This is a vintage original 8x10 in. US single-weight still photograph from the epic 1925 silent film production of BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST, starring Ramon Novarro as Judah Ben-Hur. The image depicts an exterior shot of Judah Ben-Hur (Ramon Novarro) holding the hand of a friend and Simonides (Nigel De Brulier). Novarro is wearing the costume from the film's most celebrated sequence, the chariot race, and this scene occurs just before that sequence. The detail in the actors' costumes can clearly be seen and appreciated in this still photograph. This vintage original still photograph is in near fine condition with a chip on the top right corner and on the upper left border area, light signs of wear around the white border area. The link pink tint which appears on the photograph is an effect from our scanner and does not appear on the actual photograph itself.

The renowned screenwriter June Mathis adapted Lew Wallace's famous novel for the screen. The film's exciting chariot race between Ben-Hur and Messala (Francis X. Bushman) remains a landmark of the Silent Era. Costing between $4,000,000 and $6,000,000, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is the most expensive silent film ever made. Ben-Hur was a big success as a novel, and also as a stage play. Stage productions had been running for twenty-five years. In 1922, two years after the play's last tour, the Goldwyn company purchased the film rights to Ben-Hur. The play's producer, Abraham Erlanger, put a heavy price on the screen rights. Erlanger was persuaded to accept a generous profit participation deal and total approval over every detail of the production. 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. It was re-created virtually shot for shot in the 1959 remake, copied in Prince of Egypt, and more recently imitated in the pod race scene in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace which was made almost 75 years later. 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 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.