Review of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) by Kunal S — 22 Sep 2009

The production value shows on the screen: the chariot race and the pirate battle are especially astonishing, and there's a lot of other impressive stuff too. The story is much more complex and nuanced than a typical silent, and moves at a pretty good pace most of the time.

I could have done without the magic fairly tale Jesus aspects, but it does contain some of Christianity's better teachings. Also, for a story set largely in the Middle East, the cast is lily-white, none more so than Jesus.