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''Ben Hur'' is a 1907 American silent
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
set in
ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, the first screen adaptation of
Lew Wallace Lewis Wallace (April 10, 1827February 15, 1905) was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of the New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, and author from Indiana. Among his novels and biographies, Wallace is ...
's popular 1880 novel '' Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ''. Co-directed by
Sidney Olcott Sidney Olcott (born John Sidney Allcott, September 20, 1872 – December 16, 1949) was a Canadian-born film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. Biography Born John Sidney Allcott in Toronto, he became one of the first great direc ...
and Frank Oakes Rose, this "
photoplay ''Photoplay'' was one of the first American film (another name for ''photoplay'') fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded '' Motion Picture Story,'' a magazine also directed at fans. For mo ...
" was produced by the
Kalem Company The Kalem Company was an early American film studio founded in New York City in 1907. It was one of the first companies to make films abroad and to set up winter production facilities, first in Florida and then in California. Kalem was sold to V ...
of New York City, and its scenes, including the climactic chariot race, were filmed in the city's borough of
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
."KALEM FILMS...BEN HUR"
advertisement, ''
The Moving Picture World The ''Moving Picture World'' was an influential early trade journal for the American film industry, from 1907 to 1927. An industry powerhouse at its height, ''Moving Picture World'' frequently reiterated its independence from the film studios. I ...
'' (New York, N.Y.), December 7, 1907, p. 649.
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
, San Francisco. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
While this film is significant for being the first motion-picture adaptation of Wallace's novel, its production also served as a landmark case of
copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
by an early American film studio. In 1908 Kalem was successfully sued for representing parts of Wallace's book on screen without obtaining permission from the author's estate. Copies of the film, which survive, are now in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
and are readily available for free viewing online in the collections of various digital archives and on streaming services.


Plot

With an original total running time of just 15 minutes, Kalem's "Roman Spectacle" only highlights some of the principal events described in the novel, although notably excluding Judah Ben-Hur's encounters with
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
or his presence at Christ's
crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
. The film company in its advertising in 1907 describes the release being composed of "Sixteen Magnificent Scenes" with
intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...
s introducing screen presentations such as "
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
Rebels Against Roman Mis-rule", "The Family of Hur", "Ben Hur in Chains to the
Galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...
s", and "Ben Hur and Messala—The Challenge". A significant portion of the film's latter content is devoted to portraying the story's
chariot race Chariot racing ( grc-gre, ἁρματοδρομία, harmatodromia, la, ludi circenses) was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sports. In Greece, chariot racing played an essential role in aristocratic funeral games from ...
. Just four chariots, including those driven by Ben-Hur and Messala, are depicted, with each being drawn by teams of four black horses. Virtually all of the contest's action is implied visually, occurring off-camera, and not shown to viewers of the film. Roman spectators on screen cheer as they pretend to watch the charioteers racing three laps around the track of the
Circus Maximus The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian: ''Circo Massimo'') is an ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy. In the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and lar ...
. Only brief footage shows the contestants speeding by the static camera as their vehicles are supposedly completing each of the laps. After Judah wins the race against Messala and the two other competitors, the intertitle "Ben Hur Victor" appears. The film then ends with spectators continuing to cheer; Judah being awarded a
laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butcher's broom (''Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cherry laurel (''Prunus laurocerasus''). It is a sy ...
by the emperor; and Messala, who was injured during the race, lying on a stretcher and gesturing toward his former friend.


