Audience Rating: Parental Guidance
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 5014785152521
Format: Collector's Edition, PAL, Widescreen
Label: Warner Home Video
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageAnalog
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Release Date: March 20, 2000
Running Time: 213 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: October 14, 1960

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
The biggest (and arguably the best) from Hollywood's Golden Age of Epic, Ben-Hur cost a staggering 15 million dollars in 1959 and was one of the largest film productions ever undertaken: the Circus Maximus set alone, constructed for the climactic chariot race, covered 18 acres and was filled with 40,000 tons of Mediterranean sand. Fittingly the movie scooped an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards that year, an achievement only equalled three decades later by Titanic, another bloated, wildly costly epic, albeit one with a distinctly less literate script (Gore Vidal provided uncredited script-doctoring for Ben-Hur). Director William Wyler, who had been an assistant on MGM's original silent version back in 1925, never sacrifices the human focus of the story in favour of spectacle (he had the good sense to leave the great chariot racing scene to second-unit director and experienced stuntman Yakima Canutt). Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur dominates an appropriately vast ensemble cast, while Miklos Rozsa's majestic musical score adds immeasurably to the sense of occasion. The Christian theme, the very crux of Lew Wallace's original novel, is handled sensitively, focusing on the central character's love and compassion for his family (evoked by the discovery of their leprosy), and heavy-handed sermonising is thankfully avoided (the figure of Christ is seen but never heard--his presence signalled by a serene musical motif instead).

On the debit side, at four hours it's a long haul especially given some of the portentous dialogue--"You can break a man's skull. You can arrest him. You can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you fight an idea?"--but worst of all is having to watch it on a tiny TV screen (and any TV screen is too tiny for this movie). The movie's theatrical aspect ratio is 2.76:1, so the widescreen version plays out in a little horizontal band framed by two huge black borders; while the pan & scan version sacrifices great swathes of the original frame, making this vast epic look like a tame TV mini-series. All in all, a great movie but one best seen on the biggest screen possible. --Mark Walker




Rating: - Every time I see this I get charged
It's definitely one of my favorites of all time because it's got stuff that most movies don't have: Everything. MGM and company unintentionally created a work of popular art that could only be fully appreciated in its original, pristine print, 70mm, super widescreen glory. It is no longer possible to make a film like Ben-Hur. Oh, George Lucas tries with all his computerized graphics, but this is a REAL spectacle, not some virtual one. 8,000 extras, tens of thousands of costumes, a $15 million budget ... Read More

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Rating: - The very definition of epic
This movie is long, and those weaned on MTV might find it overly long. However, the story takes you away to another world, the story arc interweaving a revenge epic with the Christian tale. The wonderful thing about it is that the Jesus story is not forced and interweaves naturally with the plot. Charlton Heston is at his best here, and this movie would count among the best ten ever made.

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Rating: - great film , bad transfer
one of my all time best movies.

BUT i've bought three, yes three copies of this film from three different sellers, all copies sealed and each one is defective arond thw chapter 15 mark. one copy is deffective from chapter15 onwards !
my guess is the transfer is dodgy so keep away from this 2001 release and pick up the recent 4 disc set instead.

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Rating: - One of the great films
I have watched this film many, many times since my father took me to see it when it was first released. It is truly what the definition of an epic movie is all about. Mighty sets, huge cast of extras, spectacular action, great perfomances from all the leading actors. What is really great, though, about this movie epic,it also potrays a fantastic story of;
friendship, ambition, betrayal, redemption,greed, revenge,miracle,history,family,love,the Roman Empire,religous persicution,Jesus Christ,crucifiction,leprosy, ... Read More

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Rating: - Perfect
What can I say that will add anything, Ben Hur is just the perfect film. Full of great acting, art work, suspense and so much more.

This print is very clear and bright.

Please but this DVD.

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