MGM's 1925 version of Ben-Hur cost $4 million to make, unheard of at a time when the studio spent an average of $200,000 per film.

        The cost is just one of the extraordinary facts about the silent classic that will be shown Saturday and Sunday with a full orchestral accompaniment at Greaves Concert Hall on the Northern Kentucky University campus in Highland Heights.

May McAvoy and Ramon Novarro star in MGM's 1925 silent version of Ben-Hur | ZOOM |

        The Northern Kentucky Symphony took on the epic assignment of performing the live score by composer Carl Davis after their success last year performing live in Devou Park at a screening of the original silent version of The Phantom of the Opera.

        Music director James R. Cassidy said the experience whetted the symphony's appetite for another major film event. Another National Film Registry title, Ben-Hur, seemed like a natural, he said.

        “It was engaging, the women were beautiful, everything about it was "wow,' ” Mr. Cassidy said.

        The “wow” factor extends to the history of the production, which kept a huge crew and cast in Italy for nearly a year, beginning in February 1924.

        Hundreds of workers constructed vast sets, including a fleet of ships. An unknown number of extras drowned while filming battle scenes at sea; 100 horses perished in the course of filming the famous chariot race. During battle scenes, actual combat broke out between supporters and opponents of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

IF YOU GO

What: Ben-Hur, the 1925 silent film accompanied by the Northern Kentucky Symphony playing the Carl Davis score.     When: 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday     Where: Greaves Hall, Northern Kentucky University     Tickets: $15, $10. (859) 431-6216     Read the review: Monday in Tempo

        During production, Ramon Navarro replaced George Walsh as Judah Ben-Hur; director Fred Niblo completed the work begun by Charles Brabin.

        Legendary producers Irving Thalberg, Samuel Goldwyn and Florenz Ziegfield Jr., among others, were called in to help original producer Abraham Erlanger bring the production under control.

        The film was finally finished on the MGM lot in Los Angeles, and went on to play before huge audiences. It made $9 million at the box office.

        A trimmed-down version released in 1931 was shown for many years. Then in the mid-1980s, a British television company restored the original, including its rare color scenes, some tinted and some filmed in early two-strip Technicolor. The Northern Kentucky Symphony performance will show the restored 35mm master print. Mr. Davis' score was also commissioned to accompany the restoration.

        The movie is based on June Mathis' adaptation of an enormously popular 1880 novel. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ was written — most of it in Covington, Ind. — by Gen. Lew Wallace, a Civil War hero credited with saving Cincinnati from falling to Confederate forces.

        At 141 minutes, the film requires an intermission, Mr. Cassidy said.

        “For us, it's a real endurance test. (For) a soundtrack in a movie, they do it in pieces and put it together. Here, we have to do it all at once.”
       

We're shrouded in secrets
Cincinnati secrets
Northern Ky. Symphony plays along with 'Ben-Hur'
KNIPPENBERG: Knip's Eye View
Old standard gets new look
Reality check
The Early Word
Top 10s
Get to it