Production of Ben-Hur (1959 film) 10 to 12 pages of it. Shooting lasted for 12 to 14 hours a day, six days a week. On Sundays, Wyler would meet with Fry and Zimbalist for story conferences. The pace of the film was so grueling that a doctor was brought onto the set to give a vitamin B complex injection to anyone who requested it (shots which Wyler and his family later suspected may have contained amphetamines). Wyler was unhappy with Heston's performances, feeling they did not make Judah Ben-Hur a plausible character. Wyler shot 16 takes of Heston saying, "I'm a Jew!" By November 1958,
Ben Hur (1907 film) 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 chariot race, which was filmed on a beach in New Jersey with local firemen playing the charioteers and the horses that normally pulled the fire wagons pulling the chariots. In 1908, perhaps seeking to capitalize