September 28, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I & III • Page 21 ‘Ben-Hur’ is ancient tale with modern sensibility a slave trader who matches Ben-Hur in a chariot race against his former friend, the cruel and ambitious Roman, Messala (Stephen Boyd). “Ben-Hur” required 100,000 costumes, 15,000 extras, and a $15 million budget, the costliest in MGM’s history. The movie was filmed in a process known as MGM Camera 65, one of the widest prints ever made, with a width almost three times its height. This allowed for spectacular panoramic shots and exciting action sequences. The chariot race sequence in the Circus Maximus is breathtaking. It was constructed on over 18 acres of back lot space at Cinecitta Studios outside Rome, and the filming took five weeks. With the exception of two of the most spectacular stunts, Heston and Boyd did all their own chariot driving in the meticulously choreographed sequence. “Ben-Hur” won 11 Academy Awards, a record that held for 38 years until “Titanic” won a similar number. The three-disc Bluray box set contains a newly remastered Charlton Heston takes the reins in the chariot sequence from the Academy-Award winner ‘Ben-Hur.’ and restored print, the 1925 silent version of “Ben-Hur,” screen tests, vintage newsreels, a 64-page production art book, a replica of Heston’s journal and sketches, a one-hour making-of featurette, highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards ceremony, and the new documentary, “Charlton Heston & Ben-Hur: A Personal Journey.” “Treasures of the West: 1898-1938” (Image Entertainment) celebrates the early years of the western, one of the screen’s oldest and most popular genres. The threedisc set contains a mixed bag of silent shorts, mini-documentaries, travelogues, and footage of the Old West. The material in this set provides a good idea of how the West captured the imagination of Americans during the 40-year period between the Spanish-American War and World War II. The Old West represented -- to borrow a phrase from “Star Trek” -- the last frontier and still conveyed adventure and romance in a fast-growing nation. Contents include the 1926 Clara Bow (continued on Crossword page) by Dennis Seuling “Ben-Hur: 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition” (Warner Home Video) is a lavish Blu-ray packaging of the 1959 Best Picture Academy Award winner. “Ben-Hur” is a Biblical epic that stands far above other movies of the genre, primarily because it doesn’t moralize and treat its characters as saints. The characters are not perfect. They are not immune to temptation and vengeance, and are not one-dimensional. The film also had the benefit of veteran director William Wyler, who balanced the film’s action sequences with the personal story of Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston), a member of the family of Judea, who rebels against their state of virtual slavery under Roman rule. Based on Lew Wallace’s best-selling novel, Karl Tunberg’s screenplay presented flesh-and-blood characters and plenty of melodrama to keep viewers involved. Heston, who won the Best Actor Academy Award, dominates the three-and-ahalf hour epic as Ben-Hur. The protagonist wins the love of Hebrew maiden Esther (Haya Harareet), is adopted by Roman consul Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), and becomes a slave of a sheik (Hugh Griffith),