Ben-Hur

Author

William Wyler

Call Number

• DVD DRAMA (CEN)

Edition

Four-disc collector's ed. ; Widescreen version.

Languages

1925 version: Silent film with English intertitles and musical accompaniment.

Performers

1925 version: Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Betty Bronson, Carmel Myers.

Publication Information

Burbank, CA : Warner Home Video, [2005]

Physical Description

4 videodiscs (222 min.) : sd., col. and b&w ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 book (unp .: col. ill. ; 18 cm.)

Audience

1925 version: Not rated.

Summary

Judah Ben-Hur is a young Jewish nobleman from a prominent family who is reunited with his childhood friend Messala. Messala returns to Judea as a Roman tribune. There is a genuine friendship between the two men, yet the clash of their cultures drives a wedge between them. That wedge finally drives Messala to banish Judah to the slave galleys and sends his mother and his sister to prison. From that point forward, Judah's life becomes a quest to survive and a quest for vengeance. Judah survives the galleys to become the adopted son of a Roman general, and his triumphant return to Judea permits him to challenge and subsequently confront Messala in a chariot race.

Notes

Collective title from set container.

This four-disc collector's edition contains both the 1959 version and 1925 silent version.

Based on the novel "Ben-Hur : a tale of the Christ" by Lew Wallace.

Special features (disc 1 & 2): optional audio commentary by film historian T. Gene Hatcher, with scene-specific comments from Charlton Heston; music-only track.

Booklet ("The story of the making of 'Ben-Hur'") consists of reprinted promotional materials about the 1959 version of the film.

Contents

• Discs 1 (141 min.) & 2 (81 min.): Ben-Hur (c1959, 2.76:1 format, col., 222 min.)
• Disc 3. Ben-Hur : a tale of the Christ (c1925, 1.33:1 format, b&w, 143 min.) / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in arrangement with Abraham L. Erlanger, Charles B. Dillingham and Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. presents ; directed by Fred Niblo ; adaptation by June Mathis ; produced from the scenario of Carey Wilson
• Disc 4: Bonus features (182 min.). "Ben-Hur : the epic that changed cinema" documentary (c2005, 58 min.) ; "Ben-Hur : the making of an epic" documentary (c1993, 58 min.) ; "Ben-Hur : a journey through pictures" featurette (5 min.) ; Screen tests ; 6 vintage newsreels (9 min. total) ; Highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards ceremony (10 min.) ; 5 theatrical trailers (14 min. total).