GRAND THEATRE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19166, 24 November 1927, Page 6

GRAND THEATRE.

■ ■ ♦ "Ben Hur," the picture -which holds the record for length of season and attendance in Ohristchurch, is now in its last week's showing in this City. It is a really fine production, and its season, although long, has been all too short. There is a prologue to the story proper, just as thero is in the book, wherein the quest of the Three Wise Men of the East, their following of the star, and their eventual arrival at the stable in Bethlehem, provide some scenes and moments of exquisite beauty, emotional, and spiritual force. The story is one of. revenge and of love. Revenge that is sought by Ben Hu&for tho wrong done him and his noble house 1 by the Romans. When tho new senator, Valerius Gratus, is being welcomed to Jerusalem, and as he makes his triumphal way along crowded streets, a tile from an overhanging roof falls from the palace of Judab, Prince of Hur, and strikes his head. That tho occurrence was an accident is an explanation which carries no weight with the Romans, and Ben Hur is sent to the galleys for life, and bis mother and sister to the hideous dungeon of Antonia. Ben Hur slaves in the awful conditions of the calleys, but never forgets his one purpose,in life, to avenge the indignity and Buffering so unjustly done to hia house. At. last opportunity comes, and in a chariot race which, as a spectacle, will stand as one of the greatest motion picture scenes yet produced, he gams both his revenge and victory over the haughty patriarchs of Rome.