Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur is a ponderous giant about the Jewish prince Ben-Hur, who has to go through so terribly much before fortune finally smiles on him. The film has its gripping moments, but its excessive length goes a long way towards killing the drama the story holds. The splendid scenery and the crowd scenes are given too high a priority compared with what matters, the story. A modern audience is used to impressive effects, so what in 1959 could captivate audiences to such a degree that the film was showered with Oscar statuettes, we do not regard as anything exceptional today. The story drowns in the spectacle. Jesus' role in the film is not particularly convincing either; only at the very end does his presence seem justified.

The classic and colossal chariot race is the film's high point. There the suspense is intense.