Dec 24th
Ben-Hur***sub-title: A Tale of the ChristUS 1925. MGM. 151m. bw(with Technicolor inserts). silent
In Judea at the time of Christ, the heir to a wealthy Jewish family is arrested for falsely attempting to murder the Roman governor and is sentenced to the galleys, but returns to take revenge - against the childhood friend who betrayed him - in the chariot arena.
Dollar-for-dollar probably MGM's most expensive movie ever made: a conventionally told religious epic patterned after Griffith (Jesus is never seen facially), but the results are most definitely up on the screen, with a costly barge battle (in which several extras drowned) shot in Italy, before hauling the production back to the States, with a chariot race that has seldom been bettered, and showed just how hard an act the 1959 remake had to follow.
Written by: Bess Meredyth, Carey Wilson, June Mathis, from the novel by Lew Wallace.
Producers: Louis B. Mayer, Irving Thalberg.
Director: Fred Niblo (and others).
Starring: Ramon Navarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Claire McDowell, Kathleen Key, Nigel De Drulier, Betty Bronson (as Mary), Carmel Myers, Frank Currier, Nigel De Brulier, Winter Hall.
Photography: Rene Guissart, Percy Hilburn, Karl Struss, Clyde de Vinna.
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Horace Jackson, Harold Grieve.
Music: Carl Davis.
Preceded by:
Michael Jackson's Thriller*(US 1983. Optimum. 12m.; Curious but very successful pop video made as a horror short, utilising the talents of the makers of An American Werewolf in London among the familiar Jackson ingredients.; w: John Landis, Michael Jackson; d: John Landis; s: Michael Jackson, Ola Ray, Vincent Price (voice of); m: Michael Jackson, Elmer Bernstein; make-up effects: Rick Baker.)
Ben-Hur***sub-title: A Tale of the ChristUS 1925. MGM. 151m. bw(with Technicolor inserts). silent
In Judea at the time of Christ, the heir to a wealthy Jewish family is arrested for falsely attempting to murder the Roman governor and is sentenced to the galleys, but returns to take revenge - against the childhood friend who betrayed him - in the chariot arena.
Dollar-for-dollar probably MGM's most expensive movie ever made: a conventionally told religious epic patterned after Griffith (Jesus is never seen facially), but the results are most definitely up on the screen, with a costly barge battle (in which several extras drowned) shot in Italy, before hauling the production back to the States, with a chariot race that has seldom been bettered, and showed just how hard an act the 1959 remake had to follow.
Written by: Bess Meredyth, Carey Wilson, June Mathis, from the novel by Lew Wallace.
Producers: Louis B. Mayer, Irving Thalberg.
Director: Fred Niblo (and others).
Starring: Ramon Navarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Claire McDowell, Kathleen Key, Nigel De Drulier, Betty Bronson (as Mary), Carmel Myers, Frank Currier, Nigel De Brulier, Winter Hall.
Photography: Rene Guissart, Percy Hilburn, Karl Struss, Clyde de Vinna.
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Horace Jackson, Harold Grieve.
Music: Carl Davis.
Preceded by:
Michael Jackson's Thriller*(US 1983. Optimum. 12m.; Curious but very successful pop video made as a horror short, utilising the talents of the makers of An American Werewolf in London among the familiar Jackson ingredients.; w: John Landis, Michael Jackson; d: John Landis; s: Michael Jackson, Ola Ray, Vincent Price (voice of); m: Michael Jackson, Elmer Bernstein; make-up effects: Rick Baker.)
Labels: shorts, silent films
posted by Joe at 6:35 PM
2 Comments:
"Ben Hur" is an amazing epic - one of my favourites from that period where Hollywood made lots of 'sand and sandals' epics.
As for "Thriller"...what a great experience seeing that for the first time was! Must have been around Christmas 1983 I think, with channel 4 showing it late one night. I still think it's a great production with fab effects. Top marks to Jackson, Landis and Rik Baker.
Have you watched "The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller" yet?
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