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Title: Ben-Hur
Review: Grand. Opulent. Epic. BEN-HUR is a wide-screen extravaganza that saves all its serious paint for the action scenes. The plot may be thin, the characters shallow and the acting majestically wooden, but director William Wyler really knew how to paint in the wide screen corners. The famous chariot race is one of the greatest action scenes ever filmed.How big? Consider this - of the eleven Academy Awards won by this one, the Supporting Actor winner Hugh Griffith didn't even first appear until an hour and forty minutes into the movie, a time when most good movies have gone to bed.This movie really needs to be seen on the biggest screen you can put it on. The actors' nostril should be as big as hubcaps when they're shot in close-up. Even in its original 2:76-1 aspect ratio BEN-HUR loses a bit of its punch the smaller it's shown.
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