not only pre-CGI but pre-SteadiCam, how they ever managed acceptable film images from the big 65mm movie camera thundering around that chariot racetrack as fast as the chariots themselves
I was just commenting about that above. They made the film to fit on large wide screens of the area so in order for it to be viewed on smaller movie screens and televisions they had to cut off the sides of the movie. It's a real shame. It is best viewed in its original white screen format if possible.
@al1936ful It looks like this video was filmed for 16:9 (widescreen), framed in 4:3, and then stretched back and encoded into 16:9, which is why it looks like everything's been stretched.
I don't know a lot about moviemaking but I know it was made to stretch across the huge screens of the 1950s and 1960s. They often had to trim the edges of these old movies to fit the smaller screens and televisions. I wish this would be re-released once a year on large screens, maybe around Easter. The small screen just doesn't do it justice.
I love this movie ... the costumes ..the set designs ... the music ...and I love the back story just as much as I love the movie I have the box set which includes the silent movie and I watch all the time ..
I like some aspects of 1925 silent version better especially the chariot race. The best scene in both pictures is Jesus giving Ben-Hur water as he is being marched to gallies. A major plus for the sound version was the casting of a more authentic Haya Harareet as Esther.
Love his comment at the end, "sometimes the biggest picture is also the best."
What a great movie. I miss those old wonderful movies.
One of the greatest films of all time
not only pre-CGI but pre-SteadiCam, how they ever managed acceptable film images from the big 65mm movie camera thundering around that chariot racetrack as fast as the chariots themselves
only time 'bigger is better' holds water
When your soul is starving hors d'oeuvres don't feed you. What an amazing epic.
Why is half the picture cut off??
The format it was shot in.
I was just commenting about that above. They made the film to fit on large wide screens of the area so in order for it to be viewed on smaller movie screens and televisions they had to cut off the sides of the movie. It's a real shame. It is best viewed in its original white screen format if possible.
The Epic of Epics!!!
@al1936ful It looks like this video was filmed for 16:9 (widescreen), framed in 4:3, and then stretched back and encoded into 16:9, which is why it looks like everything's been stretched.
I don't know a lot about moviemaking but I know it was made to stretch across the huge screens of the 1950s and 1960s. They often had to trim the edges of these old movies to fit the smaller screens and televisions. I wish this would be re-released once a year on large screens, maybe around Easter. The small screen just doesn't do it justice.
I love this movie ... the costumes ..the set designs ... the music ...and I love the back story just as much as I love the movie
I have the box set which includes the silent movie and I watch all the time ..
I like some aspects of 1925 silent version better especially the chariot race. The best scene in both pictures is Jesus giving Ben-Hur water as he is being marched to gallies. A major plus for the sound version was the casting of a more authentic Haya Harareet as Esther.
By the way, the book is wonderful. If you've never read it, you should.
Can two guys be best friends without it being "homoerrotic"?
@vulcan1429 Atleast it's not almost as homoerotic as Spartacus