A beautiful classy epic which will shine for ever

Rating: 10/10 (3 April 2010)

I recall watching this film for the first time at least forty years ago and I was really impressed with the action and the sheer scale of this epic. I was however not as awestruck as I was when I watched it again some twenty years later. I do not know why I appreciated it more when I was older perhaps I was little more mature and or maybe I recognised the subtleties amongst the action. I am not a religious person although I did appreciate the sensitivity and care in the way that it was set out on the screen and for me like everything else in this film the attention to detail seemed meticulous. Anyway I do regard this creation as a wonderful classic whose beacon will always shine for me. Yes the film is long just short of four hours but quite frankly if the quality had been the same say for an additional two hours then I would have appreciated it just the same. I am not that bright when it comes to analysing a film but I know what I like and this film will always tick the boxes. For me this film feels right from second one and it simply oozes quality from every frame. I sometimes do this as part of a review when I thank the cast and crew for their time and professionalism in creating a masterpiece. I do this in this review because I genuinely feel that this film could not be made now. The chariot race is breathtaking and in my opinion even the most modern of technologies could not recreate it appropriately and therefore the mere fact that this was filmed over fifty years ago is a testament to the astonishing quality of the cast and crew's efforts. The whole is most definitely a lot larger than the sum of its parts and I have no hesitation in recommending this film to anyone. Please allocate enough time to watch it all the way through because for me there would nothing more frustrating than to have leave it part of the way through. In my opinion that would not be the end of the world but maybe spoil the enjoyment a little. Enjoy a true epic in every sense of the word.