GRAND THEATRE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 636, 14 September 1933, Page 7

GRAND THEATRE

TO-NIGHT. | General Lew Wallace's "Ben Hur: | A Tale of the C'hrist," that was a j stage spectacle years ago, and as a hook enjoyed a circulation nearly as large as the Bible, opens to-night with thrilling sound synchronisation at the Grand Theatre. Fred Nihlo direeted the production, which begins with the Wise Men and I the Star of Bethlehem, pictures Jerusalem under the Roman tyranny and the condemnation of the Prince of Hur to the galleys. The battle 'twixt fhe Roman fleet and the Greek pirates was filmed with a great Ben Hur navy of antique modelled craft off the coasts of Italy. The celebrated Antioch chariot race, in which Ben Hur and Messala contest for the palm, occupied three months in the making. Twelve quadrigas are ' driven seven laps over a course f acing ' a Circus Maximus that holds nearly a hundred thousand spectators. The exquisite love story of Ben Hur and Esther is intertwined with the thrilling action. i In a grandiose epic th'at has taken three years for its completion and included as many real-life adventurings as an historic odyssey of the Old and New Worlds, Ramon Novarro (in the title role). Betty Bronson, May McAvoy, Francis X. Bushman, Carmel Myers, Claire McDowell, Kathleen Key, Nigel de Brulier.,. Mitchell Lewis and Frank Currier have prominent parts. !