15 Films You Didn't Realise Were Remakes
1. Ben-Hur
William Wyler's Roman epic, Ben-Hur, is one of the most celebrated films in cinema. It's most defining moment is the climactic chariot-race, which is as heart-pumping to watch now as it was back then. Shooting this scene was so dangerous, it has been reported that one of the stuntmen died during filming.
However, this isn't true. A stuntman died in the 1925 black-and-white silent version, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, when his cart broke apart while shooting the climax. This "random fact" is misattributed to the Charlton Heston film since it is the more well-known adaptation of the story.
Although the 1959 epic copied many shots from the its predecessor, both films feel very different since the 1925 version focuses more on religious symbolism. In the 1959 version, Jesus Christ doesn't speak and is never seen clearly.
But the 1925 version isn't the original either. The first adaptation was a 15-minute silent short all the way back in 1907. Bizarrely, this adaptation was one of the first films where the production company was sued for copyright infringement since it didn't obtain the rights from the 1880 novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.