History Literature / BenHur

** In the prologue, an old acquaintance of Joseph mistakes Mary for his daughter. Downplayed because offense is neither meant or taken.

** Both the 1925 and 1959 versions spare Quintus Arrius. Drowned at Sea in the novel (an unrelated incident), the adaptations make his final appearance give a heartfelt goodbye to Judah before he leaves Rome to locate his family.
* TellMeAboutMyFather: Downplayed. Then Bethlehem Innkeeper knew of Mary's parents. Quintus Arrius knew of Judah's father. Neither acknowledgement results in getting information about dead parent.
* TimeSkip: The novel has several: (1) The decades between the Nativity and Gratus' arrival to Jerusalem. (2) The three years of Judah as a galley slave. (3) The five years of the adopted-Judah learning about Rome. (4) Judah following Jesus' ministry. (5) The decades between the Crucifixion and Neronian persecutions. Most adaptations adapt 1 and/or 2.

** In the original novel, it's Ben-Hur who cheats to get Messala to crash, not the other way around. All adaptations have Messala be the cheater.

* CompositeCharacter: Quintus Arrius does not appear again after his DeathByAdaptation in the galley scene, so Ilderim takes some of his role as Judah's mentor and benefactor.

* Nepotism: Joseph being a descendant of the House of David is major clout.

** Averted for Judah when he comes to realize Jesus' role in saving Judea is a different thing then the revolutionary freedom fighter he envisioned in. Subverted when Judah discovers the beautiful and mysterious Iras is actually a BitchInSheepsClothing.

** Both the 1925 and 1959 versions spare Quintus Arrius. Drowned at Sea in the novel, the adaptations make his final appearance give a heartfelt goodbye to Judah before he leaves Rome to locate his family.

* LastSupperSteal: The film recreates the painting -- but since Jesus must remain TheFaceless, the shot has another disciple sitting directly in front of him.
** Many medieval depictions of the event would put Judas Iscariot to the other side of the table, isolating him away from the other disciples because of his future betrayal. DaVinci's painting was actually a subversion to this common depiction.

* IronicEcho: Messala gloats about Roman superiority, dismissing the Jews. He tells Judah to forget he is a Jew. Years later, Messala is hesitant about betting against Judah's bid, knowing full well he doesn't have the money to match Judah's fortune. Judah smugly repeats their last conversation: has Messala forgotten he is a Roman and he is a Jew? Goaded by this, Messala signs on.

* OhCrap: The shipwrecked Judah climbs aboard the Roman Trireme, happy to be rescued...until he spots a porthole showing the soul-dead face of a Galley Slave. Judah realizes rescue will mean a return to Galley slavery. Fortunately, Arrius saves him.

** Stephen Boyd (Messala) will later [[Film/TheFallOfTheRomanEmpire see Rome fall]].
** Andre Morell (Sextus) will later play [[Series/TheCaesars the Emperor himself]].
** Frank Thring (Pilate) will later play [[Film/KingOfKings Herod Antipas]].

* ''Ben-Hur'' (1959), the classic Panavision extravaganza directed by Creator/WilliamWyler and produced by MGM once again, by far the best known, starring Creator/CharltonHeston as Ben-Hur and Creator/StephenBoyd as Messala. It was a massive box office success and cleaned house at the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward ceremony in 1960, being nominated for 12 Academy Awards and winning 11, missing only Adapted Screenplay. The film won Best Picture, Wyler won Best Director, Heston won Best Actor and Hugh Griffith took home Best Supporting Actor for playing Sheikh Ilderim. The 11 Oscars set a record, since matched by ''[[Film/Titanic1997 Titanic]]'' and ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' but still not beaten (and the latter two films got most of their awards on technical merits such as costuming and special effects). See [[Recap/BenHur here]] for a plot summary.

* DeadHandShot: Jesus' last scene is a close-up of his nailed hand going limp during the Crucifixion.
** It should be noted that this scene only exists in earlier videos of the film like the MGM/UA VHS and Laserdisc. The recent Warner DVD and Blu-Ray omits this scene.

* OhCrap!:
** The shipwrecked Judah climbs aboard the Roman Trireme, happy to be rescued...until he spots a porthole showing the soul-dead face of a Galley Slave. Judah realizes rescue will mean a return to Galley slavery. Fortunately, Arrius saves him.

* InsistentTerminology: Pontius Pilate ''insists'' on referring to Judah by his adopted Roman name of Arrius the Younger, as part of his attempt to civilise him into the Roman way of life. Judah eventually snaps and demand he be called by his ''real'' name.