*sigh* walked into this one, there is a larger gap between the silent film era and sound eras then there is between the 50s stunt technology vs modern cgi. At least in my opinion.

Modern cgi with these reboots is throwing something flashy into the mix and hoping it sticks. Rolling a turd in glitter a lot of the time. In the modern Ben-Hur the actors were brilliant and the stuntmen had huevos. Not some guy in front of a green screen. One of the films that has lived up to the reboot was Mad Max: Fury Road, they used CGI but it was used to enhance the stunt work already in the film or in Furiosa's case, by giving her only one arm to give the audience something to think about with 'how did she lose it, did it involve Joe?' It created backstory

This post was edited on 4/11/16 at 8:19 pm

1 ...

Report Post

Posted by Dr RC

The Money Pit

Member since Aug 2011

58128 posts

Posted on 4/11/16 at 8:34 pm to MartinRiggs1

quote:
In the modern Ben-Hur the actors were brilliant and the stuntmen had huevos.

Technically speaking the stuntmen in the '25 version had more huevos as there were pretty much no protections for actors back then.

The horses had it even worse. If they showed so much as a limp they were shot and replaced.

from Snopes

quote:

But there was an earlier, silent version of Ben Hur, also produced by MGM and released in 1926 (this date varies with sources). Kevin Brownlow gives a thorough discussion of the trials and tribulations involved in the seemingly jinxed 1925 production in The Parade's Gone By… (1969). The intention was to shoot the chariot race in a recreation of the Circus Maximus on location in Rome. The second-unit director in charge of the chariot race was B. Reeves "Breezy" Eason, known for his genius with action scenes involving horses. He was also known for being ruthless. Vets were seldom consulted: if a horse limped, they shot it. Some suggested he was not much more caring with stuntmen.

The set in Rome proved to be unsuitable due to problems with shadows and the racetrack surface. Francis X. Bushman (Mesalla) relates the following: "During one take, we went around the curve and the wheel broke on the other fellow's chariot. The hub hit the ground and the guy shot up in the air about thirty feet. I turned and saw him up there — it was like a slow-motion film. He fell on a pile of lumber and died of internal injuries." [Brownlow, 1969]

It was decided to give up the Rome location. Another set was built in Culver City and filled with both extras and the Hollywood elite on a festive Saturday in
October. To ensure a good race, Eason offered a bonus to the winning driver. One spectacular unplanned pile-up was left in the final cut, 42 cameras were used that day, and a total of 50,000 feet of film was shot. The final, choreographed pile-up, in which Mesalla meets his end, was shot later at the cost of five horses. No human was seriously injured in the U.S. filming. Most film histories concentrate on this fact, and neglect the death in Rome.

Another impressive and controversial scene in the 1926 version is the sea battle. Filmed at Livorno, Italy, it used hundreds of local extras, many of whom apparently lied about being able to swim. Friction was evident between the fascist and anti-fascist camps of the Italian cast. According to Brownlow, director Fred Niblo found a pile of sharpened swords on the deck of the pirate flagship — apparently the man casting the extras had separated the crews along political lines in hopes of getting a real naval engagement.

During filming, the staged fire on one of the triremes got out of control, sending armor-clad extras overboard. Whether any died is debatable. Bosely Crowther (The Lion's Share, 1957) reports that no one died, although three men dressed as Roman soldiers showed up after being missing for three days. Others maintained that some deaths did occur but were covered-up by the studio. Brownlow again quotes Bushman as saying to Niblo, "My God, Fred, they're drowning, I tell you!" as they watched the catastrophe. Niblo supposedly answered, "I can't help it, those ships cost me $40,000 apiece." Baxter accuses Crowther of falsifying the bloodier facts of Ben-Hur.