Evening star., 1926-01-10
RALPH LLWI9
Rialto
The Moving Picture
BY Robert Z. Sher1u0od.

4 FTER three years of preparation.
intensive toll and incalculable eX-
! penSe. Ben Hur" as n moving picture
! has finally been revealed TO the public.
! What is known in exclusive film
! circles as the world premiere" was
held at the George NJ. Cohan Theater.
! in New York. on the night of Wednes-
! day, December so.
1t was the usual movie opening
night, with the inevitable jam of peo-
! pie at the main entrance and the at
! tendant galaxy of celebrities from the
| Hall of Film Fame. Fred Niblo. who
! directed Ben Hur.' was incon-
! spicuously present. with his wife.
| Enid Bennett. Francis Y. Bushman,
who impersonates the Roman cad.
! MesSala, was also on hand, but |
! failed to note the presence of Ramon
/ Novarro. the real hero of the occa-
/ sion. although his personal appear
ance was scheduled. | saw James
/ kirkwood. Lila Lee. Mae Allison,
! Alice joyce. Vincent Astor, Adolph
Eukor, Jesse LaSky and that diminu-
, tive magnate, Marcus Loew, who had
contributed so greatly in cold. hard
/ cash TO the evenings entertainment.
/ There were also in the audience
| two gentlemen who received abso-
| lutely no attention whatsoever in the
general hullaballoo. They were Mr..
| Henry Wallace and Mr.. Lew Wallace,
the son and the grandson of that fine
| old soldier who devoted five years of
his useful and active life to the com
! position of the story which was des-
| tined to achieve Il circulation larger
! than any book in history. with the
| obvious exception of the Bible.
! What The sensations Of these two
! gr6nt lpTpen I do L.
! them. Ben iIur" is a sacred heirloom,
| handed down by their distinguished
forebear and intrusted to their care.
| incidentally, Ben Hur" has been a
steady and singularly fruitful source
of revenue, not only for the Wallace
| family, but also for that astute theatri-
! cal impresario Mr.. Abe fIrlanger. who
! first produced it on the stage.
! Whether it will bc so proftable for
! Mr.. Loew and his associates in the
Metro, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation
Is painfully moot question. ben
/ iiur' was originally purchased Ton
some sort of royalty basis by the
/ GoldWyn Company, which promptly
/ went out Of business as a result Of its
vast expenditures on this one produc-
! tion. GoldWyn had selected Charles
! Brabin to direct Ben Hur," June
! Mathis to write the adaptation and
| George Walsh to play the Aad. The
| company had been sent to Italy to
! make the exterior scenes.
| When the Goldwyn Corporation died
on its feet and the remains were
| absorbed by Metro, Brabin. Walsh and
| Miss Mathis, and all their collabora-
tors. We're recalled, and their Jobs were
assigned to F'reb Niblo, Ramon No
varro and Carey Wilson, respectively.
| a new Ben Hur" company went TO
! Italy to make an entirely new set of
! scenes, and when they returned 1t
was found that these scenes would not
| do. For one thing, the famous chariot
| race was filmed in the Circus Maxi
| mus in Rome. Then IT was complete
| ly remade in a fabricated Circus Max
| linus that had to be built for the pur-
| pose in Culver City, Calf
| I failed to detect one legitimate
| italian background in Ben Hur.' so
| | assume that all the money spent in
! sending the two companies to Europe
! was utterly wasted
| What the total cost Of production
! has been 1t is impossible for an out
! slider to estimate. I have heard it
| has run six million dollars, but this
: sounds a trife excessive. One may
| reasonably refer to it as a whole lot
| of money and let it go at that.
y \: x
| The picture itself is sure to be a
| tremendous popular success. AL
though it lacks the profound impress
! siveness of Gen. Wallace's novel,
and much of the dramatic thrill of the
! play, it is a fine picture, as pictures
! go, and endowed with all the elements
| that make for popular appeal on the
! screen.
| 1t starts. as does the original story,
with the Nativity-a series of scenes,
{ photographed in color, that are in
credibly beautiful. Raphael himself
never imagined a Madonna lovelier
than is Betty Bronson as she receives
| the gifts of the Magi.
| The picture moves ahead in time to
the Hur home, in Jerusalem, and fol
| lows Ben Hur to the galleys-marvel-
lously stirring episodes, these-to the
| home of Arrius, in Rome; to Antioch,
| where the great chariot race is held,
| and finally back to Jerusalem, where
young Ben Hur and his family are re-
+, united In the shadow of the cross.
! OF course, the great moment of
! Ben Hur" is provided when the hand
| some hero and the equally handsome
| villain dash for supremacy about the
| Circus MaXimuS in their rattling
chariots. l have seen many chariot
races in the movies. and in the Bar
! mum & Bailey shows, but this one
/ is the most magnificent of all. Twelve
drivers and forty-eight horses streak
| across the screen at a breathless rate
of speed, and the audience is moved
| to hysterfcal cheers-just as though