Film · MGM · 1925
Pass it on
Ben-Hur
51Watch it awake.
See the 1925 race if you want the silent one, and don't tell them it's Heston.
The review
This is the silent Ben-Hur, Ramon Novarro, not the 1959 Charlton Heston picture. A Jewish prince is betrayed, sent to the galleys, and comes back for a chariot race. The Christ story frames it. A teen can watch it. The country showed up for the race. The shoot was dangerous. I will not invent a death count to make that danger sound exact.
It was the most expensive picture of the silent years, with a worldwide rental near 9 million. That sum is why people still talk. The race is the reason they came. The Christ story is a real frame, and it is still not what filled the seats. Say the year before anyone starts describing the later film.
Journal
Keep Ben-Hur in the record.
No house has filed a sentence for this yet.
Live Historic number 51. Yours can differ.
The glance
Household and Temperance and Stewardship are the thin ones.
Is a marriage, a parent, or a child a real life here, or just a prop?
This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.
The eight
- 6Industry
Galley slavery is forced work, and the chariot race is the paid spectacle.
- 4Household
A prince is betrayed; no marriage or child is the life the race is for.
- 6Piety
The Christ story frames it, but the race is why the country came.
- 7Courage
He survives the galleys and returns to race on a shoot that was dangerous.
- 5Republic
Betrayal can send a Jewish prince to the galleys under a ruling power.
- 4Temperance
The most expensive silent picture trains a crowd to wait for the race.
- 6Truth
The betrayal has a bill: the galleys first, then the return for the race.
- 3Stewardship
A rental near 9 million bought a famous race on a shoot that was dangerous.
Where to watch
Finding the page.
Live Historic · Ben-Hur · 51IMDb
