The Perfect Feature Film

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2001)

Watching the third cinematic rendering of Ben Hur today it is astonishing to realize this film was released in 1959, nearly half a century ago. It exhibits all of the attributes that bring enduring legs to a film. Motion picture technology was such, by mid-century, that a print struck today from the three black and white films of the Technicolor process of that time looks as good as anything produced today. The main difference is the style of lighting where many of today's directors knock themselves out to copy each other and bring a "realistic" look instead of designing creative and dramatic light. They end up delivering a dark film that is quickly dated for its style. This is not so for Ben Hur, a film that will continue to tower long after we are all gone.
Here is an exciting and moving epic script wrought from a masterful, 19th Century novel, sets that are meticulous in research, design and execution, the finest actors of the period, including a knock-out performance by England's Hugh Griffith and Charleton Heston during his peak. They are all in superb costumes with extraordinary photography, editing and music scoring. The film also features what must be the most startling cinematic sequence of all time in the panoramic chariot race between the protagonist and antagonist of the story. For fans and film students alike, this is perhaps the finest example of American cinema art of the 20th Century, the very pinnacle and without a single computer-rendered frame in the long 212-minute length of the film.