|
Ben-Hur |  | Director: William Wyler
Actors: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet, Hugh Griffith
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.96
Buy New: $8.84
as of 3/12/2010 20:32 PST details
You Save: $11.12 (56%)
New (49) Used (21) from $3.95
Seller: faes_media
Rating:  365 reviews
Sales Rank: 695
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), Spanish (Published)
Rating: G (General Audience)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 212 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: D65506D
ISBN: 0790758458
UPC: 012569550629
EAN: 9780790758459
ASIN: B000056BP4
Theatrical Release Date: 1959
Release Date: June 1, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A JEWISH NOBLEMAN IN PALESTINE IS DRAWN INTO A HEROIC ODYSSEY THAT INCLUDES ENSLAVEMENT BY THE ROMANS, A BOLD ESCAPE FROM AN EMBATTLED SLAVE GALLERY, VENGEANCE AGAINST HIS TORMENTORS DURING A FURIOUS ARENA CHARIOT AND FATEFUL ENCOUNTERS WITH JESUS CHRIST.
Amazon.com essential video
Ben-Hur scooped an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards® in 1959 and, unlike some later rivals, richly deserved every single one. This is epic filmmaking on a scale that had not been seen before and is unlikely ever to be seen again. But it's not just running time or a cast of thousands that makes an epic, it's the subject matter, and here the subject--Prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and his estrangement from old Roman pal Messala (Stephen Boyd)--is rich, detailed, and sensitively handled. Director William Wyler, who had been a junior assistant on MGM's original silent version back in 1925, never sacrifices the human focus of the story in favor of spectacle, and is aided immeasurably by Miklos Rozsa's majestic musical score, arguably the greatest ever written for a Hollywood picture. At four hours it's a long haul (especially given some of the portentous dialogue), but all in all, Ben-Hur is a great movie, best seen on the biggest screen possible. --Mark Walker
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 365
 A monumental film March 11, 2010
Maria T. Pflum (Potomac, MD)
A monumental film. A must-see for movie lovers that appreciate the "art" of movie making.
 Be Careful March 2, 2010
Hyacinth Bucket
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is not so much a review of the movie itself, but of the quality of the DVD. After purchasing and receiving two Ben Hur DVDs via Amazon, and found both to be defective, I've given up. I'm purchasing this DVD from my local Best Buy store.
STILL A GREAT FILM March 1, 2010
J. Heaton (Springfield, OR USA)
I watched this in the theater when I was a heck of a lot younger. Too bad I was too young to appreciate it at the time. Perfomances are still phenomenal after all these years.
Still the best,even after 50 years February 12, 2010
David J. Duchene (Allen Park,MI. USA)
After 50 years Ben-Hur is still the best.Compared to today's so called spectacles,which are mostly computer generated special effects with very little story or acting to hold them together.This film,to me, has everything a great fim should have.
The acting is first rate.The actors can hold the long scenes together making the ancient story as watchable now as it was then.The chariot race is still stunning.No CGI today could ever duplicate it.Most of all it is a timeless story of love ,faith and a spectacle that will never be second to any that will come.The music score alone is over 2 and a half hours of unequalled beauty.
I hope the Bluray is released soon and is equal in quality that it deserves.
Excellent Box Set of The best Epic Movie, even With Religious themes February 11, 2010
Quentin Tarantino Fan (nowhere)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Aside from a religiously pandering to the end of both films, both films are classic movies in their own right. This Ben Hur Four Disc collector's edition is a step up for lovers of the Ben-Hur film, and while pretty expensive at 40 dollars (though lot's of places sell it for 30), it features the movie itself (good enough right?), oodles of great special features, a wonderful looking transfer, and an amazingly good print of the silent version, one of the very view silent movies that's as enjoyable today as it was when it was first released, along with movies like Nosferatu (1922), The Great Train Robbery (1903!), Metropolis (1927), and even A Trip To The Moon (1902), though the latter is pure interesting considering it's age (and really, can we go wrong with the epic three second Roundhouse Garden SCene from 1888?). For fans and lovers of this movie, there is not question this DVD is excellent.
BEN HUR:
First off, I'm not a Christian (I used to be, but it would take about 17 years to lose my faith that there's an invisible man in the sky, to quote George Carlin), but it doesn't matter much. Ben-Hur is still one of my favorite movies, and while I thought I would never like this movie after becoming agnostic (next time one of those moron christian tries to relentlessly talk me into their religion around campus is getting punched in the face), it didn't matter much anyway. Every time I look at the scope, I pretty much forget the religious undertones . Besides, it's not like Jesus was a bad person by any means (and yes, Christianity does have good morals within it), and the Jesus scenes in here are still tasteful and even touching (especially the scene where he shows up to rescue a distraught Ben-Hur in the desert). Even though the spiritual side of the movie doesn't have as much, it's still a good story about redemption, revenge, hatred, and loyalty. It's also class entertainment, with great art direction, big battle sequences (including the masterful and famous Chariot Race), strong and charismatic performances from Charlton Heston and just about everybody else, and a grand scope that makes it among the best epic movies, as a matter of fact, it's my favorite movie that would fall into epic (on a side note, what would happen if the next Transformers would be considered an epic, just kidding).
