Ben-Hur Chariot Race (1925) | Complete Chariot Race

[@RetiredSchoolCook]

😃Thank you 👍

[@johnmanno2052]

So THIS is that famous scene I've heard about all my life! Absolutely magnificent. Other films have desperately tried to recapture this, and many have come close, but nobody's been able to recreate the jaw dropping brilliance of this scene.

[@finrodbrs]

Depending on what you've heard, you may be looking for the scene from the remake with Charleton Heston. Both are made by C.B. Demill but I think the 1954 version is the more famous today.

[@johnmanno2052]

@@finrodbrs Actually no! It's this scene I've heard about. I've seen the Charlton Heston monstrosity, and think it's barely a pale shadow of this, also Novarro is a FAR, FAR better actor than Mr So Stiff He Can Barely Move Heston. Finally, I'm one of those VERY weird people who think that silent film is superior to talkies, but please don't tell anyone because I don't want to be lynched by an angry mob.

[@davidmoser3535]

@@finrodbrs 1959 William Wyler cb wasnt involved in remake

[@eugenio1203]

This is THE scene, it was so ambitious that the project being so big had a lack of safety protocols, a lot of horses and stuntmen were hurt and others died, it’s because of this film that hurting animals (and people) was strictly banned in Hollywood, next year this gem of the film industry will be 100 years old

[@paullatimer1639]

I've heard that there were up to 25 cameras filming it from every angle. What a job for the editor! The film is a masterpiece.

[@steveweiss6442]

They did a fantastic job on this.

[@crazyman8472]

That was some awesome camera work! 😎

[@DavidGarcia-h5l]

Truly kicked ass..and 35 years later was inferior

[@andywomack3414]

@@DavidGarcia-h5l Indeed. The Charlton Heston chariot race was an unrealistic and weak imitation.

[@SathishKumar-gs1qn]

Unbelievable camera and editing... Marvelous 🎉🎉🎉

[@willlockler9433]

Absolutely fantastic editing job, for any time.

[@DevenderKumar-ds4st]

Superlative! Filming such a hectic sequence in the sikent era is a wonder in itself. Filming this incredible-like sequence twice is a stupendous thing when filming even once is too much. None other than de Mille coud do this. The solitary figure in the history of motion picture that has carried the film making profession on his shouldets. Am shortcof words. What would you say. Spellbound!

[@RogerWilmut]

The optical effects work is magnificent. Only the bottom tier of the audience existed, the rest being a model suspended in front of the camera to blend in exactly, the same device being used for the towers. The joint is comopletely invisible even though the camera could pan. The miniature spectators could be moved to appear to jump up and down.

[@greglbennett]

Proof that all the computers and CGI environments in the world can't hold a candle to physical sets. This is amazing filmmaking for 1925 and its better than almost anything you'll see today.

[@thegoddessdiana9185]

Film making completed 99 years ago (I'm writing this in 2024)! Impressive! I remember the 1959 successor film very well as I saw it as a 10-year old. I have both the VHS tape and now the DVD.

[@rustythecrown9317]

Up Jupiter , Up Mars.

[@mitchellminer9597]

That was magnificent! Thank you for posting. The author of the Ben-Hur book, Lew Wallace, was a Civil War general under Grant, and also the governor of New Mexico who had to deal with Billy the Kid.

[@rustythecrown9317]

Wrote in his spare time between gigs.

[@davidmoser3535]

bad general, and wasnt honorable to billy. You can look it up.

[@leebrandt8597]

No horses were left unharmed during the filming of this movie

[@glenrich-uu9zr]

This film is so precious and spectacular. It is hard to say that it can match the film of 1959 by Heston. But considering the techniques and the early stage of movie production, it is no doubt that a marvelous and entertaining work, a good model of its successor.

[@arteguey]

For all the glory of Heston/Boydd performance during the race, this first version seems to me more beautiful. OF course, its a matter of opinions...

[@glenrich-uu9zr]

@@arteguey I am totally agreed that the exciting, the oppressions and tensions of the rhythm of chariots race is echoed in every audience mind.

