Ben-Hur: A tale of the Christ
Fred Niblo
1925
SYNOPSIS
Betrayed by his Roman friend Messala, Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur is enslaved while his family is imprisoned. After surviving the galleys, he returns for vengeance, culminating in a spectacular chariot race and a spiritual encounter with Jesus Christ. Boasting a cast of thousands and massive sets, this MGM production was the most expensive silent film ever made, setting a new standard for epics and featuring one of the most thrilling action sequences in history.
CRITIQUE
Fred Niblo’s epic defined the scale of Hollywood spectacle. With a cast of thousands and the most expensive production of the silent era, it established MGM’s reputation for grandeur. The Technicolor sequences and the heart-stopping chariot race—filmed with dangerous realism—set a benchmark for action that stood for decades. Beyond the spectacle, its handling of the Christ narrative solidified the biblical epic as a commercial genre. It is a monument to the studio system’s ambition, proving cinema could rival the scope of history and religion itself.