BEN HUR: A Tale of the Christ
in some ways, this version is even better than the first one, further boosted by the great new score created for the film. One thing I found out I liked about this and Nosferatu is the way the grainy stock footage made this look realistic and much more attractive. It puts me into the land of Ben-Hur easily, something that Hollywood production values sometimes have trouble doing. And for it's time, it's filmed beautifully, and the few color scenes are beautiful to look at, very realistic looking and really, just really perfectly capture the pristine moment of Christ's birth. It's one aspect this movie improves on in comparison to the remake.
So what does this version offer beside's it's pristine, rugged, and beneficial silent film look? Well, it's much shorter, which is good and bad at the same time. The characters are different from each other, as Heston's iconic performance is much different from the more innocent and surprisingly realistic feel of his character. For a silent film, the acting is expressive and quite good, a little unnatural but much better acted than the average crappy silent movie. The sea battle is much cooler to watch, as it's . But my favorite part is the aforementioned look of the silent film that really makes the film look rugged and strangely beautiful, something that the technicolor blockbuster of Ben Hur kind of lacks. After all, this is still a big budget movie made in Hollywood.
However, it still does pale a bit to the other version. The "friendship" between the two is not as convincing, and Messala is not a human in this one, he feels more like a villlian, like a cartoon character. Messala is much more superior in the remake, no questions asked. I kind of like the villiant stature, but the other incarnation is much superior. Unlike other people, I do not believe the chariot race in the remake is better. THe big budget and excitement is much more there the next time around, and it's much more exciting, with better sound and other stuff overall (give of take). The performances in the remake are overall better than the silent version, as I still prefer Heston's leading man prescence more. The look of the film is much more grand and better looking overall. Basically, even though the silent version assets that are better than the remake, it still is overall inferior thanks to the many factors that tilt the favor over to the remake.
Even though this movie is inferior to the grand, big, and developed remake, it's WAY more than just a relic, a great film that should last and be great viewing. Don't feel so bad about this movie being a bit worse in most of it's ways, that's not much of an insult.
BONUS FEATURES
For the bonus features, there's tons of them, including a booklet with great pictures that comes with the packaging. The commentary has been updated from the snapcase version, with film HIstorian T. Gene Hatcher filling in with Heston's old commentary. It's spread out into two discs for a good reason, and it's many languages as well. Another generous thing they gave for the remake is the inclusion of a music only track, which let's you play the movie solely with the score. It's a great score, and those who study film might just want to give it a listen to add to your arsenal of the art of filmmaking. The third disc is soley for the beautifully preserved silent version, and it's a great movie.
For the fourth disc, it contains about three hours of bonus material. The documentary "Ben Hur, the Making of an Epic" really traces the history, from it's original publishing, the 1907 silent reel (terrible movie, by the way), the silent version, and a making of of the movie itself, with porn guy Gore Vidal takling about his rewrite. The other documentary "The Epic that Changed Cinema" talks about it's influence on other films. George Lucas makes an appearance here, and he tells us that it was the Chariot race that inspired the Pod Racer sequence. Cool! ANd a visually stunning movie such as this has a photo gallery that shows pictures of sets and promotions, a little light on content, but still great in what they give you. The screen tests are cool, but contains a tale of what happens if you miscast, to all you aspiring filmmakers out there. The footage of Ben Hur played by Leslie Nielson shows that casting is very very important.
As far as promotion goes, the rest of the material is dedicated to the ever great trailers that I can never stop watching. There's great trailers of the movie, and the coolest things are the Oscar and promotion materials. The disc contains footage of the Oscar winnings, and for anyone who wants to see what it was like when one of their favorite movies won their oscars, this is for you. The newsreel galleries are sick, and other stars such as Debbie reynolds and Clark Gable show up in 1959 for premieres. This is crammed with great things that you would like to see from time to time again and again. And besides, much of the promotional material is history. Remember, this isn't even counting the movies! And to think we can spend almost the same price on the one disc version of Up whic features about 10 minutes of special features and trailers for _____ Disney movies for about the same length (pure bull_____).
Overall, this DVD is quite a treat and will give fans of the movie quite a bit to check on. And it's not counting repeat watchings, but then again, a truly great movie should stand up to multiple viewings anyway. When you look at it that way, the somewhat pricy box set isn't that bad of a deal. So get it, and experience no social life for the next week or so (though there probably watching Meet the Spartans. In that case, friends suck at life and social life isn't even worth it).
Showing reviews 1-5 of 365
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
