Silent Film Epic “Ben Hur” At Flying Monkey Thursday April 1st, 2021

One of early Hollywood’s greatest epics returns to the big screen with a showing of ‘Ben Hur, A Tale of The Christ’ (1925) on Thursday, April 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth.
The screening, the latest in the Flying Monkey’s silent film series, will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating music for silent films.
Admission is $10 per person, general admission. Tickets are available online at flyinghmonkeynh.org or at the door.
‘Ben Hur,’ starring Ramon Novarro and Francis X. Bushman, was among the first motion pictures to tell a Biblical-era story on a large scale.
The film, which helped establish MGM as a leading Hollywood studio, employed a cast of thousands and boasted action sequences including a large-scale sea battle.
The film is highlighted by a spell-binding chariot race that still leaves audiences breathless.
Set in the Holy Land at the time of Christ’s birth, ‘Ben Hur’ tells the story of a Jewish family in Jerusalem whose fortune is confiscated by the Romans and its members jailed.
The film is particularly appropriate for the weeks leading up to Easter, which is celebrated on Sunday, April 4. (Orthodox Easter falls on Sunday, May 2 in 2021.)
‘Ben Hur,’ directed by Fred Niblo, was among the most expensive films of the silent era, taking two years to make and costing between $4 million and $6 million. When released in 1925, it became a huge hit for the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio.