVD set is superb. Aside from a few forgivable flaws the film as presented here is excellent and most highly recommended.


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Reviews


The greatest roadshow epic of them all finally gets the DVD it deserves
Review date: 2008-02-01 Rating: 10 out of 10

The film that has become a by-word for the genre and the biggest of the roadshow movies of the fifties and sixties, 1959's Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ is from an audience point-of-view still a great movie, and considerably more intelligent than many modern critics would like to believe.

The best of the redemption epics of the Fifties, where suffering in the likes of The Robe or Quo Vadis makes their protagonists better in the creepily smug way that passes for movie righteousness, it turns its hero, Judah Ben-Hur, into a right s**t. Corrupted by revenge, he rejects Christ and turns away from passive resistance. Mistaken for Christ, he is himself betrayed by a friend and returns from his certain death (in this case the galleys) "like a returning faith," in the words of one of his faithful servants, but he has no faith himself. Having initially rejected Messala's overtures to "look to the west, look to Rome", indirectly the cause of his misfortunes, he becomes Romanised and a mirror image of his betrayer. The character exists in a constant state of flux and torment, journeying from slave-owning Jew to Roman slave to Roman citizen to symbol of resistance, never regaining his peace until the finale.

There was never an actor more at home in the genre than Heston, and he is in strong form here, although much of his thunder is stolen by Stephen Boyd as Messala (the role Heston was pencilled in for before Rock Hudson turned down the lead) whose intelligent portrayal of ambition is far more Oscar-worthy than Hugh Griffiths' hammily enjoyable Sheik Ilderim. Jack Hawkins and the remainder of the cast perfectly judge their roles, with Wyler's adept direction achieving a perfect balance between the religious, political and human elements of the story.

While making the most of the spectacle, he also ensures that it is often the quieter moments that most impress. An assistant director on the 1926 version's chariot race sequence, his sensitivity with actors ensures the film is driven more by emotions than events, and certainly the scenes dealing with his return to Judea are often genuinely moving without seeming so overtly manipulative as they doubtless would have in other hands.

Miklos Rozsa's score is one of the greatest ever written for any motion picture and is remarkably sensitive to the needs of the film (although Wyler did reputedly want to use Silent Night for the Nativity sequence!). The stunning ten-minute chariot race, played in real-time, has and needs no music, relying instead on the infinitely more effective roar of the crowd and thunder of hooves. The sequence also shows canny production design: the arena is suitably high-walled to limit the number of extras needed for the three-month shoot of the scene.

Ben-Hur is a film which still somewhat defies television in all its formats - the cinema is really the place to see this, the bigger the screen, the better. At an extra-wide 2.76:1 widescreen, it's not quite SuperTohoScope, but it's close, but the lack of picture area that was a major problem with definition and colour balance in the old letterboxed video releases is no problem for the DVD transfer, though it's still not recommended viewing on a small-screen TV. The film is not paced for TV but for the giant screen, inevitably draining some of its effect. Nonetheless, this is a great value-for-money special edition that may not be able to replicate the cinema experience, but does a good job of reminding you of it.

Shot under huge pressure - MGM made it clear that the future of the studio depended on the picture - the resulting stress contributed to producer Sam Zimbalist's fatal heart attack before the film was completed, and the tortuous route to the screen is well documented in this four disc set through documentaries and even screen tests for Haya Hayareet, Cesare Danova and Leslie Nielson! Even the popular stage production, which ran throughout the US for a decade grossing an astonishing $10m. In case you're wondering, diagrams are provided of how the chariot race was staged with real horses and carts!

Sadly, although extracts from the notorious unauthorised one-reel 1911 Kalem version are included on the 50-minute documentary about the making of the film, the full short - shot during a beach party, with the camera never straying from the finish line during the chariot race - is not included. The make-or-break MGM 1925 silent version is, in the Thames Silents version lovingly restored by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, and makes an interesting comparison. An even more famously chaotic production than the remake that saw several actors die during the sea battle and dozens of horses put down in the chariot race, it takes a very different approach to the story for much of its running time. Never is that more apparent than in the end, which sees Judah Ben-Hur raising an army and marching on Jerusalem to save Christ from the cross!

There's also a selection of original and widescreen trailers on the DVD are splendid examples of the classic Hollywood selling technique, hyping the film in several languages.


Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Review date: 2008-01-12 Rating: 10 out of 10

Prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston of Ten Commandments fame) was raised up with his best Roman buddy Messala (Stephen Boyd). Little did they know at the time that they would grow up become adversaries, and as a result this would lead to may adventures. In the process Judah leads many different lives that parallels and crosses the life of Jesus.

We see Judah in the mines, on the galleys, and even adopted by a roman Noble man as young Arrius. Mean time back at home his family is incarcerated by Messala leading to trials and tribulation that only Jesus can correct.
-------------------------------------------------

A lot of time and money went into this MGM production that netted 11 Academy Awards, along with many others such as BAFAT, David di Donatello, Directors Guild of America, Golden Globes, Laurel, Writers Guild of America, ...etc.

