Ben-Hur: The Movie (1959)

Cover of DVD for Ben-Hur movie (1959)

After reading the book, my next goal was to view the 1959 movie. I was hoping to borrow a Blu-Ray copy from the library but only the DVD version was available at the time. The quality turned out to be surprisingly good.

I watched over about five sittings over a two week period. I started to "watch" Charlton Heston's commentary but it was weird and difficult in the this edition. The commentary was not continuous. You had to hit the "fast forward" button on the remote to get to the next bit. That annoyed me and I only lasted until through the first disc. The commentary on the 50th Anniversary Blu-Ray is better since it is continuous (although I found it difficult to hear).

I like this movie version since it told the story a bit differently (it had to compress the book into about 3.5 hours of film). The movie ending was almost as schmaltzy as the book: shot of Jesus dead on the cross in the background with a shepherd and sheep passing to the right in the foreground. 

Thank God for these DVDs we can watch at home. I'm not sure I could or would want to sit through over three hours straight in a theater.

After watching this movie, I have a better appreciation for how it influenced Monty Python's Life of Brian movie.
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Links:
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2019/04/ben-hur-tale-of-christ.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Hur_(1959_film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python%27s_Life_of_Brian
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Written May 25 2019.