Ben-Hur's Anniversary

On November 18, 1959, at Loew's State Theatre in New York City William Wyler’s movie "Ben-Hur" premiered. The film is based on the novel by American General Lew Wallace "Ben-Hur: The Story of Christ" (1880). At the time of its creation, Wyler’s film was already the third adaptation of Wallace’s novel, which became a bestseller in America and remained until the release of Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone With the Wind” in 1936. And the film adaptation of 1925 preceding Wyler’s film was the most expensive film in the history of silent films.

The film was shot in Italy, 50,000 residents of Italian villages were involved in mass shootings, and Italian women provided 160 kg of hair to make wigs and false beards. In addition to people, 200 camels and 2500 horses were used in the filming of the film.

For shooting battle scenes using all the achievements of modern American technology, a copy of the ancient Roman ship was built. This ship rolled over at the very first wave. It was decided to shoot battle scenes in a specially created artificial reservoir. To make the water in this reservoir look like seawater, a special dye was added. Actors who accidentally fell into this sea water for a long time could not wash off of it.

Naturally, such costs for creating a film were possible only if there was an appropriate budget. And the budget was not small - 15 million dollars, which is equivalent to today's approximately 134 million dollars. Moreover, almost the same amount, $ 14.7 million, was made by the marketing expenses for promoting the film both within the United States and abroad. But the financial result was impressive: only for the first year and only in North America the film raised $ 74.7 million, and even almost the same amount - $ 72.2 million - the film earned outside of North America. In other words, the total box office grossing of the film was about 5 times higher than the total cost of its production and promotion.

An interesting moment - the above-mentioned expenses were made by the film company, which at that moment was on the verge of bankruptcy. And, thanks to the film, it was saved from ruin.

"Ben-Hur" was the first film in history to receive 11 Oscars. Much later, almost 40 years later, James Cameron's Titanic managed to repeat this record, and then also The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by Peter Jackson. And for now that's all.

It is noteworthy that the film received many awards and nominations, but mainly in the United States and Great Britain. Of the significant European film awards, the film received only the Italian David di Donatello, but this, apparently, is due to the fact that the film was shot in Italy. The film did not even participate in other major European film festivals.

Most film critics have responded positively to Wyler’s film. An example is the review of Russian film critic Yevgeny Nefyodov. Although, there are some, in the truest sense of the word, critical reviews. In particular, there are frequent accusations against the film that it does not have a single reliable fact, with the exception of the appointment of Pontius Pilate as the procurator of Judea. But, let's agree, American cinema is generally characterized by a rather free treatment of both historical facts and literary sources. To some extent, this feature, if not of all American cinema, but of this particular film, is noted, and maybe justified in a review of often quoted by us Bosley Crowther, when he emphasizes that "the drama in "Ben-Hur" has a peculiar relationship and relevance to political and social trends in the modern day". Moreover, according to Crowther, "the parallels might be vague in the novel, which was first published, after all, away back in 1880, they could be made clearer in the film.".- Bosley Crowther - 'Ben-Hur,' a Blockbuster; M-G-M Spectacle Opens at the Loew's State Film Is Called Most Stirring of Its Type - The New York Times, Nov. 19, 1959.

This film was not shown in the USSR, although some critics of our channel claim (albeit unfoundedly) that in the Soviet Union anyone who had the corresponding desire had the opportunity to watch any film.

The 1959 Ben-Hur (not to be confused with the 2016 remake by Bekmambetov!) was highly praised by moviegoers around the world. 71% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this film a rating of 8 or higher.

Taking into account all the above advantages of the film, according to FilmGourmand, Ben-Hur received a rating of 9.497 and occupied 78th Rank in the Golden Thousand.