Ben Hur – Warner Home Video

Ben-Hur scooped an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards in 1959 and, unlike some later rivals, richly deserved every single one. This is epic filmmaking on a scale that had not been seen before and is unlikely ever to be seen again. But its not just running time or a cast of thousands that makes an epic, its the subject matter, and here the subjectPrince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and his estrangement from old Roman pal Messala (Stephen Boyd)is rich, detailed, and sensitively handled. Director William Wyler, who had been a junior assistant on MGMs original silent version back in 1925, never sacrifices the human focus of the story in favor of spectacle, and is aided immeasurably by Miklos Rozsas majestic musical score, arguably the greatest ever written for a Hollywood picture. At four hours its a long haul (especially given some of the portentous dialogue), but all in all, Ben-Hur is a great movie, best seen on the biggest screen possible. Mark Walker