Details

Subjects:

Christianity in motion pictures.
Motion pictures and literature.

Local subjects:

Classics & Ancient History. (search)

Language:

In English.

System Details:

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
text file PDF

Summary:

The complete history of the Ben-Hur phenomenonBen-Hur was the first literary blockbuster to generate multiple and hugely profitable adaptations, highlighted by the 1959 film that won a record-setting 11 Oscars. More than a century before The Hunger Games and Harry Potter, and decades before Gone with the Wind and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, General Lew Wallace's Ben-Hur was spun off into dozens of popular publications and media productions, becoming a veritable commercial brand name that earned tens of millions of dollars.Ben-Hur: The Original Blockbuster surveys the phenomenon's unprecedented range and extraordinary endurance: various editions, spin-off publications, stage productions, movies, comic books, radio plays, and retail products were successfully marketed and sold from the 1880s and throughout the twentieth century. Today Ben-Hur Live is touring Europe and Asia, with a third film released in 2016.Jon Solomon's book offers an exciting and detailed study of the Ben-Hur brand, tracking its spectacular journey from Wallace's original novel through to twenty-first century adaptations, and encompassing a wealth of previously unexplored material along the way.

Contents:

Frontmatter
Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
A Note about the Hyphen: Ben-Hur vs Ben Hur
Series Editors' Preface
List of Abbreviations
1 The First Blockbuster
2 Lew Wallace Before Ben-Hur
3 "How I Came To Write Ben-Hur"
4 Publication and Early Reception of the Novel
5 The Transformations of the Novel
6 Reasons for Success
7 Early Staged Readings: Ben-Hur, in Tableaux and Pantomime
8 Ben-Hur in Song and Instrumental Music
9 "My God! Did I Set All This Into Motion?": The Klaw & Erlanger Ben-Hur
10 "Ben-Hur Flour Has The Go To Make The Dough": Early Ben-Hur Commerce
11 Ben-Hur in Moving Pictures: Stereopticon Lectures and the 1907 Kalem Ben-Hur
12 "The Greatest Motion Picture Property in the History of the Screen": The 1925 MGM Ben-Hur
13 Between the MGM Films
14 "The World's Most Honored Motion Picture": The 1959 MGM Ben-Hur
15 The Next Half-Century: New Formats and New Versions
Bibliography
General Index
Ben-Hur Index
Personal Names, Companies, Institutions, Societies, and Unions Index
Non-Ben-Hur Title Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Mrz 2022)

Contributor:

De Gruyter.

ISBN:

9781474407960

Publisher Number:

10.1515/9781474407960 doi

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.