Vintage Poster
Ben-Hur
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Immerse yourself in the heart of a legendary epic with this Ben-Hur Poster. This cinematic masterpiece full of intense emotions transports you into a whirlwind of passion, bravery and determination. Experience an incredible adventure, between betrayal and redemption, through grandiose scenes and spectacular fights. Let yourself be captivated by the power of human relationships, the beauty of the landscapes and the scale of the issues. Ben-Hur is much more than a film, it is a memorable cinematic experience that will stay with you forever.
- Paper characteristic:
- 🎨 Canvas: world standard in terms of printing and imitating a “painting canvas” appearance .
- By default, the poster contains a 4 cm white border for framing (frame not included). If you don't want it, please choose "without white border".
- ✅ Size: several choices available . ✅
- Great UV resistance .
- Maximum color vibrancy, without reflections .
- Recycled paper, guaranteeing respect for the environment.
- Poster carefully packaged and delivered in a protective tube for total protection .
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⚠️ Frame not included. ⚠️
Description of this Ben-Hur Poster
Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic drama film set primarily in the Roman province of Judea during the reign of Emperor Tiberius. It was directed by William Wyler and produced by Sam Zimbalist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It stars Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Hugh Griffith and Haya Harareet. An adaptation of the 1925 silent film of the same title, Ben-Hur is based on the novel of the same name written by Lewis Wallace in 1880. The screenplay was written by Karl Tunberg, although Maxwell Anderson, SN Behrman, Gore Vidal and Christopher Fry contributed to it.
Ben-Hur had the largest budget ever for a film, more than $15 million. Two hundred artists and workers built the largest sets ever used for a film, with hundreds of friezes and statues, while costume designer Elizabeth Haffenden led a team of 100 seamstresses. Filming began on May 18, 1958 and continued until January 7, 1959, with filming days of twelve to fourteen hours, six days a week. Pre-production began at Cinecittà Studios in Rome in October 1957 and post-production lasted six months. MGM executives asked cinematographer Robert L. Surtees to shoot the film in widescreen format, which was not to Wyler's taste. More than 200 camels, 2,500 horses and some 10,000 extras were used for filming. The naval battle was filmed with action figures in a large water tank at Metro Studios in Culver City, California. The nine-minute chariot race is one of the most famous sequences in cinema history, while the soundtrack, composed and directed by Miklós Rózsa, is the longest ever created for a film and profoundly influenced the cinema for more than 15 years.
After spending $14.7 million on promotion, Ben-Hur was released at the Loew Theater in New York on November 18, 1959. It was the highest-grossing film that year and became the second highest-grossing film that year, just behind Gone With the Wind. The film won a record eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Wyler), Best Actor (Heston), Best Supporting Actor (Griffith) and Best Cinematography (Surtees), a feat unmatched until the release of Titanic in 1997 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003. Ben-Hur also received three Golden Globe Awards - for Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Director and Best Actor in a supporting role (Boyd). Today, Ben-Hur is considered one of the greatest films in cinematic history, and in 2004 the National Film Preservation Board selected it for preservation in its National Film Registry as a "film". culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
The action takes place in Judea, in the year 30 AD. The Roman Empire, lord and master of the known world, reigns with an iron fist over its vast territories, including Judea, harshly subjugating its inhabitants. They impatiently await the arrival of a new Messiah who will free the Jewish people from the Roman yoke. Among them is Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston), a wealthy prince who trades spices from the East to Rome, a respected man who believes in the faith of his people and in their God.
The Romans respond by sending two legions under the command of Messala (Stephen Boyd), Ben-Hur's former childhood friend. Judah Ben-Hur sees in Messala a friend and also a possibility of change for his people, a hope of understanding and respect. On the contrary, Messala sees in his former friend the man who will "point the finger" at the Jewish enemies of Rome for their past friendship. Ben-Hur refuses the deal and Messala, furious, breaks off their relationship.
Ben-Hur, who fears his former friend, knows that he will have to be careful from now on. However, a stroke of bad luck occurs: his only sister, Tirzah, leans on the edge of the roof of her house and a tile comes loose as the procession carrying the governor passes, causing her and her horse to fall. This incident, although accidental, led his former friend to imprison him along with his mother and sister, accused of trying to attack the new governor of Judea, Valerius Gratus. Judah attempts to escape from prison, but not before speaking to Messala, threatening him with a spear, and persuading him to free his mother and sister by claiming his innocence. After the failure of the assassination attempt on the tribune, Judah is sent to the port of Tire, without trial, as a galley slave. Ben-Hur swears to avenge Messala, even if it costs him his life.
