Next in my sequence is The Apartment, of which I know nothing. Here’s Pontius Pilate as portrayed by Frank Thring and Michael Palin in 19 (Thring’s version also has a slight speech impediment): She is the same age as the younger members of Monty Python, who were surely inspired by memories of their own teenage viewings of Ben-Hur when writing Life of Brian, though I guess Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth was fresher in their memories and also there are probably only so many ways you can do a film set in first-century Palestine.
She went with her friends to celebrate the end of their exams and claims that she can remember nothing about it except the chariot race.
My mother-in-law, a teenager when it came out, recalls a local cinema showing it on continuous loop, with the time that the chariot race would start on prominent display. It’s based on a novel published in 1880, which was a best-seller in its day. The core plot is about a young Jewish nobleman who is unjustly condemned to the galleys, but makes a comeback as a champion chariot racer and defeats the Roman who betrayed his friendship. It’s an epic film set in Rome and Judæa at the time of Christ, who makes a couple of appearances in the film.
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