Cast

*Herman Rottjer as "Chief
Chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...
ier" and possibly as Judah Ben-Hur *
William S. Hart William Surrey Hart (December 6, 1864 – June 23, 1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered as a foremost Western star of the silent era who "imbued all of his characters with honor and inte ...
as Messala (uncredited and unverified involvement in film) *
Gene Gauntier Gene Gauntier (born Genevieve Gauntier Liggett, August 26, 1885 – December 18, 1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid 1906 ...
in unverified role *
Harry T. Morey Harry Temple Morey (August 21, 1873 – January 24, 1936) was an American stage and motion picture actor who appeared in nearly 200 films during his career. Biography Born in Charlotte, Michigan, Morey had two brothers. Their mother was Addie C. ...
in unverified role *Beal (or Peal), Sheridan, and Matler as other "Drivers" in chariot race


Production

The production was directed principally by
Sidney Olcott Sidney Olcott (born John Sidney Allcott, September 20, 1872 – December 16, 1949) was a Canadian-born film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. Biography Born John Sidney Allcott in Toronto, he became one of the first great direc ...
with assistance from Frank Oakes Rose, a stage manager with Henry J. Pain's Fireworks Company, an entertainment business at Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn, New York. Filmed outdoors in the October 1907, the project was shot in just four days with the production crew mindful that the region's "fall rains might begin at any time".Gauntier, p. 184.


The lead actors

Actor
William S. Hart William Surrey Hart (December 6, 1864 – June 23, 1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered as a foremost Western star of the silent era who "imbued all of his characters with honor and inte ...
, who would later become the silent era's foremost star of "cowboy pictures", allegedly reprised his role as Messala in Kalem's production, having already played the part on stage in the highly successful
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
production of ''Ben Hur'', which ran for 194 performances between late November 1899 and May 1900. His participation in this film, however, remains unverified from period records and is therefore suspect as fact. It appears that Hart's well-documented work in the earlier Broadway adaptation of Wallace's novel became erroneously linked to the 1907 short. If Hart were indeed cast in the film, it is surprising that Kalem in its advertising did not widely promote the presence of an established Broadway actor in the motion picture, especially a veteran of a ''Ben Hur'' production in the " legitimate" theatre. With regard to the identity of the actor who performed in the film's title role, misinformation and confusion also persist in modern sources. Many of those sources cite a professional film actor, "Herman Rottger", as Ben-Hur in Kalem’s production.
The Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...
(IMDb) is one source that cites "Herman Rottger" as Ben Hur in the film. Refer t
"Ben Hur (1907)"
IMDb, Seattle Washington. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
Actually, only one verified cast member in the 1907 production, one who possessed a nearly identical name—"Herman Rottjer"—was an employee with Pain's Fireworks Company. That entertainment company on summer nights since 1879 had staged for audiences at a "massive outdoor stadium and lake at Manhattan Beach" spectacular pyrotechnic displays to simulate famous battles, revolutions, historic fires, and natural disasters such as the volcanic eruption of
Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of s ...
in 79 AD and its destruction of the Roman town of
Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
. In the early 1900s, Pain's live pyrodramas included elaborate sets of Roman architecture and staged chariot races. In Kalem’s large advertisement for ''Ben Hur'' in the December 7, 1907 issue of the trade journal ''
The Moving Picture World The ''Moving Picture World'' was an influential early trade journal for the American film industry, from 1907 to 1927. An industry powerhouse at its height, ''Moving Picture World'' frequently reiterated its independence from the film studios. I ...
'', the studio credits Rottjer as the "Chief Chariotier" in the film. That credit certainly suggests Rottjer, who was 29 years old at the time, had considerable experience driving Pain's replicas of the two-wheeled ancient vehicles, along with experience performing in Pain's summer Vesuvius-Pompeii shows and in other grand productions staged by the company. His chariot and show experience made him an ideal choice to act or "pantomime" in the role of the lead character in Kalem's short. Although Rottjer would continue to work for Pain's for several years after the film's release, he would later establish a career in the film industry. Federal census records show that in 1910 the German-born Rottjer continued to reside in Brooklyn with his wife and three daughters and was still employed at the local "Firework Plant", presumably Pain's; however, by 1917 he was working as an "explosion expert" in Brooklyn for Vitagraph Studios, which that year purchased Kalem Company."Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910", digital copy of original enumeration page, Borough of Brooklyn, New York, April 16 and 18, 1910. Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.; archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (CJCLDS), Salt Lake City, Utah. Contrary to information given in other sources, Rottjer did not die in 1917. Later census records further document that by 1920 he had moved with his family to Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, but he was still employed in the motion-picture industry as a "Pyrotechnical" specialist."Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920", digital copy of original enumeration page, Town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, January 10, 1920. Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.; archives, CJCLDS.


