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Summary: the epic of all epics
Review: This is a flawless transfer of a brilliant movie.I can't think of many better ways to spend a Sunday afternoon.Marvellous.
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Summary: A Masterpeice
Review: This is a beautiful transfer to DVD. I remember when it was released in 1959 at a Real Movie Palace. The seats were reserved - beautiful programs were available ( they were like books ). The theatre was like a fine symphony hall! The sound was fantastic as this was one of the first multi- channel sound presentations. It is still breath taking today! A treasure for the generations to come as it looks great and sounds great as if it were recorded today.
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Summary: GREAT
Review: Great movie. One of Charlton Heston's best. Great recording.
Extra's on the cd are worth it as well.
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Summary: WHAT AN EPIC OF EPICAL PROPORTIONS
Review: I know movies quite well but this one is so dramatic, so powerful that there are only a few equal to it.
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Summary: OUTSTANDING!!
Review: Charlton Heston (current president of the National Rifle Association) is simply magnificent in this movie--he certainly deserved the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Judah Ben-Hur.It's great to have this classic on DVD, and it's one of the best movies ever made. Another excellent film in the same genre (but not Biblically-themed) is Gladiator with Russell Crowe.
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Summary: Heston is great, but some others are marvelous, as well....
Review: There is no doubt in my mind this is one of the most incredible pre-digital special effects epics ever made. Heston's performance is outstanding... the direction, the music and cinematography is first rate, but I thought someone should mention a remarkable performance by the late Stephen Boyd... who died far too soon.... he was a marvelous actor and as Masala, he brought out a nasty, revengeful, and mean-sprited man in 3 full dimensions. His death scene is nothing short of miraculous... whew!! Bravo Stephen!! This is one of my personal "best movies of all time"... no doubt. The DVD is superb and will leave you spellbound!
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Summary: Great Movie-DVD could be better still!
Review: Ben Hur is a wonderful movie and a must have for any collection of classic films. Truly, one of the great epic films. Also it is a Biblical epic that, sadly, even when made today is only done for TV and not the big screen. I honestly believe the big studios don't think there is a large enough audience for a film like this anymore, but I think they would be suprised how many people would go to see a quality film like this if it were made today. While I enjoyed the presentation on the DVD, colors are sharp, music excellent, I was dissapointed by the lack of choice in screen format. I had not bought this film already on Laserdisc because even though the widescreen is the "preferred" presentation that is far more equivalent to a theatrical presentation, some of us never saw these films in the theaters but only on TV in the scanned and cropped format. Buying both the widescreen and fullscreen laserdiscs was a hefty investment... I had already bought two discs for "Lawrence of Arabia" and planned to eventually do the same for "Ben Hur". Mind you it was not a case of studio double dipping. The widecreen for "Lawrence" was a restoration released years after the fullscreen. I waited on Ben-Hur because of the glitzy promotionals for the upcoming Digital Video Disc. DVD was supposed to have the capacity to show each movie either widescreen or fullscreen on the same disc, or even in both 70mm and Todd AO as some films were shot both ways. As a matter of fact this extra video capacity was tooted as a big advantage, among others, over laserdiscs. So far I only have one DVD disc, "Legally Blonde" that contains both formats. I have noticed it advertised on some Warner Brothers films such as "The Lost Boys", but not many others. I realize that for a film like "Ben Hur" a lot is lost in the pan and scan "cropped format" for TV screens, but that is exactly the way I saw the movie for years on TV and I was very dissapointed not to have a disc where I could compare the two formats. I received the DVD as a gift. I was also dissatisfied with the cardboard holder of the DVD which is a bit flimsy. Fine for a TV movie release like Salems Lot, but not for one of the great films like Ben-Hur. I wonder if they are planning to release a box set? I have been hearing a great deal about the studio practice of "Double-Dipping", re-releasing an enhanced version, extended version, directors cut or box set of a film only a few months to a year or so after they released it on disc for the first time. The hope is that the same people who bought the disc, will buy it again just a short time later to get some extras not offered with the first release. With a wonderful film like Ben-Hur anything new would be tempting to own, but this practice doesn't seem a very fair way for the movie studios to do business. In the long run people will catch on and they may actually hesitate to buy some DVD's, even a great classic like Ben-Hur, for fear that something better is going to be released a few months later.
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Summary: I watched the whole DVD twice in one week!
Review: Ben-Hur has a really interesting storyline. Heston is a really good actor. this film deserved the 11 Oscars it received. Every scene in this whole movie is great. My favorite scenes are the chariot race and the scenes between Jesus and Judah Ben-Hur!
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Summary: re: Ben-Hur extra features
Review: Great movie. Very much a letterbox presentation. Heston audio commentary: Adds up to about 50 minutes total scattered throughout the movie. An on-screen prompts tell you when to skip to the next comment. (I enjoy Heston very much and am very glad they had him do an audio commentary.) The added feature "The Making of Ben Hur" is about an hour in length. From the "I Beg to Differ" Department: Check out Side B, Special Features, "Cast and Crew". Hit "Continue" and go to the second screen. Click on "Directed by William Wyler". The next screen has a photo of a man, and Wyler's credits from 1970 to 1956. But I'll bet you [money] that the man in the photo isn't William Wyler! : )
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Summary: Grand and Moving Epic.
Review: This masterful movie epic is based on a novel by General Lew Wallace. The movie mostly revolves around the fictional Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston), a wealthy; well-respected; prominent member of the Jewish community; and exiled Prince in Judea at the time of Christ. Ben-Hur's life is parralled by that of Jesus, the two were born at approximately the same time and they briefly meet at crucial time's in their lives. Judea has a new Tribune and a new governor. The new Tribune, Messala, is an old friend of Judah's and he is excited to visit his childhood companion again. However, the two soon discover that they have grown into very different men with very different views of the world. Messala wishes Judah to betray some of his countrymen who have made hated remarks against Rome. Judah refuses and their friendship is quickly disolved. Not long after, a freak accident leads to Judah's arrest and the imprisonment of his mother and sister. Judah swears revenege as he is condemned to death in the slave galleys. BEN-HUR won 11 Academy Awards and it is not difficult to understand why. Over forty years after it's initial release the movie is still amazing and spectaclar to watch. William Wyler won his third Best Director Oscar with BEN-HUR and rightly so: the blending of all the various elements from costume to makeup to acting to action sequences to scenery to sets is perfect, all without any CGI. Charlton Heston has always been one of my favorite actors (I guess I enjoy his overemoting, that's usually better than no emotion at all) and he pulls off the performance of his career as Judah Ben-Hur. He never could quite pull of a performance that matched his work in BEN-HUR. And as a side note the rest of the cast is just as interesting to watch. The movie runs for an incredible time of almost 3 and 1/2 hours. Yet, not once during that time does the film drag. It moves carefully from one point of the story to the next without ever losing continuity. Judah's conversion to Christianity isn't as blatant as it is in the novel and other versions of the film. Yet, that in no way distracts from the power of the movie. In fact, Judah's conversion in this BEN-HUR seems much more believable and realistic. Not every Christian has a dramatic conversion experience. BEN-HUR is a great movie. It's a tale of humanity told through the life of one man. It's filled with adventure, romance, revenege, action, drama, and even a little comedy. The action scenes are thrilling and the chariot scene has had a profound impact upon filmmaking (anyone see the pod race in THE PHANTOM MENACE). Movies don't get much better than that.
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