The Epic Called Ben Hur

The MGM Studio was founded on the success of the original in 1925 and then in 1958 a then huge investment of $15m was risked on the remake of 'Ben Hur'. MGM risked their name and the financial future of the studio with this 'Epic' movie. The reward for taking this risk was enormous with over $80m flowing back into MGM's coffers.

It received collossal critical acclaim and won a then record of 12 Academy Awards, these were best picture, best director ( William Wyler), best actor (Charlton Heston), best supporting actor (Hugh Griffith), Cinematography (Robert Surtees), scoring (Miklos Rozsa), editing (Ralph Winters and John Dunning), costumes (Elizabeth Haffenden), art direction (William Horning and Edward Carfagno), sound recording (Franklin Milton), visual effects (Arnold Gillespie and Robert MacDonald) and last but by no means least sound effects (Milo Lory). The special effects brought a modern look to the movie, especially in two scenes the chariot race and the wonderful sea battle.

The cast which at times reached 50,000 was headed by the king of the 'Epic' movie Charlton Heston who as always showed his great physical and spirtual strength. It had a very strong and powerful supporting cast including Stephen Boyd and Jack Hawkins. It had over 3000 sets and bringing this together proved to be the final straw for Sam Zimbalist the producer who unfortunately died before the completion of the film.

In 1971 it had the largest audience of any film ever, with over 32 million Americans watching on television.

Was this the best 'Epic' of all time or just an over budgeted monster that should never have been made.