Ben Hur Silent Film/Stewart Copeland/Seattle

[redrum]

Me and my friend Brian are going to see this on the 29th. Should be a blast.

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a 1925 American epic silent film directed by Fred Niblo, starring Ramón Novarro and Francis X. Bushman, based on the 1880 novel by Lew Wallace. Ben-Hur was the most expensive silent film ever made, with an enormous cast and crew and a visual scope that is breathtaking to this day. In 1997, Ben-Hur was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

In 2010 legendary drummer from the band The Police and film score composer, Stewart Copeland was asked to compose a score for an arena spectacle of the original book including the iconic chariot scene and marine battle. It ran throughout Europe including Munich, Rome and the O2 Arena in London. Copeland was commissioned by the Virginia Arts Festival to edit the Niblo classic film and re-assemble his score for live performance with orchestra.

As a film composer, Copeland has worked with many of the greatest film directors of our generation, including Francis Ford Coppola and Oliver Stone. The film, now at 85 minutes, and an intermission, will feature Stewart Copeland on drum set and percussion as well as the 50+ member Seattle Rock Orchestra conducted by Kim Roy. This is a project that for the first time combines Copeland’s many talents in composition, orchestration, film scoring, film editing, and of course, his remarkable virtuosity behind the drums.

 

 

 

[the chase]

Now this looks very cool. Stewart Copeland is an excellent film composer. Rumble Fish and Wall Street had some very cool music, though much of Wall St. was Byrne and Eno's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts lp.

The original 1925 Ben Hur gets somewhat overlooked now because the Heston 1959 remake was so good and a bloxkbuster. But this is one of the great silent epics.

[redrum]

On 2/22/2016 at 3:55 PM, the chase said:

Now this looks very cool. Stewart Copeland is an excellent film composer. Rumble Fish and Wall Street had some very cool music, though much of Wall St. was Byrne and Eno's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts lp.

The original 1925 Ben Hur gets somewhat overlooked now because the Heston 1959 remake was so good and a bloxkbuster. But this is one of the great silent epics.

So looking forward to it.

[Strider]

Sharing this with my Seattle/Washington friends. Should be a fun evening.

[redrum]

This was a great show. There were probably 2000 people there and the theater itself is gorgeous. The music was perfectly timed to the film and the ship battle and chariot race was amazing. No computer shenanigans back then. A standing ovation and 3 curtain calls for Copeland and the conductor. We had a parking nightmare after the show, but got out of Seattle unscathed. The city is really beautiful at night.