REALISTIC SEA BATTLES IN “BEN HUE”

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6543, 27 February 1928, Page 8

REALISTIC SEA BATTLES IN “BEN HUE”

In the past, pictures have boon made of the sea and of slavery at the oar aboard the ancient galleys, but Mctro-Goldwyn-Maycr claim that nono have entailed so much care in making, as did the Roman galley scenes in “Ben-Hur,” which Fred Niblo directed for that company, from the novel by General Lew Wallace. Tho making of tho sea sequences was perhaps the most intricate task that Niblo had to face when making this huge production and the episode of the battle on the Tyrrhenian Sea, between tho Romans and tho Pirates was not accomplished without mishap.

Ono of the galleys, which was to be destroyed by fire during the making of this sequence, caught fire before its scheduled time, and those aboard, •who should have been rescued by boats from other vessels, were forced to jump overboard,- armour and all, and swim for it. Great anxiety was caused when three of these were dscovered to he missng, but they were later found clinging to tho keel of an upturnd. boat, breathless, but uninjured.. The galleys used in the scenes, and there were over a hundred of them, were propelled by three decks of rowers, one above the other, and thousands of men were required to man tho oars. The leading roles n “Ben-Hur” arc taken by Ramon Nowarro, May McAvoy, Francis X. Bushman, Carmel Myers and Betty Bronson.