 David Lean's landmark epic Lawrence
Of Arabia. By now, the film's reputation is well
established. Considered by many to be one of the greatest
films of all time (it certainly ranks high on
our list), in 1962 Lawrence Of Arabia garnered seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Peter
O'Toole's tortured performance is the stuff of legend, and
its on-screen vistas have inspired filmmakers from Stephen
Spielberg to Martin Scorsese to Peter Jackson.
But some classic films of yesteryear
have a way of surviving on the praise of those who cite a
film for greatness simply because you're supposed to. Your professor in film school called it an all-time great,
and you told your friends the same, and so on, until it is
repeated so often that
no one dares question the notion that said film is anything
but impeccable. So does Lawrence Of Arabia live up to the crushing burden of almost 45 years of enormous
praise?
Yes. Yes, it does.
Lawrence Of Arabia tells the story of real life British military man T.E. Lawrence,
who served in the Arabian desert during World War I. His book, The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, tells of his time in
the desert, a time during which he led legendary attacks on
Aqaba and Damascus, and gathered together a small army of
ragtag Arabian soldiers to wage a guerrilla war against the
Turkish forces. The film attempts to tackle that book and
Lawrence's story. And there is a lot to tackle.
This is a big, big movie. It has to be, because one of its
main characters – maybe the main character
– is not as much Lawrence himself, but the sprawling
Arabian desert. It is a realm of sand sculpted by thousands
of years of wind and desolation and war. Empty, beautiful,
dangerous, endless, all of it captured lovingly in what might
be the most gorgeous photography ever to grace the big screen.
These things – war and desolation - sculpted not only
the desert, but this beloved film. It is war and desolation,
as experienced through the eyes of Lawrence, that serve as
the driving force here, pushed onto Lawrence by the desert's
oppressive weight and his own internal demons. While there
are gunshots and expansive battles, while World War I is the
backdrop, this is not a war movie. The real conflict is not
the Great War, but Lawrence's internal conflict; his struggles
to find who he is and why he is compelled by the untamed emptiness
that is the desert and its people. Like the desert itself
- gigantic and empty, alluringly beautiful and savagely dangerous
- Lawrence is a startling contradiction. He is surrounded
by men who would follow him to death, but he is utterly alone
in the world. He wins battle after battle against a superior
army, but is a poor military man. He finds violence abhorrent
but turns against a small group of weaker enemy forces in
a savage and bloody attack of vengeance. He is a ruthless
man of war, beloved by the rough and tireless factions of
the desert, but barely hides his almost feminine flamboyance.
The truth about Lawrence is that there is no truth
about Lawrence.
All of these layered aspects of Lawrence's personality are
masterfully brought to the screen by Peter O'Toole in what
is one of the great performances ever captured on film. From
his awkward, timid beginnings in a British military installation,
to his first tentative steps into the gaping maw of a landscape
the likes of which he (and the viewer) have never before seen,
to his first meetings with the seeming alien cultures of that
same desert, and finally to the growing messianic megalomania
that eventually leaves even Lawrence unsure of who and what
he is, O'Toole brings the character to life with an intensity
that almost hurts to witness. He grimaces. His eyes
burn. A gesture or glance. An utter fire gleaming
from within. The layers seem to be endless; the contradictions
piled high. On the first viewing it is an impressive performance.
By the 10th, you're starting to wonder when you'll stop discovering
new aspects of the character. By the 20th, you realize probably
never.
Of course, O'Toole's tortured performance would just be aimless
scenery chewing if not for the masterfully focused direction
of David Lean. This is a director who got his reputation for
being the king of epic films the old fashioned way. He earned
it.
Despite clocking in at just under four hours (228 minutes total
with the opening overture and intermission), Lawrence
Of Arabia seems to glide by effortlessly. Lean knows
when to linger in a scene and when to push forward with character
moments. And sometimes, when to do both at the same time. This
is best displayed by one of the film's best known moments, the
audacious entrance scene of Omar Sharif's memorable performance
as Sherif Ali. Lawrence, at a well in the middle of the desert,
is witness as his guide is suddenly shot from a distance. He
gazes off into the hazy heat at the  horizon,
waiting for the shooter to approach. Approach he does; slowly;
deliberately; the camera lingering; gazing into the distance,
the waves of heat masking the tiny black dot in the distance.
But the dot grows. And grows. And grows. And from the sandy
waste emerges the brilliant Sharif on horseback. It's a shot
no director should be able to get away with ... but Lean does.
