The biggest, and best, biblical epic ever from Hollywood.

I suspect those reading this come from two distinct camps: one, comprised of viewers 40 and older who've seen Ben-Hur at least once in the theatre (though not likely in its intended "Camera 65" presentation), as well as a couple of times on broadcast TV (the absolute worst way in which to see it; and the other, consisting primarily of younger viewers who've never seen Ben-Hur, and based on a belief that spectacles are declasse, have no interest in seeing it either. To both groups, I can unhesitatingly recommend this latest, digitally-restored DVD of Ben-Hur as a fine way to enjoy one of Hollywood's truly great films, and also (to the younger audience members) as a lesson to see how movies were once made, and regrettably, aren't any more.

That's quite a mouthful, but, after finding the last TV viewing of Ben-Hur many years ago a colossal bore, I have to admit that this newest DVD is like seeing it almost for the first time, and indeed, the first time I saw this film was quite an experience for a 15 year-old high school sophomore, back in the spring of 1960.

The marketing of films then was quite different from today, and going to see movies like this was actually quite an event. For starters, the film played in New York for practically a year in only one theatre - Lowe's State on Broadway. Then, it was released to a handful of theatres around the state, still on an "exclusive, reserved-seat engagement" basis. In addition to creating a demand to see the film by distributing it in this manner, the film's producers had a far more practical aspect to deal with: Ben-Hur was filmed in a new, widescreen process called, "Camera 65," which, for all intents and purposes, was identical to another such process - Todd-Ao.

Both were attempts to duplicate many of the characteristics of the granddaddy of all widescreen processes - Cinerama - and both were vast improvements over the first such "Cinerama wannabe, " the much ballyhooed, and vastly inferior, "Cinemascope." Camera 65 and Todd-Ao incorporated screens with an image three times as wide as it was high, and like Cinerama, 5 state of the art, high-fidelity loudspeakers behind the screen, and one or two in the rear - something all but ignored by the Cinemascope process.

Clearly, movie theatre owners had to install larger screens and all new sound systems to properly showcase either Camera 65 or Todd-Ao, and regrettably, very few did, most likely due to cost considerations. Seeing Ben-Hur on this huge screen, accompanied by a then stunning stereophonic soundtrack (and "stereo" was still a relatively new, and unfamiliar word) was quite a visceral experience.

Biblical epics were usually immensely popular, and all seemed to come with all the same ingredients: big sets, fancy costumes, ponderous music, huge battle scenes, and lastly, dull, insipid dialog and, just as often, lousy acting. Ben-Hur changed, or, to paraphrase The New York Times film critic of the day, Bosley Crowther, "transcended" these restraints. While still a spectacle, and the biggest spectacle in movie history, Ben-Hur was also a intelligently written, literate, drama.

The screenplay (actually co-written by Gore Vidal and Christopher Fry, neither of whom were ever credited) is one of the most intelligent, compelling screenplays to ever accompany a spectacle on such a huge scale. When the Roman characters speak (all of whom were purposely played by British actors), it's as if someone of genuine importance and intellect is speaking - not a Hollywood hack job dressed in flowing, fancy robes.

One must take into consideration many of the conventions of movie making in the late 50's when watching this film. Many of them would never be used today, and many generate precisely the opposite result from that which was intended. An ominous musical "crash" from what seems to be the entire orchestra, as a character raises her hand to her face in astonishment doesn't create empathy, but rather, laughter, but then, this is how it was done back then.

There are also many long, lingering shots wherein two characters are speaking, and the entire scene is shot with a single camera that either remains stationary, or moves slowly in and out. Then, at a crucial point in the dialog, there is a closeup, accompanied by that familiar orchestral blast, to highlight a significant moment. Very effective in 1959, but just plain silly today.

So what? These moments are few, and as there are so many other wonderful moments in the 3 1/2 hours of this film, they do little to detract from the overall impact.

The film begins with a lovely depiction of The Nativity, accompanied by a glorious musical soundtrack in which the heavenly voices of the choir come from, of all places, the back of the theatre! Then, as the story of Judah Ben-Hur enfolds, we see the entry of his former childhood friend, Massala (Stephen Boyd) who is now a Roman Tribune, and whose intentions are less than honorable insofar as how he wishes to use his former friend.

Judah, his mother and his sister are wrongfully arrested. Judah is sent to the galleys of the Roman fleet (where most live less than a year) and the whereabouts of his mother and sister are unknown. During a ferocious sea battle, Judah rescues the leader of the Roman fleet, Quintus Arius, (Jack Hawkins), who, in a show of gratitude, adopts Judah as his son, and even the emperor, Tiberius, grants Judah his freedom.

