Ben Hur is a 15 minute long 1907 silent film, it was the first film version of Lew Wallace's novel Ben-Hur. However it was made without the permission of Wallace's estate, something not uncommon at the time. The Kalem Company, the studio that produced this version of the film, was sued by the Lew Wallace estate for copyright infringement and in a precedent setting case had to pay a substantial fee for the infringement. This forever changed the way film versions of novels are made.
The film was directed by Canadian director Sidney Olcott with a screenplay by Gene Gauntier . At fifteen minutes in running time only the a small portion of the story was put on screen. The focus of the piece was upon the chariot race which was filmed on a beach in New Jersey with local firemen playing the charioteers and the horses that normally pulled the fire wagons pulling the chariots.
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Last updated: 06-02-2005 19:18:30
