YMMV / Ben-Hur (1925)

Novel | 1959 Film | 2016 Film

---

• Awesome Music: Carl Davis' score for this version (The Thames Silents/Turner Entertainment Company version) is awesome.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Betty Bronson as Mary, Claire McDowell as the Princess of Hur, Nigel de Brulier as Simonidies.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Inverse. The scene of the toddler walking with the puppy. The woman with the baby that Mary meets. They better not be going to Bethelehem...
  • The arrested Judah is bound, beaten, and prays to God. On October 30, 1968, Ramon Novarro was bound and beaten to death by two gigolos. One of his last words was a prayer.
• Homage: In the Thames Silents/Turner Entertainment Company Print, Carl Davis uses his theme from King David for the sequence when Mary and Joseph enter the Cave of Bethlehem, which was once used by David when he was just a shepherd.
• Nightmare Fuel: The underground prison with its prisoners, insane or leprous, is dark and nightmarish.
• Special Effects Failure:
  • Although most of the naval battle is done with full-scale ships, there are several shots with unconvincing models (that look far worse than the models used in the 1959 version).
  • The Roman prisoner tied to the Prow of the incoming Pirate Galley is replaced by a dummy in one shot.

---