Filming at Sheepshead Bay Race Track

Although Kalem initially planned to use props and "standing scenery" from Pain's, the studio acquired most of its production needs elsewhere and opted, perhaps due to budget and scheduling constraints, to film the project's chariot race and other scenes at the Sheepshead Bay Race Track, which was located close to Manhattan Beach. The track by October 1907 was closed for the season and was immediately available for Kalem to use. The film's credited screenwriter or "scenarist", Gene Gauntier, described the film's setup in her series of autobiographical articles for ''
Woman's Home Companion ''Woman's Home Companion'' was an American monthly magazine, published from 1873 to 1957. It was highly successful, climbing to a circulation peak of more than four million during the 1930s and 1940s. The magazine, headquartered in Springfield, O ...
'' in 1928: To enhance the status of "The Most Superb Motion Picture Spectacle Ever Produced in America", Kalem would later state in its advertisements that the film's costumes were from the wardrobe collection of the Metropolitan Opera House on 39th Street in New York. In reality, the "Elliott's" screenwriter Gauntier identifies as the source for the cast's attire, was Gus Elliott, an "old German" prop and costume supplier, whose business was located at St. Mark's Place in Manhattan.


Chariot race

While Rottjer was credited as the film's "Chief Chariotier" and likely drove Ben-Hur's chariot in the staged race at Sheepshead, the other charioteers were off-duty soldiers of Brooklyn's "3rd Battery" of the
National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...
.Solomon, Jon. "The Kalem ''Ben Hur'' (1907)", pp. 193-194. ''The Ancient World in Silent Film'' edited by Pantelis Michelakis and Maria Wyke. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Members of that local military unit were well known for their expertise in horsemanship. As a testament to their
equine Equinae is a subfamily of the family Equidae, which have lived worldwide (except Indonesia and Australia) from the Hemingfordian stage of the Early Miocene (16 million years ago) onwards. They are thought to be a monophyletic grouping.B. J. MacFa ...
abilities, soldiers of Brooklyn's Third Battery in August 1908 would later set a world record for "military endurance" by riding 50 miles from
Nanuet, New York Nanuet is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, United States. The third largest hamlet in Clarkstown, it is located north of Pearl River, south of New City, east of Spring Valley, and west o ...
to Brooklyn in just six hours, much of the time traveling at night and over mountain roads. Pain's Fireworks Company provided the chariots driven by Rottjer and the guardsmen, along with some other props and related gear.


Release and reception

Released on December 7, 1907, the film received positive reviews and comments in publications around the United States. The New York-based trade journal ''The Moving Picture World'' announced in its issue that day, "The Kalem Company this week put on the market the Roman spectacular subject, 'Ben Hur'." In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on February 16, 1908, the city's ''Gazette Times'' reported on the presentation of ''Ben Hur'' at a new local theater, a showing enhanced by actors on site who performed sound effects and spoke dialog generally synchronized with the footage projected on screen: ''The Moving Picture World'' in February 1908 also updated its readers on audience reactions to Kalem's release. "'Ben Hur'", reported the trade journal, "drew such crowds to a theater in Atlanta, Ga., that the police had to aid in clearing the aisles and lobby." Later in the month the film-industry publication added, "A Western newspaper in commenting on a local show refers to 'Ben Hur' as 'a wonderfully realistic and pleasing presentation of Lew Wallace's famous story and a triumph of the kinetoscopic art.'"


