Scott Lord Silent Film: Ben Hur, A Tale of Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925)

Ben Hur

Director Fred Niblo brought the running length of the silent film to twelve reels with the 1925 film "Ben Hur" bringing the adjective "epic" to the historiography of genre theory during the development of "religious drama", subtitling the film "A Tale of Christ". Hollywood was notorious for not allowing films to be made with visual images of the historical Jesus so as not to perturb religious organizations and delegated Ancient Civiizations to sensational, if not tawdry exploitation, archeologists falling in love in the film Made for Love.

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