Oh, My God, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Ben-Hur!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Martha Scott And Cathy O'Donnell As Miriam And Tirzah! Jesus And The Crucifixion! The Miraculous Cure From Leprosy! Oh, My God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             This was only my fourth viewing of "Ben-Hur," the 1959 MGM version, which won 11 Academy Awards--a record for its time--and the 1959 New York Film Critics Award.  David and I attended a screening yesterday, on Palm Sunday, which is the perfect day to see this film.

                              The film cost $15 million to make in its time.  Today, it would cost hundreds of millions, and it would not be as good, because everything would be CGI, whereas here, everything--sets, crowds--all the spectacle looks real because it actually is.  Sets were built and costumes designed.  No short cuts here, and it shows.

                                 I always speak first of Martha Scott and Cathy O'Donnell, as Miriam and Tirzah, Ben-Hur's mother and sister, because they not only walk off with the film, they prove something I never before realized.  Though Charlton Heston deservedly won an Oscar for his performance it is apparent that director William Wyler had to pull this performance out of him, and one can tell.  Furthermore, everyone around Heston outacts him spectacularly.  This picture is moored to reality by its superb supporting cast.  

                                 Girls, I am telling you, I was so moved I could barely get out of my chair!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                 Certain films were designed for the screen, and this was one!  Darlings, you owe it to yourselves to see it the way it was meant to be seen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                   The cinematic miracle of "Ben-Hur" is its craftsmanship.

                                    The kind not seen anymore and may never be seen again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!