You will be so intrigued that you may not notice the 212+ minutes depending on the version.

One highlight, the chariot race was reproduced many times in various forms.


The Original and the Re-Make on one DVD set!!!!
Review date: 2007-09-06 Rating: 8 out of 10

BEN-HUR The Four-Disc Collector's Edition

It is an ignominious fate that the Original Ben-Hur by which I mean the 1925 silent version has appeared as a bonus feature on the William Wyler's Ben-Hur Four-Disc Collector's Edition.

The 1925 Ben-Hur was a huge success. To this day it is still the most successful silent picture ever made. The sensational chariot race as with the William Wyler re-make was at the heart of the movie. It was the first time a Cinema audience had seen such awe-inspiring images. Such as four stallions and a speeding chariot racing directly over the top of a Camera sunk in the Arena track. The first the time a Camera followed a team of horses in close-up and at full gallop. So many film techniques that we take for granted in Action Cinema today were first born in this silent epic and they would be remembered.

William Wyler remembered them 34 years later.

William Wyler has been an assistant director on the 1925 Original. He had witnessed its staggering success and when the time came for a re-make he was just the man for the job. Maybe you balk at my use of the word re-make? But that is exactly what the William Wyler version was. The studio knew they had a product that worked and did not want to divert from that winning formula. If it ain't broke....!

The Arena built in Italy was a virtual replica of the one built in the silent version. They utilized the original construction drawings. They used some of the same moulds for various statues. They even had a complete chariot from the 1925 Original that had already proved itself on film. They had the original designs and drawings of virtually everything that had been constructed 34 years previously and they all worked.

On the Extras Disc there is a rather lame documentary called "The Epic that Changed Cinema" where filmmakers repetitively praise the 1959 re-make. A Production Designer expresses his amazement at the imagination it took to design the Arena specifically those gigantic statues at each end of it. Had he seen the Original 1925 Film he would have seen that the Arena and particularly the gigantic statues are all but the same.

None of this is touched upon in the two documentaries that are presented on the special features disc. Nothing is mentioned about the suppression of the Original Version by MGM in the run-up to the release of the William Wyler's Ben-Hur or it's eventual burial.

The 1925 Ben-Hur is a rather melodramatic and histrionic affair. Most of the performances are over the top and it has the feeling of recorded theatre rather than a movie but what lifts this film into the realms of a classic is simply the chariot race. It is as good as the William Wyler version if not better. It has more chariots!

It is a shame that the Silent Original does not have any bonus features. A documentary by Kevin Brownlow could have solved this shameful emission, as the man is responsible for it's restoration and survival. He is also one of the best documentary filmmakers out there. Just watch his Thames Television series called "Hollywood" about America's early film pioneers or "Unknown Chaplin" and you will see what I mean.

As for the William Wyler's re-make the same seems to apply. The chariot race is the highlight of the film. The race is remarkably similar in structure, blocking and interpretation as that of the Original. Most of the shots and camera positions are an exactly the same.

The rest of William Wyler's epic never really elevates above pure melodrama. The exceptional performance by Hugh Griffith lends the film a much-needed sense of intrigue but generally the film plays by the numbers. The weak latter half of the film almost feels as if you are watching Monty Python's "Life of Brian". The film uses all of the technologies available at the time to best effect. It is beautifully shot in Camera 65 by Robert L. Surtees. It has incredible matt paintings. The production design is romantic yet faultless. The Hollywoodised costumes are beautiful.

Gore Vidal is acknowledged to have written the first half of the film up until the chariot race. He is disgracefully not even credited. These early scenes are far superior to the latter plodding religious pontificating. In the first scenes between Ben-Hur and Messala, he has cleverly interwoven a homosexual love affair gone terribly wrong. It explains clearly Messala's brutal reaction. He also has a poke at the waning Un-American Committee by having Messala demand that Ben-Hur name names.

The problem with the films as a whole is the source material that they are based on. The Novel is melodramatic, shallow and episodic. Even the title is incorrect "A Story of the Christ". It might be the most read book other than the bible but it does not mean that it is any good. It is simply a compelling adventure yarn with Christ thrown in and as with the films the best part is the chariot race.

im not ageist!
Review date: 2007-09-04 Rating: 10 out of 10

nobody i know has ever heard of this movie. probably because everyone i know is 20years old and have little interest in films unless they have lots of gore in them. not me though!
im guessing all you guys are ancient compared to me so i hope your definition of a GREAT movie is the same as mine and you aint just being nostalgic.sorry this isnt really a review but i will write one after ive watched it in a couple of weeks....just thought id give ya a before and after (i would write this in the disccusion section below but no one uses it) and i kept it at 5stars for the average

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Haya Harareet
Cathy O'Donnell
Frank Thring
Charlton Heston
George Relph

Creators:
Charlton Heston (Primary Contributor)
George Relph (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900675352
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 4
Format: Box set, Collector's Edition, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2006-02-13
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 213 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1959
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Dubbed)

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