Ben Hur (1907)

Directors:

Sidney Olcott
Frank Oakes Rose

Writers:

Gene Gauntier (writer)
Lew Wallace (novel)

Release Date:

7 December 1907 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Drama

Tagline:

Positively the most super motion picture ever made

Plot Keywords:

Ancient Rome | Roman Empire | Slavery | Chariot Race | Adoption

Cast

Herman Rottger	...	Ben Hur
William S. Hart	...	Messala

Runtime:

15 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Manhattan Beach, California, USA

Company:

Kalem Company

Trivia:

This version was unauthorized, and its makers were successfully sued for copyright infringement.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years at the Movies (1994) (TV)

The Condensed Version

It's true that watching this, the first version of Lew Wallace's monumental tome is a bit like watching one of those 5-minute condensed versions of the entire Star Wars saga acted out by enthusiastic amateurs in their mum and dad's back garden, but complaining about how amateurish it all is seems a bit churlish to me.

Sidney Olcott, who like the rest of the film-making community, was still feeling his way back in 1907, would go on to better things, but it's clear that he still has no real idea of how to handle such a massive challenge. Panning shots and close-ups had already been found in films before 1907, but neither are to be found here, which is a shame because you get the feeling that the filmmakers here are trying to create a spectacle of sorts. Even then, they were starting to realise that audiences were growing more discerning and didn't want to see endless variations on the same theme every time they sat in front of a screen.

To give the filmmakers credit, the sets are quite extravagant for the time. It's not exactly clear what's going on a lot of the time, even with titles explaining each piece of action that is about to take place, but a lot of the cast seem to spend a lot of their time raising their arms. Sometimes you can tell they're doing it on cue because every arm goes up at the same time. The big chariot race is something of a let-down: the camera focuses on the crowd (about 12 of them) while every now and then we see the occasional chariot go flashing past. You've got to wonder whether Olcott watched this in his later years and rued the opportunity that he missed.

Incidentally, this film was the subject of a landmark legal case when the estate of the late Lew Wallace took Kalem Pictures, the makers of the film, to court for failing to get permission from the copyright holder to film the story. Kalem, I believe, claimed it was based on the stage play (which also boasted a live chariot race with the horses running on a treadmill), but to no avail...