The Saga BEGINS!
The UNMAKING of “Ben-Hur”
The sheer scale of “Ben-Hur” helped turn it into the most expensive movie of the silent film era. But politics also exacted a toll during its earliest phase of production in Benito Mussolini’s Italy.
The shifting winds of resistance that would drive Spain to civil war in the mid-’30s were already aligned against “Ben-Hur” in 1924.
Anti-Mussolini factions checked their moral scruples outside the gates of the fabled Cines Studio. Theft and vandalism at the various locations around Rome resulted in unsafe conditions, shortages and labor strikes.
Outbreaks of violence came to a head in the waters off Livorno, where Italian extras broke into open defiance during the filming of the Old World pirate battle at sea.
With nothing to show for its long and costly year in Italy, MGM ordered the “Ben-Hur” company to pull up stakes and head for home.
Here for the first time is the whole story—told as a novel, because sometimes only fiction can do justice to the truth.
“Cast Aside: With Bushman at the Unmaking of ‘Ben-Hur’ in Italy” is published by BearManor Media Books.
Available in all formats at Amazon.com.
Reviews for Cast Aside
Cast Aside: With Bushman at the Unmaking of ‘Ben-Hur’ in Italy centers on muscular Francis X. Bushman, once the ‘handsomest man in movies,’ who hires an L.A. reporter to write true (or not) copy about the star to fuel the publicity machine. Thrown in the mix is Bushman’s mysterious and alluring female Italian companion—an attractive character, well drawn by Harding. (continued)
We feel the hovering menace of Europe’s first fascist state as Mussolini’s agents keep tabs on the American visitors. … The author elicits a great deal of suspense and drama as MGM’s wooden fleet sets sail off the Italian coast into a toxic mixture of choppy seas, wood, canvas, fire—and sabotage.
—Simon Lewis, author of “Waterloo” — Making an Epic and Making “A Bridge Too Far.”
A unique view of fascist Italy under the rule of Mussolini. Author John W. Harding takes us on a giddy ride into all the cut-throat behavior involved in the production of the silent ‘Ben-Hur.’ … Fascinating.
—R.W. Meek, author of “The Dream Collector: Sabrine and Sigmund Freud”