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Film · MGM · 1925

Ben-Hur

Name: Ben-Hur scores 51 — Live Historic
Item: Ben-Hur
Rating: 51
Author: Live Historic

51Watch it awake.

See the 1925 race if you want the silent one, and don't tell them it's Heston.

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The review

This is the silent Ben-Hur, Ramon Novarro, not the 1959 Charlton Heston picture. A Jewish prince is betrayed, sent to the galleys, and comes back for a chariot race. The Christ story frames it. A teen can watch it. The country showed up for the race. The shoot was dangerous. I will not invent a death count to make that danger sound exact.

It was the most expensive picture of the silent years, with a worldwide rental near 9 million. That sum is why people still talk. The race is the reason they came. The Christ story is a real frame, and it is still not what filled the seats. Say the year before anyone starts describing the later film.

Journal

Keep Ben-Hur in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 51. Yours can differ.

The glance

Household and Temperance and Stewardship are the thin ones.

Is a marriage, a parent, or a child a real life here, or just a prop?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

The Ten Commandments

66 instead of 51

The Ten Commandments is still a religious film, and it scores 66 instead of 51. What you gain is household: Two brothers split a modern story between keeping the law and breaking it.

The eight

6
Industry
Galley slavery is forced work, and the chariot race is the paid spectacle.
4
Household
A prince is betrayed; no marriage or child is the life the race is for.
6
Piety
The Christ story frames it, but the race is why the country came.
7
Courage
He survives the galleys and returns to race on a shoot that was dangerous.
5
Republic
Betrayal can send a Jewish prince to the galleys under a ruling power.
4
Temperance
The most expensive silent picture trains a crowd to wait for the race.
6
Truth
The betrayal has a bill: the galleys first, then the return for the race.
3
Stewardship
A rental near 9 million bought a famous race on a shoot that was dangerous.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

Live Historic · Ben-Hur · 51IMDb

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Film · Universal · 1916

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

51Watch it awake.

A child can watch the submarine; the bolted-on war talk is 1916, not the sea.

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The review

Captain Nemo and a submarine, and the underwater scenes were really shot underwater. That is the part I would show a child. The sea is the pleasure. This 1916 Universal picture was the year's leader on the lists still cited. It is not a later version, so don't talk over it with a newer one.

A wartime frame was added, with Nemo against a warmongering power. The added war is 1916 talking. A child can watch the boat and the water. I'd say, before that frame takes over, that the war talk was put on for the year. The dive is the part worth keeping.

Journal

Keep 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in the record.