On the way to the port, Judah meets Jesus of Nazareth, who will give him water. The face of the one who helped him will remain engraved in his memory, the same one who, with a firm and peaceful look, persuaded the threat of a Roman overseer towards him and Judah by giving him water, then that a few minutes earlier the population had been forbidden to provide water only to him. After three years of hardship, Ben-Hur meets Quintus Arrius, the first consul of Rome, whose life he saves when the galley sinks in a naval battle against the Macedonians. In gratitude to Judah, Quintus adopts him as his son, which brings him wealth, the title of chariot champion in the Roman circus five times in a row, as well as various titles. However, despite Rome's wealth, power and glory, Ben-Hur knows he has an oath to fulfill and cannot wait any longer, especially when Judah meets the next governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, at from one of the many meetings held in his father's palace. He asks his father to return to Judea and settle his family's affairs. Knowing that Judah is unlikely to return, Quintus grants his request, knowing that the father-son bond still exists. The time of revenge has come.
On the way to Jerusalem, Ben-Hur meets Balthasar and Sheikh Ilderim, an Arab merchant famous for his passion for betting on horse races. From Balthasar, he learns that there is someone to believe in, a Messiah, son of God, who will deliver men from their anger and hatred. From the sheikh, on the other hand, he discovers that Messala participates in chariot races and in the circus arena, where death is not a crime.
Fueled by his hatred, Judah agrees to compete with Messala in the races and, on the other hand, sets off in search of his mother and his sister. Returning to Judea, he discovers that everything he has known has been reduced to ruins, that his family has disappeared and that the only explanation he has is that of the daughter of one of his slaves, Esther, that Judah loved deeply, and his father, a loyal butler to the Ben-Hur family, who was tortured and left paralyzed.
After condemning Judah to the galleys, Messala not only confiscated all of Ben-Hur's possessions, but he lashed out against his mother and sister, locking them in the deepest dungeons. When Judah returns and is determined to wreak his vengeance, a tense Messala sends for Judah's family, in exchange for forgetting what happened eight years earlier. To his great surprise, so many years spent in an unsanitary cell in the dungeons made them sick with leprosy. Once freed, the mother and sister crawl home to find ruin and poverty. Esther promises not to tell anyone about their future and their painful final destination: the valley of lepers, not even to her son Judah.
Esther immediately confesses to Judah that her mother and sister died in prison and tries to convince him to give up his quest. Judah, angry and hateful, is torn between his revenge against his tormentor and his old childhood friendship. But he knows that Messala will not change and that his only chance to take revenge for the supposed death of his family is to defeat and humiliate him in the circus arena. To do this, he must participate in the chariot race with the sheikh's white horses: Athaïs, Rigel, Aldebaran and Antares. Before the race, Sheikh Ilderim cannot contain himself and launches a challenge to Messala of a thousand talents of gold if he beats him and three thousand if he wins, not without having declared that his charioteer is the champion of the Juda Ben Hur circus, which does not prevent Messala from accepting the challenge.
Nine runners participate in the race, including chariots from Assyria, Phenicia, Cyprus, Athens, Judea and Rome. Judah Ben-Hur defeats Messala with his falchion chariot and black Friesian horses, who eventually falls from his chariot and is fatally crushed and trampled by another chariot at the start of the final lap of the race. With his body covered in blood, he is definitively condemned to be mutilated in order to survive. Messala, in a last breath, informs Judah that his mother and sister are alive, but isolated in the valley of lepers. Therefore, as Judah senses, they are condemned to a slow and horrible death.
Judah immediately goes to the Valley of the Lepers where, to his surprise, he finds Esther carrying food for his mother and sister. Ben-Hur demands an explanation for the lie and tragically acquiesces to his mother's wish not to show himself. His faith lost, he hates Esther and feels his inner demons invade him. He then decides to go see the governor Pontius Pilate and renounce his Roman citizenship, since it is Rome's fault that his mother and sister died in life. This affront is badly perceived by Pilate, and in his eyes he becomes one of the rebellious Jews.
Judah decides to go to the valley of lepers to the surprise of Esther and her mother, caring little about his illness and looking for Thersa, his sister, who is dying in one of the caves. Devastated, he walks through the streets of Jerusalem with his mother, his sister and Esther, acceding to the latter's insistent request to have them healed by the rabbi of Galilee, whom he heard preach and perform miracles, while a procession of people shout at the arrival of the newly crucified people, including a man who once gave the hero a drink. Ben-Hur, grateful, tries to return the favor by giving him water. However, a Roman soldier throws away the water before Jesus can drink and take a breath of fresh air freeing himself from his heavy burden. This encounter, then witnessing the crucifixion of the man who saved him from death, leads Judah to find peace and to alleviate his anger through forgiveness. He returns again under the effect of the catharsis of what he saw when he notices that his sister and his mother have miraculously healed. Together, in a great embrace, joy overflows.
