Ben Hur: A Tale Of The Christ Vintg Orig and 50 similar items

Vintage original 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm.) U.S. single-weight glossy photograph (NN: 200-25), near-fine condition. The image depicts a medium interior shot of Judah Ben-Hur (Ramon Novarro) being seduced by the beautiful Iras (Carmel Myers) while a wealthy older man watches with amusement. This vintage original still photograph is in near-fine condition with a 0.5 in. vertical tear on the top border approximately 3.5 in. from the center and another 0.5 in. vertical tear on the top border approximately 1.75 in. from the top right corner. There are two tiny creases on the top left corner and a very thin 3 in. vertical scratch near the left outer white border in the center of the photograph. The original silent version of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is considered one of the true epics of silent cinema and also featured several sequences in two-color Technicolor. Costing between $4,000,000 and $6,000,000, the film was the most expensive silent film ever made. Ben-Hur was a big success as a novel and also as a stage play. In 1922, two years after the play's last tour, the Goldwyn company purchased the film rights to Ben-Hur. Shooting began in Italy in 1923, starting two years of difficulties, accidents, and eventually a move back to Hollywood. Additional recastings (including Ramon Novarro as Ben-Hur) and a change of director caused the production's budget to skyrocket. The studio's publicity department was shameless, advertising the film with lines like: "The Picture Every Christian Ought to See!" Although audiences flocked to Ben-Hur after its premiere in 1925 and the picture grossed $9,000,000, its huge expenses and the deal with Erlanger made it a loser for MGM. MGM was unable to recoup its investment. When filming the chariot scene, the drivers were careful and slow, which disappointed Meyer. To make it more exciting, he offered a prize of $100 to the winner, and the resulting heated competition led to the horrendous crash that remains in the movie. That and another fatal accident led to changes in rules of filming and film safety. A total of 200,000 ft. of film was shot for the chariot race scene, which was eventually edited down to 750 ft. This scene has been much imitated and was re-created virtually shot-for-shot in the 1959 remake. Some scenes in the film were in two-strip Technicolor. One of the assistant directors for this sequence was a very young William Wyler, who would later direct the 1959 remake. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; 1925; dir: Fred Niblo; cast: Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Betty Bronson, Claire McDowell, Kathleen Kay, Carmel Myers, Nigel De Brulier, Mitchell Lewis, Leo White, Frank Currier, Charles Belcher, Dale Fuller, Winter Hall.