Ben-Hur

UPC: 883929178261

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: G   Contains:[Mild Violence, Suitable for Children]

Summary: This 1959 version of Lew Wallace's best-selling novel, which had already seen screen versions in 1907 and 1926, went on to win 11 Academy Awards. Adapted by Karl Tunberg and a raft of uncredited writers including Gore Vidal and Maxwell Anderson, the film once more recounts the tale of Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston), who lives in Judea with his family during the time that Jesus Christ was becoming known for his "radical" teachings. Ben-Hur's childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd) is now an ambitious Roman tribune; when Ben-Hur refuses to help Messala round up local dissidents on behalf of the emperor, Messala pounces on the first opportunity to exact revenge on his onetime friend. Tried on a trumped-up charge of attempting to kill the provincial governor (whose head was accidentally hit by a falling tile), Ben-Hur is condemned to the Roman galleys, while his mother (Martha Scott) and sister (Cathy O'Donnell) are imprisoned. But during a sea battle, Ben-Hur saves the life of commander Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), who, in gratitude, adopts Ben-Hur as his son and gives him full control over his stable of racing horses. Ben-Hur never gives up trying to find his family or exact revenge on Messala. At crucial junctures in his life, he also crosses the path of Jesus, and each time he benefits from it. The highlight of the film's 212 minutes is its now-legendary chariot race, staged largely by stunt expert Yakima Canutt. Ben-Hur's Oscar haul included Best Picture, Best Director for the legendary William Wyler, Best Actor for Heston, and Best Supporting Actor for Welsh actor Hugh Griffith as an Arab sheik. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Epic

Awards: Best Film - Any Source – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Film - Any Source – British Academy of Film and Television Arts 100 Greatest American Movies – American Film Institute Best Picture - Drama – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – null Best Director – null Special Achievement – null Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Drama or Comedy Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Special Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Special Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Special Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – National Board of Review Special Citation – National Board of Review Special Citation – National Board of Review Best Picture – New York Film Critics Circle Special Achievement – null Best Supporting Actor – National Board of Review Special Achievement – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Director – Directors Guild of America

Features: Commentary by film historian T. Gene Hatcher with Charlton Heston
Music-only track showcasing Mikl?s R?zsa's Award-Winning score

Ben-Hur

Format: DVD

Release Date: 09/27/2011

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 222 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Ben-Hur - Part 1
1. Overture [6:32]
2. Nativity Prologue [5:04]
3. Credits [2:08]
4. March Through Nazareth [2:15]
5. Messala in Command [1:58]
6. Fighting an Idea [3:36]
7. Still Close in Every Way [3:40]
8. A Toast [3:26]
9. Gifts Exchanged [2:36]
10. Judah's Choise [5:14]
11. Esther's Request [4:01]
12. Ring for a Kiss [4:35]
13. March Into Jerusalem [2:49]
14. The Accident [3:41]
15. Jailbreak Attempt [2:45]
16. Making an Example [3:36]
17. Bondage [3:01]
18. Water From a Stranger [4:33]
19. Quintus Arrius [3:34]
20. Ramming Speed [1:00]
21. Strange Stubborn Faith [3:50]
22. Sea Battle Begins [3:16]
23. Galley Rescues [3:59]
24. Saving Arrius [2:50]
25. Victory [2:04]
26. Divine Emperor [4:24]
27. Son of Arrius [3:41]
28. Thinking of Judea [4:08]
29. Balthazar and Ilderim [2:47]
30. Arabians Night [4:20]
31. Many Paths to God [4:41]
32. Homecoming [3:39]
33. Survivors Reunited [4:06]
34. "We Stood Here Before" [4:20]
35. Confronting Messala [3:41]
36. Finding Miriam and Tirzah [3:52]
37. Vow in the Darkness [2:43]
38. "Forget Messala" [6:04]
39. Intermission [2:26]
Disc #2 -- Ben-Hur - Part 2
40. Entr'acte [3:52]
41. A Wager [4:43]
42. Chariot Practice [2:12]
43. "This Is the Day" [4:17]
44. Chariot Procession [3:30]
45. ChEntrants [2:03]
46. Early Eliminations [4:29]
47. Neck and Neck [3:50]
48. Fallen Driver [1:37]
49. Judah Triumphant [2:01]
50. The Race Goes on [5:31]
51. Valley of the Lepers [2:15]
52. "Is Judah Well?" [4:29]
53. Thirsty Still [3:41]
54. "I Am Judah Ben-Hur" [3:54]
55. Becoming Messala [:50]
56. Recovering Miriam and Tirzah [3:20]
57. Young Rabbi Sentenced [5:26]
58. Offer fo Water [3:12]
59. The Crucifixion [4:14]
60. Cleansing Rain [3:04]
61. "Hallelujah!" [4:45]

