Ben Hur is a 1907 American silent drama film set in ancient Rome, the first screen adaptation of Lew Wallace's popular 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.

The film then ends with spectators continuing to cheer; Judah being awarded a laurel wreath by the emperor; and Messala, who was injured during the race, lying on a stretcher and gesturing toward his former friend.

If Hart were indeed cast in the film, it is surprising that Kalem in its advertising did not widely promote the presence of an established Broadway actor in the motion picture, especially a veteran of a Ben Hur production in the "legitimate" theatre.

That entertainment company on summer nights since 1879 had staged for audiences at a "massive outdoor stadium and lake at Manhattan Beach" spectacular pyrotechnic displays to simulate famous battles, revolutions, historic fires, and natural disasters such as the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and its destruction of the Roman town of Pompeii.

[10][11] In Kalem’s large advertisement for Ben Hur in the December 7, 1907 issue of the trade journal The Moving Picture World, the studio credits Rottjer as the "Chief Chariotier" in the film.

[6] The film's credited screenwriter or "scenarist", Gene Gauntier, described the film's setup in her series of autobiographical articles for Woman's Home Companion in 1928:Mr. Olcott and I went to the racetrack, found the [Pain's] props impossible and the supers [extras] inadequate, hurried back to Swain's Agency and interviewed people for the cast and extras, and late in the evening rushed down to Elliott's and remained there until after midnight selecting props and hundreds of costumes.

[6]To enhance the status of "The Most Superb Motion Picture Spectacle Ever Produced in America", Kalem would later state in its advertisements that the film's costumes were from the wardrobe collection of the Metropolitan Opera House on 39th Street in New York.

The New York-based trade journal The Moving Picture World announced in its issue that day, "The Kalem Company this week put on the market the Roman spectacular subject, 'Ben Hur'.

"[18] In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on February 16, 1908, the city's Gazette Times reported on the presentation of Ben Hur at a new local theater, a showing enhanced by actors on site who performed sound effects and spoke dialog generally synchronized with the footage projected on screen:At the new Savoy theater in South Highland avenue, near Center avenue, which was opened yesterday afternoon and last night in an auspicious manner, the same bill that pleased yesterday's large crowds and will be continued until the middle of next week.

"[20] Later in the month the film-industry publication added, "A Western newspaper in commenting on a local show refers to 'Ben Hur' as 'a wonderfully realistic and pleasing presentation of Lew Wallace's famous story and a triumph of the kinetoscopic art.

Former Kalem screenwriter Gauntier remarked in her previously cited 1928 autobiography that in the early silent era it was a common practice for studios to ignore copyrights and dismiss any proprietary rights of original authors or creators of intellectual properties.

[24] Three and a half years later, on appeal to the United States Supreme Court, justices in the case Kalem Co. v. Harper Bros. issued their final ruling against the film company.

[26] Earlier, in 1908, perhaps seeking to capitalize on the growing publicity of its case against Kalem and the release of the film, Harper & Brothers published the lavishly designed illustrated book The Chariot Race from Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace, which highlights only that event from the novel.

[28] For many years, even the Library of Congress did not possess a full copy of the 1907 release, but that federal institution, the Museum of Modern Art, and other repositories later located and acquired prints.