The silent epic Ben-Hur has been restored toits original splendor including tinted, toned and two-strip Technicolor sequences. The restoration wassupervised by British film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill in conjunction with Richard May atTurner Entertainment Co., using original material provided by Turner Entertainment Co. and theCzechoslovak Film Archive. Our print is presented with a full orchestral score recorded for the film'sre-release in 1931. In 1925, at over $4,000,000, Ben-Hur was the costliestproduction to date. It threatened to engulf MGM, but like the book on which it was based-which "sold almostas many copies as the Bible and was blessed by the Pope," according to Brownlow and Gill-the film was ablockbuster hit. None of that would matter much tonight if it were not that Ben-Hur remains a wonderfulentertainment, starring Ramon Novarro as Judah Ben-Hur and Francis X. Bushman as Massala, both in theperformances of their careers. "Surprising as it sounds," Brownlow and Gill write, "there is filmmaking inBen-Hur almost as impressive as in Battleship Potemkin, made the same year." The film's legendary actionsequences still look magni- ficent, and remain testaments to the wizardry of silent film technique: thechariot race, shot with some 42 cameras, and the sea battle. Other memorable scenes (such as the visit tothe leper colony), special effects, and ten short Technicolor sequences make the silent Ben-Hur stand upremarkably well against the 1959 remake. Finally, Ben-Hur is a charming period piece-not from the time ofChrist but from a time when the mere donning of sword and sandals inspired Hollywood actors to a kind ofthespic piety; and the American love for the archeology of spectacle reached a glorious pinnacle.