Bruce Eder

William Wyler's Ben-Hur is the quintessential Hollywood biblical epic: a huge story, given a suitably exalted treatment, splashed across a broad canvas, and centered on a pair of well-drawn central characters. It's easy to forget that the film was the culmination of a cycle of religious epics that dated back slightly more than a decade, and closed out the genre as a viable Hollywood phenomenon. Since Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah in 1949, the public had shown a willingness to spend money on screen stories adapted from (or inspired by) the Old or New Testaments; the advent of the Cold War and the threat of thermo-nuclear annihilation likely made filmgoers start thinking about God, heaven, and the hereafter more than usual. Apart from MGM's trouble-plagued Quo Vadis? and 20th Century Fox's The Robe and its sequel, Demetrius and the Gladiators, however, few of the resulting movies did more than modest business at the box office, and none received any serious critical respectability. Ben-Hur proved to be an exception: Wyler's direction is sure and carefully balanced, avoiding any hint of the campiness and awkward line delivery that broke the verisimilitude of many of the other films; Charlton Heston, though far from the first choice for the title role (Paul Newman and Rock Hudson both turned it down), brings a compelling intensity to his performance; and Jack Hawkins' work as father figure Quintus Arrius lent the film a dignity comparable to Finlay Currie's St. Peter and Leo Genn's Petronius in Quo Vadis? Coupled with Yakima Canutt's stunt direction, those virtues proved unbeatable. Ben-Hur was the most expensive movie in MGM's history (perhaps not coincidentally, the 1926 silent version of the story had also been the most expensive non-sound production in the studio's history), but it ended up playing for two years in venues all over the world. The film earned enough money to keep the studio solvent, allowing them to acquire other films of this kind for distribution, most notably Nicholas Ray's King of Kings. Ben-Hur was virtually the last film of its kind made in Hollywood, or by Hollywood -- costs were too high to do too many more, and it also seemed as though audiences had seen most of the religious stories that were worth their moviegoing dollars. With the exception of box-office disasters such as The Greatest Story Ever Told and The Bible, most subsequent examples of the genre would be produced in Europe. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Ferdinand "Ferdy" Mayne  Actor 
Michael Dugan  Actor 
John Zaccaro  Actor 
Reginald Lal Singh  Actor 
Karl Tunberg  Actor 
John Glen  Actor 
Raimondo Van Riel  Actor 
Miklos Rozsa  Composer (Music Score) 
Karl Tunberg  Screenwriter 
William Wyler  Director 
Sam Zimbalist  Producer 
Charlton Heston  Actor 
Stephen Boyd  Actor 
Jack Hawkins  Actor 
Haya Harareet  Actor 
Hugh Griffith  Actor 
Martha Scott  Actor 
Sam Jaffe  Actor 
Cathy O'Donnell  Actor 
Finlay Currie  Actor 
Frank Thring  Actor 
Terence Longdon  Actor 
Andre Morell  Actor 
Marina Berti  Actor 
George Relph  Actor 
Adi Berber  Actor 
Stella Vitelleschi  Actor 
Jose Greci  Actor 
Laurence Payne  Actor 
John Horsley  Actor 
Richard Coleman  Actor 
Duncan Lamont  Actor 
Ralph Truman  Actor 
Richard Hale  Actor 
David Davies  Actor 
Dervis Ward  Actor 
Mino Doro  Actor 
Robert Brown  Actor 
Maxwell Shaw  Actor 
Emilio Carrer  Actor 
Tutte Lemkow  Actor 
Howard Lang  Actor 
John Le Mesurier  Actor 
Stevenson Lang  Actor 
Hector Ross  Actor 
Al Silvani  Actor 
Enzo Fiermonte  Actor 
Tiberio Mitri  Actor 
Pietro Tordi  Actor 
Jerry Brown  Actor 
Cliff Lyons  Actor 
Joe Yrigoyen  Actor 
Joe Canutt  Actor 

Country: USA