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Ben-Hur (1925 film)

Ben-Hur is the second silent film (and first successful feature-length) based on the Ben-Hur book by Lew Wallace. It appeared in 1925, and starred Ramon Novarro in the title role; Francis X. Bushman played his friend Messala. It was one of the most lavish and spectacular Hollywood productions of the silent movie era, reportedly costing a then unprecedented 3.9 million dollars. Some of the crowd scenes were reported to use up to 125,000 extras. Several big Hollywood stars of the time appeared as uncredited crowd extras during the chariot race. The great chariot race scene (for which 60,960 m (200,000 feet) of film, the most footage for any film in cinema history, were shot – eventually edited down to 229 m (750 feet)) is still regarded as a triumph of exciting film making and was much imitated, even so recently as the "pod race scene" in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace almost 75 years later, although seldom so well as in the original. Some scenes were in 2-strip Technicolor. The film was directed by Charles Brabin , J.J. Cohn , and Fred Niblo , and was produced and distributed by MGM; the film made MGM's reputation as a heavyweight force in Hollywood. The film is the third highest grossing silent film in cinema history, taking in more than $5.5 million at the box office in 1925.

An early 1930s reissue added sound (i.e. music and sound effects tracks) so it became less of a silent film. As the decades passed, the original Technicolor segments were replaced by black-and-white dubs. These scenes were considered lost until the 1980s when Turner Entertainment (who by then had acquired the rights to the film) found the crucial sequences in a Czech film archive. Current prints of the 1925 version are of the Turner-supervised restoration, replete with the color tints and Technicolor sections to resemble the original theatrical release, but with the addition of a newly recorded stereo orchestral soundtrack by Carl Davis which was originally recorded for a Thames Television screening of the movie.

This film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

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Last updated: 05-03-2005 02:30:17