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Pittsburgh Silent Film Festival: ‘Ben-Hur’
Watch this 1925 biblical epic, accompanied by live piano music, at The Lindsay!
September 28, 2025 @ 7:00 pm
The Pittsburgh Silent Film Society returns to The Lindsay in September with a century-old classic full of drama, romance and epic chariot races.
Ben-Hur will play at The Lindsay on Sunday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m., as part of the third annual Pittsburgh Silent Film Festival. This screening will be accompanied by live piano music, courtesy of local composer Tyler Stoner. Tickets are available for $11.
Ben-Hur was directed by Fred Niblo and stars Ramon Novarro as Judah Ben-Hur, an aristocrat-turned-slave who is unjustly imprisoned by a former friend.
A slip of a brick during a Roman parade causes Judah to be sent off as a galley slave, his property confiscated and his mother and sister imprisoned. Years later, Judah returns to his homeland an exalted and wealthy Roman athlete. Unable to find his mother and sister, and believing them dead, he can think of nothing else than revenge.
The film’s cast also includes Francis X. Bushman as Roman officer Messala; Claire McDowell as Miriam, Judah’s mother; Kathleen Key as Tirzah, Judah’s sister; and May McAvoy as Esther, a merchant’s daughter.
The Lindsay has been hosting Pittsburgh Silent Film Festival screenings since its inception in 2023. That year, the Theater showed the 1920 silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. In 2024, the Pittsburgh Silent Film Society brought fellow Robert Wiene film The Hands of Orlac to the Sewickley nonprofit theater.
Chad Hunter, the Pittsburgh Silent Film Society’s founder, reminds silent film aficionados that the Library of Congress added Ben-Hur to the National Film Registry in 1997 because it “had such a tremendous influence on filmmakers of the day.”
“In this year’s festival, Ben-Hur is one of just a couple titles that are rarely screened or seen anymore,” Hunter says. “Seeing this film in a theater, on the big screen, with live piano accompaniment by Tyler Stoner, is an opportunity not to be missed!”