Still driven by a deep-seated blood lust for revenge against Massala, and a genuine desire to find his mother and sister, Judah leaves his successful life in Rome as a charioteer, and returns to Judea in pursuit of his family.

Along the way, he runs into an Arab sheik, hilariously and brilliantly played by Hugh Griffith (who won an Academy Award for his role) and discovers that this sheik owns four of the most beautiful, white Arabian racing horses he has ever seen. Even after being pursuaded to drive these horses in the Roman Circus against the "black beauties" of Massala, Judah still continues his quest to find his mother and sister.

Upon returning to his once beautiful, but now ruined home, his former love, Esther (Haya Harareet) informs Judah that his mother and sister are dead, though we in the audience know that their fate is even worse, and that they are still very much alive. Driven now by an even greater level of hate and revenge against Massala, Judah storms out of his house to return to Rome to compete in the Circus. And, this is only the first half of the movie!

After a 15 minute intermission, with a musical "Entr'Acte," the second half wastes little time getting down to business, and that business is the famed chariot race. This sequence was and remains the most phenomenal, exciting, brilliantly staged and photographed 11 minutes in film history. It is unlikely to be duplicated or surpassed, and was done (hang onto your hats, all of you under the age of 30) NO digital effects whatsoever! This stuff is all real, and flat out stunning to this day.

So, is the movie over? Hardly. There is still close to an hour left, and the finale of the film is rather well juxtaposed with a very well filmed depiction of The Crucifixion. Throughout all of Ben-Hur, there is a not too frequent appearance of the Christ figure, always accompanied by Miklos Rosza's lovely "Alleluia," from his masterful musical score. Though many of the scenes involving Christ are depictions of actual events (The Nativity, The Sermon on the Mount, etc.) just as many are entirely fictitious, and involve interaction between Judah Ben-Hur and Christ. Some are downright sappy by today's standards, but a standout during the crucifixion, as Ben-Hur attempts to give Christ water, still chokes me up to this very day.

Digital restoration is a fairly familiar term to most people today, but rarely have the results of such work come off as well as they do in this DVD: this print looks as if it were filmed yesterday, and the color and clarity of the image are nothing short of amazing. The severe "letter-boxing," or "widescreen" image gives the viewer a faily good idea of just how massive the Camera 65 screen actually was. Certainly, the best way to view this DVD is on a 42, or 56" widescreen HDTV set, which I am not fortunate enough to own. And a decent surround sound system is an absolute must.

One scene didn't work too well in 1959, and doesn't today either. That is the sea battle in which miniature ships were used, in an effort to avoid a catastrophic event which occurred during the filming of the original silent version of the film, in which full scale ships were used. Despite the obvious skill of the craftsmen who built these 11' ships, they're miniature ships, aand look like miniature ships. Worse still is the use of a (thankfully) no longer used technique, and that was rear projection.

Rear projection is exactly as it sounds: actors are filmed in front of a screen, onto which an image is projected from the rear. No matter how hard film makers tried, NO rear projection images looked "right," and many included some truly annoying, squiggly outlines on the characters in the forefront. Just about all of the scenes of characters juxtaposed against the battle in the background in Ben-Hur are done by rear projection, and all have these annoying outlines. While not as obvious on a TV screen as the huge Camera 65 screen, they're still distracting and stupid looking.

The sea battle aside, most of Ben-Hur remains thrilling, involving, deeply moving and never once boring - not something easily said about any 3 1/2 hour long movie. It is a testimonial to film making of years past, and the expression, "they don't make 'em like this anymore," was never more appropriate. Yes, it has a "cast of thousands," more than 300 sets, phenomenal costumes and a stunning musical score by the late Miklos Rosza (for which he too won an Academy Award), and has the most exciting 11 minutes of film history ever. It also has a literate and intelligent script that makes it stand alone amongst spectacles both before, and after.

In 1961, Samuel Bronston released his epic, King of Kings which he promised to be "bigger and better than Ben-Hur in every way." Aside from being a genuinely awful retelling of the Christ story, with all the important events mixed up with others at all the wrong times and places, and a truly stinko portrayal of Christ by Jeffrey Hunter, King of Kings was everything Ben-Hur wasn't: spectacle for the sake of spectacle, lousy acting and dull.

This DVD will remain one of the favorites in my collection, but is a bit strange in at least one respect: it is the first two-sided DVD I've ever seen, and for some inexplicable reason, there is no indication whatsoever which side is which. I suspect many others, like me, will try to watch the film, only to realize they've put the second half on first. Other than this quirk, everything else about this DVD is outstanding, and even the extras, especially the one about the making of Ben-Hur are genuinely interesting and entertaining.

So, get ready once again for a cheek-numbing, 3 1/2 hour experience, and enjoy one of the best films ever. And, yes, they don't make 'em like this any more.