Only on Mushroom escape:
http://www.mushroomfm.com/escape
From this Saturday at 12am Eastern, that’s 5pm Saturday in NZ, 3pm in Sydney and 5am in the UK, and repeated every four hours throughout the day, it’s the described Movie Ben-Hur from 1959.
Ben-Hur is a 1959 American religious epic film directed by William Wyler, produced by Sam Zimbalist, and starring Charlton Heston as the title character.
A remake of the 1925 silent film with a similar title, it was adapted from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.
The screenplay is credited to Karl Tunberg, but includes contributions from Maxwell Anderson, S. N. Behrman, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry.
Ben-Hur had the largest budget ($15.175 million), as well as the largest sets built, of any film produced at the time.
Costume designer Elizabeth Haffenden oversaw a staff of 100 wardrobe fabricators to make the costumes, and a workshop employing 200 artists and workmen provided the hundreds of friezes and statues needed in the film.
Filming commenced on 18 May, 1958, and wrapped on 7 January, 1959, with shooting lasting for 12 to 14 hours a day and six days a week.
Pre-production began in Italy at Cinecittà around October 1957, and post-production took six months.
Under cinematographer Robert L. Surtees, executives at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made the decision to produce the film in a widescreen format.
Over 200 camels and 2,500 horses were used in the shooting of the film, with some 10,000 extras.
The sea battle was filmed using miniatures in a huge tank on the back lot at the MGM Studios in Culver City, California.
The nine-minute chariot race has become one of cinema's most famous action sequences, and the score, composed and conducted by Miklós Rózsa, is the longest ever composed for a film, and was highly influential on cinema for over 15 years.
Following a $14.7 million marketing effort, Ben-Hur premiered at Loew's State Theatre in New York City on 18 November, 1959.
It was the fastest-grossing, as well as the highest-grossing film of 1959, becoming the second highest-grossing film in history at the time, after Gone with the Wind.
It won a record eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Wyler), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Heston), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Griffith) and Best Cinematography – Colour (Surtees); it also won Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for Stephen Boyd.
In 1998, the American Film Institute named it the 72nd best American film and the second best American epic film in the AFI's 10 Top 10.
In 2004, the National Film Preservation Board selected Ben-Hur for preservation by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Directed by: William Wyler.
Produced by: Sam Zimbalist.
Screenplay by: Karl Tunberg.
Based on: Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ: 1880 novel: by General Lew Wallace.
Starring: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O'Donnell and Sam Jaffe.
Music by: Miklós Rózsa.
Cinematography: Robert L. Surtees.
Edited by: John D. Dunning and Ralph E. Winters.
Production company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Distributed by: Loew's, Inc.
Release date: 18 November , 1959.
File length : 222 minutes.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Budget: $15.2 million.
Box office: $146.9 million (initial release).
Any questions, comments, or ideas for future described movies: e-mail me: anthony at mushroomfm dot com (e-mail address written that way to cut down on
spam)
Enjoy the movie,
Home of the Fun Guys!