[@vulpo]

This seems like a fantastic work of cinema, perhaps even better than the 1959 version, until you learn that one of the "effects" they used was to trip the horses running at full gallop using trip wires. A hundred horses were deliberately killed in this way for our entertainment pleasure in the making of the Chariot Race for the 1925 Ben Hur. The technique was banned a few years later.

[@glenrich-uu9zr]

​​​@@vulpo It may be sad or an appreciation to the clever minds of the poineers of the movie production. They used ropes, basic tools, hard working, utmost patience, with a little bit of luck to fulfill the mission of impossible.

[@markbeck8384]

Some pretty theatrical costumes, but really spectacular. Amazing what they could pull off!

[@biggerock]

Beautiful and horrifying at the same time. Wow!

[@chookaschookas444]

Our local symphony orchestra (Auckland Symphonia) played the music for the showing of the whole film. I don't know if it was the same music as this, but the conductor has played this around the world. It was thrilling and at the end of the chariot race, the orchestra was cheered loudly. It was in a local "Picture Palace" built for silent movies, although it is now an updated fully functional theatre.

[@davidwoodbridge9433]

It was the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, I was playing First Trombone - the chariot race was non-stop playing for the whole orchestra and particularly tiring for the brass section - especially when doing two shows in one day. It was great to hear the cheering afterwards from the audience! ( It was the same music - written by Carl Davis, and conducted in our performances by Sir William Southgate ). The theatre was the Civic Theatre which still does every year silent films with live orchestral accompaniment. It was built in 1929 and was at the time the largest movie theatre in the world after Radio Music Hall in New York City. It was restored to it's original grandeur in 1999 and is fascinating to visit.

[@chookaschookas444]

@@davidwoodbridge9433 Aha - I chose the name of a previous incarnation of the orchestra - Juan Matteucci's time I think. The performance was exhilarating, so thank you for your contribution.

[@713davidh42]

I think it was Carl Davis who composed the music when it was shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in the U.S.

[@713davidh42]

This is the film that put the M-G-M studio on the map. The chariot race in the 1959 remake pales in comparison to this silent version. The film editor did a fantastic job of splicing it together. Sadly, there were horses and perhaps human lives lost although I don't think it was intentional.

[@kristoferzamojski7140]

Tylko wersja z 1959 roku jest najlepsza!

[@faming1144]

One might find one more appealing than the other, but to say one is better than the other is comparing apples and oranges. E.g. this 1925 version has that typical generic face make-up of silent Holywood movie actors that for me doesn't agree with the location nor time-period of the action. I don't now what music was played in the theaters, but the score used here I find horribly overdone and hardly matching the visuals nor the time-period. For the silent movie lovers out there, the 1959 version has no music during the race at all, just the sound effects of the race itself. This makes for a very intense, none distracted experience.

[@713davidh42]

@@faming1144 The 1959 race is certainly good, but I to me 1925 race is better filmed and edited even though tragedy happened. The music used I think is from the TCM showing of the movie was composed by Carl Davis. The 1959 remake is better than the silent version in several respects such as a more authentic Esther character, but not with regard to the chariot race which hopefully no horses were lost in the later film. I've saved the last intertitle from the earlier movie in my documents.

[@713davidh42]

@@kristoferzamojski7140 If you get Turner Classic Movies (TCM) where you live, I recommend that you watch the silent version whenever it is shown. I watched the entire movie on TCM and found it to be very moving. The 1959 remake is as good in many respects, but not with regard to the chariot race. I hope my comments translate well into your language.

[@713davidh42]

@@kristoferzamojski7140 If you have Turner Classic Movies (TCM) where you live, I recommend viewing the silent version whenever it is available. I've seen the entire movie and found it very meaningful. The 1959 remake is almost as good, but not with regard to the chariot race. I hope my comment translates well.

[@davidmoser3535]

William Wyler, director of 1959 Ben Hur, visible running in 1 scene.

[@stephennewton2223]

A look at the cast shows many giants in uncredited roles.

[@TorrediPisa52]

Astonishing movie!

