Unbelievably, I hadn't seen either version of Ben-Hur until today (although I have seen short clips of the 1959 version and was familiar with the basic plot). The 1959 version has a lot to live up to, and I don't really see it improving much on what was here, at least in terms of basic storytelling (Technology is another matter...). Everything about this was just BIG. Even with the acting as melodramatic as it often was back then, Carl Davis' score makes it where you can't help but be swept up in the drama and emotion of it all. The two obvious stand-out sequences, as many people have probably noted since it first came out, are the sea battle and the chariot race. I also liked the selective use of Technicolor which gave those sequences the look of a tableau vivant, particularly impactful when recreating well-known parts of the Gospels (although, oddly, nothing from Mark). Overall, this was the best kind of epic movie, where I was so wrapped up in it that I barely noticed time passing by.
Review of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