Copyright infringement

In addition to being the first screen adaptation of Lew Wallace's novel, the production is noteworthy in film history as well for establishing precedent in
copyright law A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
in the United States. The motion picture was released nearly three years after Wallace's death, but it was produced by Kalem without the permission of the author's estate. Former Kalem screenwriter Gauntier remarked in her previously cited 1928 autobiography that in the early silent era it was a common practice for studios to ignore copyrights and dismiss any proprietary rights of original authors or creators of intellectual properties. On March 20, 1908–14 weeks after the release of ''Ben Hur''—the publishing house
Harper & Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
, stage producers
Klaw and Erlanger Klaw and Erlanger was an entertainment management and production partnership of Marc Klaw and Abraham Lincoln Erlanger based in New York City from 1888 through 1919. While running their own considerable and multi-faceted theatrical businesses ...
, and the author's estate filed a joint copyright-infringement lawsuit against the Kalem Company as well as against the
Kleine Optical Company George Kleine (1864June 8, 1931) was an American film producer and cinema pioneer. Biography Klein's father, Charles, was a New York optician who sold optical devices and stereopticons. Klein joined the family firm, moving to Chicago in 1893 ...
, which had produced the copies of the film for Kalem's distributors. The case was initially decided against Kalem, the primary defendant, in May 1908. Three and a half years later, on appeal to the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, justices in the case ''Kalem Co. v. Harper Bros.'' issued their final ruling against the film company. That ruling on November 13, 1911 established the
precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...
that all motion picture production companies must first secure the
film rights A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
of any previously published work still under copyright before commissioning a
screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
based on that work. Ultimately, Kalem was required to pay the plaintiffs $25,000 ($ today) as well as all related court costs for the case. Earlier, in 1908, perhaps seeking to capitalize on the growing publicity of its case against Kalem and the release of the film, Harper & Brothers published the lavishly designed illustrated book ''The Chariot Race from Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace'', which highlights only that event from the novel. Complementing the book's text are color illustrations by
Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...
artist Sigismond Ivanowski.


Surviving copies of the film

Kalem's losses in copyright litigation and the related court
injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...
s limiting and then preventing presentations of the company's short, the film "for the most part disappeared". For many years, even the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
did not possess a full copy of the 1907 release, but that federal institution, the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, and other repositories later located and acquired prints. Now in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
, additional full and partial copies of Kalem's ''Ben Hur'' are available for public viewing on online streaming services such as
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. Before court-ordered injunctions and the final copyright-infringement rulings against Kalem were effectively enforced, copies of ''Ben Hur'' circulated in Europe as well as the United States. Various distributors at the time offered to sell both standard "plain stock" copies as well as hand-colored prints of the 1000-foot reel, which consists of approximately 16,000 individual frames. One American film-supply catalog in 1908 offered black-and-white prints of ''Ben Hur'' for $120 ($ USD today). Color versions produced in France, painted by hand in Paris, sold for an additional $150, costing $270 per copy ($ today) or 15 cents more per foot in 1908.''Revised List of High-Class Original Motion Picture Films'' (1908)
sales catalog of unspecified film distributor, printed in the United States, 1908, p. 191. Internet Archive. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
No copies or fragments of the hand-tinted version of the film are currently known to exist.


Notes


References


External links

* *
Google Book Search file on the case ''Harper & Brothers v. Kalem Company (1909)''"> Google Book Search file on the case ''Harper & Brothers v. Kalem Company (1909)''
from the book ''Select Cases on the Law of Torts'', by
John Henry Wigmore John Henry Wigmore (1863–1943) was an American lawyer and legal scholar known for his expertise in the law of evidence and for his influential scholarship. Wigmore taught law at Keio University in Tokyo (1889–1892) before becoming the first ...
.
''Ben Hur''
website dedicated to Sidney Olcott * *
Kalem Company v. Harper Brothers, 222 U.S. 55 (1911)
' {{Authority control 1907 films American silent short films Films directed by Sidney Olcott American black-and-white films Kalem Company films Ben-Hur films Silent American drama films 1907 drama films Unofficial adaptations Films set in ancient Rome Films set in Jerusalem Films shot in New York City Horse racing Chariots Articles containing video clips Films based on American novels Surviving American silent films 1900s American films Silent adventure films