The Race That Never Ended: The Making of Ben Hur

Journalist Parlby thoroughly analyzes the versions of the historical fiction Ben-Hur, including an 1880 novel (possibly inspired by Alexander von Wagner’s 1873 painting The Chariot Race), plays dating back to 1899, multiple film adaptations (in 1907, 1925, 1959, and 2016), a 2013 TV miniseries, and its use as a promotional tool for consumer goods. Ben-Hur ushered in the reception of other books with biblical settings, reawakened a sense of Christ in everyday life, and underscored themes of family, enslavement, nationhood, and ethnicity, Parlby argues. Lew Wallace (the novel’s author) and his family often unsuccessfully sought to control the narrative through copyright, but this epic story of revenge, religion, and redemption was too large to harness. Parlby notes that the influential 1914 Italian epic Cabiria was the first film screened in the White House; that the 1925 rendition of Ben-Hur was the highest-grossing silent film; that the triumph of the 1959 iteration saved MGM from bankruptcy; and that the use of British-voiced actors as tyrants conveyed a subtle anti-imperialist message during the Cold War. VERDICT Parlby covers a lot of territory in this wide-ranging and entertaining history of the biblical epic Ben-Hur in its various incarnations, which still hold strong interest among the public.– “Library Journal”

Dr Geri Parlby began her career as a Fleet Street journalist before moving into film PR. In her PR career, she became UK Head of Press for United International Pictures, representing Paramount, Universal, MGM, and United Artists. After running her own PR agency, she returned to academia, earning an MA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute and a PhD from the University of Roehampton. Today, she is an art historian, lecturer, and writer, renowned for her engaging talks across the UK and internationally with The Arts Society.

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