[@DMBall]

Among the extras who worked on this shoot: Clark Gable and Myrna Loy, at the start of their careers

[@tomc8115]

Joan Crawford too, according to some sources

[@elvirgil3588]

¡¡¡Qué película!!! efectos fabulosos, grandes tomas en una de las escenas más complicadas de filmar d etodos los tiempos. hace 100 años y la verdad nole pide nada en absoluto a las películas actuales. Eso sucede cuando hay un artista al mando. Un tesoro invaluable

[@Milordvega]

The 1959 version is greater, but for 1925, this version is even more epic than the 1959 version was for its time. Kind of like how the effects in the original Star Wars (1977) would not be so impressive today, but for 1977, they were just mindblowing. So this chariot race must have wowed audiences in 1925 even more than how the race in the Charlton Heston/Stephen Boyd version surely amazed viewers in 1959. I hope I make sense.

[@fshoaps]

Sorry to the dead horses, but cool scene.

[@teastrainer3604]

In 1968, at age 69, star Ramon Navarro was beaten to death by two hustlers who mistakenly believed he had a lot of cash hidden in his home.

[@DavidGarcia-h5l]

Who was Roman Navarro?

[@teastrainer3604]

@@DavidGarcia-h5l It's Ramon Novarro, and he was the star of the movie.

[@DavidGarcia-h5l]

@@teastrainer3604 hee won the race and do you know his origins!. very interesting

[@johnmanno2052]

Sad. Sad end to a superb actor

[@track1949]

Omg, I had never heard that before. 😢

[@theophilos0910]

So basically our fearless editor (poor Lloyd Nosler) had nearly 45 hours of raw footage to work with for this one scene alone Talk about a daunting task when instructed by his masters to pare all of that raw material down to a mere 12-minute scene - ouch (that’s ALOT of raw footage that could have been salvaged for the Smithsonian !) Which means (very roughly) with 2,900 minutes of raw footage at a shooting cost of est. $20,000 per minute for a total of nearly USD $60 million-expressed in to-day’s modern currency value-for this one ‘single 12-minute set of scenes-in-a-series’ alone ! Try explaining THAT to those tight-fisted overweight Lowes’ bean-counters back in 1925 - ! ROFL

[@pathdaly]

That's some pretty intense stuff I must say, but I have to think there MUST have been some injuries (or even deaths?).

[@十蘭コメント]

Thanks. オリジナルのベン・ハーは、トーキー映画時代の大作だった。

[@riofest8893]

(1) As far as action scenes go, I think it surpasses the 1959 version....8:48 The camera lying down was completely absent in the 1959 movie. 12:20 The crash scene is also different, and it is said that 100 horses were killed during filming.... Don't miss the sea battle with pirates in the full version. (2) The Mexican actor who plays Judah is not as good as Rudolph Valentino, but he was a popular Latino actor who had a miserable later life as a gay.

[@kitt2000car]

Must of been a lot of work to train all those horses to drive in open bridles??

[@randyhebbebusche3644]

So sad that animals and people could be replaced so easily. Poor horses, stunt men were expendable too.

[@monikagrosch9632]

Those buildings! And the costumes!!!

[@DavidGarcia-h5l]

brutal...the frekin helmet wings.. OMG

[@Hunpecked]

Wow. Pretty good for 1925.

[@wyzrd777]

Francis X Bushman (Massala) was my great uncle. Visiting him as a child was like time travel to the 1920's. His house had lots of items from his movies.

[@LillianSteele-u9v]

He was one of my aunt's favorite actors. She was the late Mrs. Lucy Jane Barker and I am named for her and also her mom who was my grandmother. I am a retired museum educator and it is an honor to discuss this with you, sir. She saw King of Kings when she was in middle school in Georgia in the late 1920s.

[@Ivan-cr3vc]

My first knowledge of this version. For 1925 "they did good". A couple of things may have even been better. The only difference I noted was in the 1959 version Messala's chariot had those large knives on the wheel hubs and the Sheik warned Judah at the start.

[@deniseeulert2503]

That this film had the race take place in Antioch made it truer to the book. The 1959 film had the race in Jerusalem but there was no huge stadium ever in that city.

[@713davidh42]

Good point. The silent film specifically mentions the chariot race takes place in Antioch while the remake seems to presume that it occurs in Jerusalem. 👍

[@cavramau]

Monty Python, what do I do with the Holy Handgrenade of Antioch? Are there instructions?

