STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 265, 30 January 1928, Page 13

STRAND

LAST TWO DAYS OF “BEN HUR”

Only two more days remain for Auckland picture-goers who have not yet seen the famous photo-play “Ben Hur,” and all those who are desirous of seeing the film once again, for it will be screened at the Strand Theatre for the last time on Tuesday evening. When a reader opens a copy of “Ben Hur” the first thing that captures his : attention is the caption under the title ‘‘A Tale of Christ.” From the very outset it gives the impression of grandeur and solemnity, dignity and power, reverence and sanctity, qualities which, you might say, the motion picture screen cannot capture. Certainly, in the past, the screen has not featured these emotions and virtues conspicuously in its productions. But Air. Fred Niblo, who produced and directed this lonely masterpiece, has caught the holy spirit of Judah, the imperious, tyrannical spirit of Rome, the mystic, exotic allure of Egypt, the seething, cosmopolitan atmosphere of Antioch—in short, he has brought to the screen a canvas of astounding majesty and exquisite beauty. As a spectacle of gorgeous; splendour and haughty wealth, “E en Hur” is a proud triumph. The thousands of readers of th© book will recollect its locales of Jerusalem, Rome, Antioch and Bethlehem, the Vale of Hinnom, the hideous Valley of the Lepers, either scenes of opulence and beauty, or emotional import. So that, in seeking to bring to the screen a material masterpiece as well as a gem of fiction, Fred Niblo determined to oust all other producers from the field. The result is a vision of those places on the screen. For moments during the story you are completely wafted away to Imperial Rome, to Antioch, the hubbub of the Eastern world, to conservative Judea, where the struggle between the Jews and the followers of the New Prophet is just beginning—and to crown this achievement in this particular arena is the famous chariot race, wherein Ben Hur races Sheik Ilderim’s white Arabs against the blacks of the Messala, a race that has personal revenge and hate as its motive.

Who does not know of Ben Ilur's chariot race? In the picture this mighty event is produced with a reallism, a magnitude that defies description. The sea battle between pirate ships and th© Roman triremes, Olympic bouts in the Circus Maximus, the scenes in th© Grove of Daphne, the Alanifestation to the Gentiles, the Via Crucis, the healing of the lepers—these scenes of worldly and spiritual significance lend to “Ben Hur” that fervent grandeur that has made it the greatest film in the world. A very beautiful prologue precedes the film. Mr. Birrell O’Malley, the well-known tenor, renders “The Star of Bethlehem.”