Ben Hur (1907 movie)
Ben Hur is a 1907 American silent drama movie directed by Sidney Olcott and Frank Oakes Rose[5] and stars Herman Rottjer, William S. Hart, and Gene Gauntier.
| Ben Hur | |
|---|---|
_film..jpg) Scene of Judah Ben-Hur (right) discussing with his sister Rome's misrule of Jerusalem | |
| Directed by | Sidney Olcott Frank Oakes Rose[1] |
| Produced by | Frank J. Marion George Kleine Samuel Long |
| Written by | Scenario by Gene Gauntier[2] |
| Based on | Lew Wallace's novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ |
| Music by | Edgar Stillman Kelley (accompanying sheet music for film) |
| Cinematography | Max Schneider[3] |
Production company | Kalem Company New York, N.Y. |
| Distributed by | Kalem Company |
Release date |
|
Running time | 15 minutes ("Approximate Length" 1000 feet)[4] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Actors
- Herman Rottjer
- William S. Hart as Messala
- Gene Gauntier
- Harry T. Morey
References
- ↑ Chow-Kambitsch, Emily (2017). "An Alternative 'Roman Spectacle': Fragmentation, Invocations of Theatre, and Audience Engagement Strategy in Kalem's 1907 Ben-Hur", May 30, 2017, Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, SAGE Publishing; subscription access through The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library. According to period sources, Rose was not a film director; he was in 1907 the general stage manager for Pain's Fireworks Company in Brooklyn.
- ↑ Tracy, Tony. "Outside the System: Gene Gauntier and the Consolidation of Early American Cinema", Film History, vol. 28, no. 1 (2016), p. 75. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016.
- ↑ Gauntier, Gene (1928). "Blazing the Trail", edited by Gertrude B. Lane, Woman's Home Companion (Springfield, Ohio), October 1928, p. 186; pdf copy in the Women Film Pioneers Project, Columbia University, New York, N.Y. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
- ↑ Kawin, Bruce F. How Movies Work. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1987, pp. 46-47. According to this reference, a full 1000-foot reel of film in the silent era had a maximum running time of 15-16 minutes. Silent films were generally projected at a "standard" speed of 16 frames per second, far slower than the 24 frames of later sound films. Also, most reels, especially the final reels in multiple-reel releases, were not filled to their maximum capacities.
- ↑ Ben Hur