[@rajeevkumar-cv4uw]

99years ago released this movie.

[@dovbarleib3256]

The outfits, esp. of the women, seem to reflect the fashions when the movie was made.

[@JamesSimmons-d1t]

The camera truck pulling is of course method. Civil war general wrote novel. Like 'The Robe' , Christianity reverse chronologized. My classics professor The Lawrenceville School, app 1966, said he fell asleep in theater for Heston/Boyd film. Probably in Leper Colony. He was smart and educated and a real idiot. Helped write AP test. Large Deal. Classic silent, of course. The silent era 'flashing eyes!' bit always kills me. Try Youngson film clip collections, esp 1st..DAYS OF THRILLS AND LAUGHTER.

[@kedharisivashankar9905]

About a century ago! Fantastic!! Watch it in 75% speed for more realism. (This is a 16fps cinematography, not 24fps we are used to watch).

[@frankgesuele6298]

Play Magika while watching as it adds to the thrill🐎🐎🐎🐎

[@百済義純]

フィルムセンターで観たが1959年のカラー版にも劣らない撮影に驚く。ウィリアムワイラーはこの時助監督のひとりだった。

[@sandersdev]

FOR IT'S AGE IT IS AS GOOD AS CHARLTON HESTON'S FILM. AND PROBABLY 100 TIMES BETTER THAN THE LATEST VERSION.

[@mariuszamfirescu5390]

Just : wow !

[@lonl123]

If you watch closely, after the final big crash, you can see someone running on the track that looks to be in a long coat...this was actually the director as the crash was really quite bad (And unscripted) …many horses were killed and I think one of the stunt drivers was killed as well...though I'm not 100% about that part...a stunt driver did die during the filming of the race though.

[@713davidh42]

I watched a 2nd time and saw it too. Thanks for pointing it out. 👍

[@RogerWilmut]

Actually it was assistant director William Wyler.

[@lonl123]

@@RogerWilmut How right you are! Thank you for the correction...been years since I saw the Documentary.

[@davidmoser3535]

It was AD William Wyler, director of the 1959 Ben Hur

[@ramaraksha01]

So the changes with the Charlton Heston movie is no Wheel spokes on the villian's chariot? That seems fair I never like those spokes - that would be an unfair advantage & would not be allowed in any competition Also Heston did not use a whip on his horses - here the hero whips his horses

[@pameladowe2492]

A spectacle then, a spectacle now!

[@alfredoreitano3426]

UN FILM SPETTACOLARE. UN COLOSSO DELLO SCHERMO.

[@Sam-nb1rm]

It was reported that over 150 horses died because of this scene

[@rjlchristie]

Many animals were proudly stressed and maimed in this production.

[@elibravo9710]

pobres caballos 😢

[@christoph404]

well it is a spectacular sequence , but it came at a price, over 100 horses were killed filming the race, a statistic that is usually overlooked . The first crash 8:02 is gut wrenching, those horses got mangled when the chariot crashes...the second one at 12:15 was a pile up, multiple horses and chariots crashing on top of each other, goodness knows how many takes they did for that.

[@rustythecrown9317]

Yeah , it was a massacre for sure. But to be fair , all those horses are dead now anyway....

[@SKINWALKER97]

Never mind the horses, 3 people died duering the filming of this scene.

[@ScottRossProductions]

It ain't no Ben Hur... wait... great stuff.

[@ashokpawar7966]

Almost 100 years back Hollywood at the best! Indian Bollywood is lagging behind although Dada phalke given them horizon to march on.

[@williamwong7820]

it out Ben-Hurs Ben-Hur

[@Bhagwandeokar-m2n]

पहिला बेनहुर १९२५ सालि आला होता ( मूक पट " ) त्या मधील रथा ची शर्यत .