There are many such moments, scenes when Lean simply luxuriates
in the setting, Maurice Jarre's bombastic score swelling as
the amazing scenery goes by. In a film with this kind of scope,
a lesser director could easily allow the cast to be swallowed
up by the scale of the thing. Not Lean. The sheer spectacle
of the imagery can be overwhelming, yet it is always tempered
with the kind of small character moments that draw you deeper
into who these people are and why they do what they do. All
of the performances, from O'Toole and Sharif to great turns
by Alec Guinness, Claude Rains, Anthony Quinn and others,
are given a degree of rich clarity big action movies simply
don't provide.
And that's because despite the sprawling setting and the
triumphantly huge battles,
 Lawrence
Of Arabia isn't an action movie. Make no
mistake, the battle sequences are stunning – the taking
of Aqaba is presented in a remarkably bold sweep of the camera
populated by hundreds of riders that simply takes your breath
away, and that's only one of many such highlights –
but this isn't a film about battles between armies. At its
core, and a big reason why is remains so well respected, it
is a film about the battles men have inside themselves. Sharif,
torn between the ways of his people and the lure of a more
modern world. Quinn's Auda abu Tayi between his unspoken respect
for Lawrence and his desire to make a buck. And Lawrence himself,
pulled this way and that by his own insecurities and arrogances.
Lawrence Of Arabia is
not a film that is seen, it is a film that is experienced.
The delicious 70mm photography is like a lush painting come
to life. The conflicts of the characters, both internal and
external, are compelling in their richly human drama. And
the many cinematic flourishes of the masterful David Lean
make all four hours a delight.
Yes, it's a heavily long film. And yes, the plot meanders
into a second act that doesn't quite live up to the first.
And yes, it is one of the greatest films of all time.
 Presentation
There are several editions of Lawrence Of Arabia out there. While the bargain price tag of the single-disc
release might be tempting for those who have never seen the
film, here we focus on the two-disc Special Edition release
because, quite simply, it's the best for the buck.
Lean's epic classic was re-released
in 1989 for a limited theatrical run, with some 35 minutes
of once cut footage put back in the film where it belongs.
All that footage from start to finish was lovingly restored
for the release, and it looks spectacular. It's hard to imagine
that this film was shot in 1962; it looks way too good to
be nearly five decades since it first hit the screen. The
colors are lush and vibrant; the screen detail exceptional.
The 2003 SuperBit release corrects some color timing issues,
so if you're willing to sacrifice some solid extras for a
slight upgrade in the visual quality, do so. But if you want
those extras, you sure won't be disappointed with the presentation
quality of this DVD release. Excellent.
The same can be said for the sound.
Digitally remastered, including dialogue rerecorded by O'Toole
for the 1989 re-release, the film sounds better than it ever
has.
Skip the single-disc release, which
crams all four hours onto one disc, and get either two-disc
release. The film is spread over both discs, with the split
taking place in the most logical location – the Intermission.
 Extras
Neither the single-disc release nor the SuperBit release boast
any extras. The Special Edition, however, has some nice bonus
features worth diving into. Four solid featurettes - Wind,
Sand and Star: The Making of a Classic, Maan, Jordan: The
Camels Are Cast, In Search of Lawrence and Romance of Arabia - delve into the trials of filming in the desert, working
with the large animal cast, who T.E. Lawrence really was,
and why the desert is so magical. The archival footage is
worthwhile and the features well done.
The focal special feature is The
Making Of Lawrence Of Arabia, which
covers the front-to-back story of how this film was made.
Tons of great behind the scenes footage here, some excellent
interviews both from the period as well as some recorded within
the last 10 years, and fabulous insight into just what a giant
undertaking this was. Fascinating and well worth skipping
the SuperBit for.
In A Conversation with Steven
Spielberg we learn that today's most successful director
really, really, really likes this film, so much so
that he watches it before each new production he steps into.
Some newsreel footage from
the New York premier, and the video-, text- and image-based Talent Files and Advertising Campaigns round
things out.
Finally, the strong DVD packaging
comes with a reproduction of the 1962 souvenir booklet.
The only thing missing is a commentary.
I'd triple-dip purchase this film if I could get one or two
scholarly DVD commentaries. Still, the extras here are pretty
strong.
The Bottom Line
Without question, Lawrence Of Arabia has
earned its reputation as one of the great works of cinema,
a stunningly huge, audaciously ambitious epic that manages
to mix equal parts visual splendor and focused character study.
The two-disc Special Edition release of this majestic landmark
comes with the very highest of recommendations.
If you have not yet experienced Lawrence
Of Arabia, you're missing out on one of the most
stunning epics of all time. Waste no more time: set aside
an afternoon and experience one of the greatest films ever
made.
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