Ben-Hur (1959 film) New York City on November 18, 1959. Present at the premiere were William Wyler, Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet, Martha Scott, Ramon Novarro (who played Judah Ben-Hur in the 1925 silent film version), Spyros Skouras (president of the 20th Century Fox), Barney Balaban (president of Paramount Pictures), Jack L. Warner (president of Warner Bros.), Leonard Goldenson (president of the American Broadcasting Company), Moss Hart (playwright), Robert Kintner (an ABC Television executive), Sidney Kingsley (playwright), and Adolph Zukor (founder of Paramount Pictures). During its initial release the film earned $33.6 million in North American theater rentals (the distributor's share of
The Burmese Harp (1956 film) audience of 3.87 million people, then the second largest Japanese box office hit. The Burmese Harp (1956 film) The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of 1956. In 1985, Ichikawa remade "The Burmese Harp" in color with a new cast, and the remake was a major box office success, becoming the number one Japanese film on the domestic market in 1985 and the second largest Japanese box office hit up to that time. Private Mizushima, a Japanese soldier, becomes the harp (or "saung") player of Captain Inouye's group, composed of soldiers who fight and