[@DavidGarcia-h5l]

Mr . Classic Hollywood.. you are the man go to the head of the class.. OMG.. that was fucking awesome from a film aficionado that i am..no contest 1925 BEN HUR ...KICKS ASS ..it took 35 years for the remake... Shame on 1959 ... BTW never knew of the 1935 version.. although the JEW was buffed...most JEWS aren't buffed ..the opponent was much more chiseled naturally.. great piece

[@JamesSimmons-d1t]

Chiseled. Well gay is your right. we can only imagine...a mound of snail flab with a Bud. 12. The internet was sure to devolve. This I saw when I first heard of 'social media'...like 'Truth Social' and 'Military Intelligence, contradictions in terms...and in reality in facts. My dad was an important research scientist and national director of most divisions of Western Electric Co. he would come up to me...strong man superb athlete when young...tears in his eyes... "If we only KNEW!"

[@행호할캥홍]

우와우

[@mtpocketswoodenickle2637]

So sorry Cecil B. Demille. Wasn't you!

[@713davidh42]

Cecil B. DeMille did a couple Biblical epics during the silent era: King of Kings from 1927 and his 1st version of The Ten Commandments in 1923. The 1956 sound version of the latter film is I think DeMille's best work.

[@dipalidas56]

Silent movie !

[@andywomack3414]

Ben Hur, a story about Rome written by someone who seemed to know very little about Rome. Although the architectural giganticism is not something that I think existed anywhere at any time in the Roman Empire, the chariot race itself makes the Charlton Heston version an embarrassing weak and unrealistic imitation.

[@tooleyheadbang4239]

Only because the Novarro version was TOO realistic. Irresponsibly so.

[@andywomack3414]

@@tooleyheadbang4239 How many horses died in the Navarro version? How many actors injured? Any stats on those issues? I doubt CGI could replicate the carnage. And the movie likely did not show the worst of it.

[@pauleypavillion6088]

Hard to imagine that all adult people in this video are long dead. Only a few that were born in 1920 are 100 and over that may still be alive today in 2024.

[@tooleyheadbang4239]

Not hard for people living in the real world.

[@adamodeo9320]

ben-hur - Hebrew for son of freedom

[@davidevans3227]

and the music! 😃

[@cosmicwartoad2587]

Did anybody ACTUALLY survive a chariot race?

[@andrewsafarik5060]

1925 PROBABLY 90% OF AMERICANS HAD RIDDEN A HORSE

[@phaasch]

Normally id call myself a purist to an irritating degree, but I would love to see this spectacular footage treated to a 60fps, motion stabilised upgrade. With colourisation. Just because...

[@mirai3856]

ハリウッド映画 👏㊗️👏㊗️👏㊗️👏㊗️

[@rjlchristie]

Quite a cast of flapper hair styles in the audience.

[@rustythecrown9317]

It Was the twenties after all.

[@oluhamilton2121]

Magnificent Hollywood FOOKERY. Wonder how many horses were sacrificed for the sake of realism.

[@jamessheridan4306]

I've seen figures of up to 150 but who's counting? This is the film that put the newly minted Metro Goldwyn Mayer on the map. Considering all those fabulous stars they would go on to use up like Kleenex and then kick to the curb once they'd finished with them, what are the lives of 150 horses give or take? That's Entertainment!

[@crazyman8472]

IMDB says “several” horses and at least one stuntman were killed during the chariot race. Several extras were possibly drowned during the sea battle. 💀

[@DavidGarcia-h5l]

Fookery ???.. never heard that explain

[@DavidGarcia-h5l]

@@saluki7651 who you voting for?..all being said

[@ChanceKearns]

@@saluki76515:52

[@shaguftasayed4022]

F1

[@LillianSteele-u9v]

Everyone, this movie is interesting and the race really was run. However, the characters Ben Hur and Messals did not exist. I discovered this when I was in the 6th grade and it led me to major in History.

[@ramaraksha01]

I don't get it - they have all this music blaring but when it comes to words, they can only do sub-titles? Just a joke people

[@robertmain4773]

They didn't have sound in 1925. The first big showing used a live symphony orchestra, most theaters had organs for the sound. Talkies came later.

[@gpozdol7912]

The js were thick then.

[@DavidGarcia-h5l]

J s???

[@gpozdol7912]

I did not post this.

[@JamesSimmons-d1t]

@@gpozdol7912 Really! Want to know guilty party. Hmm. Anyone have access?