This afternoon is cool and wet and we've been watching a restoration of this very long film. Some things are notable about it; the performance of Stephen Boyd as Messala being the standout. He is gifted some of the most extraordinary dialogue in film history earlier in the film which he delivers with credible nuance and style. The inflections are simply operatic in some of his lines and Charlton Heston's Judah can only stand and grin or respond despondently, surely knowing he was outclassed by Boyd. I have to say Boyd's was one of the great cinematic acting achievements.
Later in the film it all goes downhill with regard to the script. Karl Tunberg (credited for Screenplay) employed a few writers to assist him in this onerous project, but the results are uneven and not without being risible. Here's a classic; Judah is a galley slave and has to minister to the demands of Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins) who controls the slaves. "Go back to your oar, 41. Row well and live". Absolutely priceless and destined to arouse laughter, especially when preceded by Judah's.."I cannot believe my god wanted me to be a slave for 3 years only to die chained to an oar"!
I can't imagine which of the team wrote that rubbish but rubbish it was.
The other notable screen performance in the film is from Hugh Griffith, an English actor of great depth and intensity. He owns the team or horses that Judah rides in the famous chariot race - as thrilling a piece of artful cinema as it's possible to get and never trumped in any other film. But all comes crashing down in the end with this limp and mawkish dialogue, "It's not over, Judah" as the mortally wounded Messala sputters his last words in defiance.
As they say in another medium, too many cooks spoil the broth. But scenes in "Ben Hur" certainly created mirth when they were meant to do the opposite.
Later in the film it all goes downhill with regard to the script. Karl Tunberg (credited for Screenplay) employed a few writers to assist him in this onerous project, but the results are uneven and not without being risible. Here's a classic; Judah is a galley slave and has to minister to the demands of Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins) who controls the slaves. "Go back to your oar, 41. Row well and live". Absolutely priceless and destined to arouse laughter, especially when preceded by Judah's.."I cannot believe my god wanted me to be a slave for 3 years only to die chained to an oar"!
I can't imagine which of the team wrote that rubbish but rubbish it was.
The other notable screen performance in the film is from Hugh Griffith, an English actor of great depth and intensity. He owns the team or horses that Judah rides in the famous chariot race - as thrilling a piece of artful cinema as it's possible to get and never trumped in any other film. But all comes crashing down in the end with this limp and mawkish dialogue, "It's not over, Judah" as the mortally wounded Messala sputters his last words in defiance.
As they say in another medium, too many cooks spoil the broth. But scenes in "Ben Hur" certainly created mirth when they were meant to do the opposite.
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