Goofs for Ben-Hur
Goofs for Ben-Hur (1959)
Anachronisms: In the chariot scene, one of the trumpeters is wearing a watch. (One observer claims this is simply an unfortunately positioned shadow.)
Continuity: Ben-Hur places his crown of laurels on a table by the entrance when he visits the fallen Messala, but when he leaves, the crown is gone.
Anachronisms: The calf in the stable is a Holstein, a breed that did not exist at the time, and was unknown in the area until 1922.
Continuity: Nine chariots start the chariot race. After the first crash, there appear still to be nine chariots in the race. After the third crash, six are shown, but as Ben Hur passes to catch up, clearly there is a total of seven in the race. After five have crashed, five are left. Messala is the sixth chariot to crash, but Ben Hur and three others finish the race. Thus, nine chariots start the race, six crash, and four finish.
Continuity: During the chariot race, when we see the third fish lowered, the following shot shows briefly the fishes and the third is still up.
Revealing mistakes: Tyre tracks from the camera truck are visible in the sand of the circus during the chariot race.
Continuity: Messala damages Ben-Hur's chariot with his saw-toothed wheel-hubs, but when Ben-Hur drives up to Pontius Pilate to receive his prize, his chariot is undamaged.
Continuity: During the chariot race, shadow lengths/directions clearly show that passage of time (filming) inconsistent with length of "actual" race.
Continuity: Ben-Hur presents ring to be returned to Rome. Pontius Pilate moves so that he is always facing the camera as the angle reverses.
Anachronisms: As they are preparing for the chariot race, a raised platform is shown which is made of galvanized steel.
Continuity: An establishing shot of Jerusalem in the opening sequence shows a hooded Ben-Hur, long before he is born. The scene appears again later in the film as Judah Ben-Hur returns to Jerusalem from Rome.
Revealing mistakes: When Esther and Tirzah and Miriam seek shelter, the storm is violent enough to cause earth to fall in front of the cave, and the sound of the wind is deafening. Yet trees visible in the background (from the mouth of the cave) do not so much as sway in the breeze.
Anachronisms: During the scene in which Judah and Messala are talking in the courtyard of Judah's home, road noise from motorcycles can be heard in the background.
Crew or equipment visible: The shadow of the camera can be seen on Christ's back as Ben Hur is leaving Nazareth to go to the galleys (widescreen version).
Continuity: When Ben-Hur's and Messala's chariots lock wheels, Messala's wheel shatters. In the shot of the overturning chariot, the wheel is intact.
Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the audience first sees Ben-Hur and Messalla together and they both throw a spear at the wall, the sound of Ben-Hur's voice does not match up with his lips.
Revealing mistakes: Due to the relative widths of the horses pulling the chariots and the chariots themselves, there is actually no way that the cutting hubs on Messala's wheels could actually make contact with the wheels of any other chariots.
Anachronisms: Sheik Ilderim pins a Star of David onto Ben Hur's belt before the race, obviously to goad the Romans. The Star of David didn't become a symbol of Judaism until the Middle Ages, in Eastern Europe.
Anachronisms: Romans did not take slaves for their galleys. Galley slaves did not exist until the 16th century.
Revealing mistakes: Just before the Roman galley is rammed, the condemned men behind Ben-Hur are clearly dummies.
Anachronisms: Modern books with covers can be seen, at a time when only scrolls were used.
Factual errors: Most of the Roman soldiers seen are not displaying the Roman Army's "Winged Lightning" symbol on their shields.
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): A character refers to the Roman Emperor as "The Divine Tiberius." The Emperor was never deified.
Anachronisms: The mezuzah shown at the entrance to Ben-Hur's home is mounted diagonally. That practice was not adopted until the middle ages, by Ashkenazi Jews, as a compromise between the rules offered by 2 medieval Rabbis.
Continuity: When Messala breaks a tile on Ben Hur's terrace, we can see a broken tile at his feet whereas on the shot before there was no tile.
Revealing mistakes: During the scene in which Judah and the Consul are rescued from the water, the waves breaking in the background reveal the end of the studio.
Revealing mistakes: A close-up of the saw-toothed wheel hubs, just before the race shows the modern welding.
Continuity: When Jesus is carrying the cross it changes from only the center beam to center beam and cross piece together, then back to center beam only.
Factual errors: At the beginning of the movie when Messallah is given the commission in Judea, the man whom he replaces mentions that there is a Man (Jesus) going around doing miracles- signifying that Jesus' ministry had started. But that would not be possible because when Judah returns Jesus' is still ministering. Jesus' ministry was only three years long, yet Judah was away for almost five years.
Continuity: In the beginning of the movie, Sextus tells about a carpenter's son from Nazareth, Afterwards, Ben-Hur worked three years in the galleys and spent some time in Rome. This means that Sextus' remark was a long time before Jesus' public appearance.
Continuity: After the race, Messala knows that Ben-Hur thinks his mother and sister to be dead. But Messala cannot possibly know this.