Mr Heston's careless comments in the 2003 DVD version.

Rating: 5/10 (31 May 2008)

Contrarily to what the greatly lamented Mr Charlton Heston affirms in his commentary, Stephen Boyd had already appeared in quite a few movies (at least 12!) before «Ben Hur» -- sometimes as the leading man, such as in «The Best of Everything» (1959), «Woman Obsessed» (1959) and «Bijoutiers du clair de lune, Les» (1958), aka «Heaven Fell That Night» (UK) or «The Night Heaven Fell» (USA). As good as his comments are, I deplore the fact that Mr Heston did not seem to bother to check his sources before uttering his remarks. And so, generally speaking, they seem VERY improvised -- with many repetitions, generalizations (such as : «Brit actors tend to be better than American ones (!)», etc. And, alas, not too many precise FACTS or behind-the-scenes details. This being said with sincerity and honesty, we're going to miss you, dear Mr Heston : may you rest in peace.