Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ "Ben-Hur" as the most influential Christian book of the 19th century, while others have identified it as one of the best-selling novels of all time. Carl Van Doren wrote that "Ben-Hur" was, along with "Uncle Tom's Cabin", the first fiction many Americans read. Wallace's original plan was to write a story of the biblical magi as a magazine serial, which he began in 1873, but he had changed its focus by 1874. "Ben-Hur" begins with the story of the magi, but the remainder of the novel connects the story of Christ with the adventures of Wallace's fictional character, Judah Ben-Hur.
Ben Hur (1907 film) November 1911. This ruling established the precedent that all motion picture production companies must first secure the film rights of any previously published work still under copyright before commissioning a screenplay based on that work. Ben Hur (1907 film) Ben Hur is a 15-minute-long 1907 silent drama film, the first film version of Lew Wallace's novel "", one of the best-selling books at that time. The film was directed by Canadian director Sidney Olcott and Frank Oakes Rose. At fifteen minutes long, only a small portion of the story was put on screen. The focus of the piece was the