Lean admitted that almost all of the film's movement was from left to right, to emphasize the journey theme of the film. The film conveys the enigmatic, complex life and exploits of an eccentric, rebellious, desert-loving, messianic, Oxford-bred British Army officer cartographer repeatedly referred to as an "Englishman" , who unites the desert-dwelling Arabian Bedouins against the oppressive Turks allies of Germany during World War I.
His extraordinary knowledge of the politics and culture of the Mideast allows him to organize the various, willful Arab tribes to repel enemies of the British. The film focuses on four major events in Lawrence's life - told in flashback:. In when the film first opened, it was minutes long, but it was subsequently cut down by 35 minutes to minutes, and not restored to minutes until The nearly four-hour long film without any female speaking roles featured a star-studded cast, with a virtually unknown, blue-eyed Irish Shakespearean stage actor Peter O'Toole in his first starring role.
Lawrence - a solitary, masochistic adventurer with confused sexuality, and hidden, repressed, and unrequited homosexual feelings for Sherif Ali who paradoxically wanted to be both extraordinary and ordinary. In the end, his excessive arrogance, violent masochism and pushing of limits led to his own downfall, and to his belief that he had failed in his mission and duty. The only reason that the film wasn't nominated eleven times was because Phyllis Dalton's name was inadvertently not submitted for contention in the Best Costume Design category won by The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm!
She would win a few years later for Lean's Doctor Zhivago The film opens with a jaunty British march prologue to a black screen for about 5 minutes much like A Space Odyssey did with Atmospheres. The opening scene of the film is both a prologue and an epilogue, depicting Lieutenant T. Lawrence's Peter O'Toole death in mid-May of After the credits, Lawrence races his motorcycle along an English country road. At the crest of a hill, he brakes and swerves to avoid two bicyclists, losing control and crashing his motorcycle into shrubbery - he disappears off-screen.
His riderless motorcycle hurtles through the air and comes to rest with its rear wheel spinning. His eye goggles hang lifelessly from a branch. The freakish, disastrous motorcycle crash is fatal. Following the mysterious accident, the camera pulls back from a bronze bust of T. Lawrence - , located in St. Paul's Cathedral in London, where a memorial service is being held. The camera pans down the front of the Cathedral, where on the steps, General Lord Allenby Jack Hawkins and then American journalist Jackson Bentley Arthur Kennedy [in a role based upon real-life reporter Lowell Thomas] are asked for a few words by an agile reporter.
In an informal eulogy, Bentley provides two contrasting, contradictory views of the man and legend:. Allenby: What, more words? The revolt in the desert played a decisive part in the Middle Eastern campaign. Reporter: Yes, sir, but about Colonel Lawrence himself?
Allenby: No, no. I didn't know him well, you know. Reporter: Uh, Mr. You must know as much about Colonel Lawrence as anybody does. Bentley: Yes. It was my privilege to know him and to make him known to the world. He was a poet, a scholar, and a mighty warrior.
As the reporter runs off for his next interview, Bentley makes an aside to his companion. He was also the most shameless exhibitionist since Barnum and Bailey.
Another memory from one of the funeral-goers provides the framework for a giant flashback to tell the story of Lawrence's earlier life:. At age 29, young Lawrence began his career in the British headquarters in Cairo during World War I January , working at a lowly desk job.
He is disgruntled and uninterested in his work as a military cartographer coloring maps, wanting only to get involved in adventures out in the desert - where "Bedouin Tribes Attack Turkish Stronghold. He also advises Corporal William Potter Harry Fowler , who tries to repeat the performance, about the masochistic trick:. Potter: Oh, it damn well hurts.
Lawrence: Certainly it hurts. Potter: Well, what's the trick, then? Lawrence: The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts. Dryden Claude Rains of the Arab Bureau proposes to General Murray Donald Wolfit that the scholarly educated at Oxfordshire , dedicated, knowledgeable about Arabian affairs but undisciplined Lawrence be assigned to special duty with a transfer to Arabia.
He might be in Arabia. He knows his stuff. The mission to Arabia may "make a man" of Lawrence, hardening him into a courageous, heroic leader:. Murray: I can't make out whether you're bloody bad-mannered or just half-witted.
Lawrence: I have the same problem sir. You're the kind of creature I can't stand, Lawrence. But I suppose I could be wrong. All right, Dryden. You can have him for six weeks. Who knows? Might even make a man of him.
With subtle persuasion, Dryden negotiates for a longer stay of three months. Lawrence is enthusiastic about his arduous mission to Arabia: "Of course I'm the man for the job," he tells Dryden. But then: "What is the job, by the way? In Dryden's office, decorated with artifacts including an alabaster Egyptian cat statue and a painting of a golden sunrise, Dryden explains Lawrence's task.
He is to investigate the progress of the Arab Revolt against Constantinople Turkey and to appraise the strength of the fragmented Arab tribes for the British Political Bureau, at Prince Feisal's encampment. Dryden: Find out what kind of man he is [Prince Feisal]. It is a spare movie in clean, uncluttered lines, and there is never a moment when we're in doubt about the logistical details of the various campaigns.
Lawrence is able to unite various desert factions, the movie argues, because 1 he is so obviously an outsider that he cannot even understand, let alone take sides with, the various ancient rivalries; and 2 because he is able to show the Arabs that it is in their own self-interest to join the war against the Turks.
The dialogue in these scenes is not complex, and sometimes Bolt makes it so spare it sounds like poetry. I've noticed that when people remember "Lawrence of Arabia," they don't talk about the plot. They get a certain look in their eye, as if they are remembering the whole experience and have never quite been able to put it into words. Although it seems to be a traditional narrative film - like " The Bridge on the River Kwai ," which Lean made just before it, or " Doctor Zhivago ," which he made just after - it actually has more in common with such essentially visual epics as Kubrick's "" or Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky.
Much of its appeal is based on the fact that it does not contain a complex story with a lot of dialogue; we remember the quiet, empty passages, the sun rising across the desert, the intricate lines traced by the wind in the sand.
Although it won the Academy Award as the year's best picture in , "Lawrence of Arabia" would have soon been a lost memory if it had not been for two film restorers named Robert A.
Harris and Jim Painten. They discovered the original negative in Columbia's vaults inside crushed and rusting film cans, and they also discovered about 35 minutes of footage that had been trimmed by distributors from Lean's final cut.
To see it in a movie theater is to appreciate the subtlety of F. Young's desert cinematography - achieved despite blinding heat and the blowing sand, which worked its way into every camera. It is a great experience to see it in as Lean intended it in - and also a humbling one, to realize how the motion picture industry is losing the vision to make epic films like this and settling for safe narrative formulas instead.
Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from until his death in Colonel as R. David Lean. More like this. Watch options. Storyline Edit.
Due to his knowledge of the native Bedouin tribes, British Lieutenant T. Lawrence is sent to Arabia to find Prince Faisal and serve as a liaison between the Arabs and the British in their fight against the Turks. With the aid of native Sherif Ali, Lawrence rebels against the orders of his superior officer and strikes out on a daring camel journey across the harsh desert to attack a well-guarded Turkish port.
Adventure Biography Drama War. Did you know Edit. Trivia On his first location scouting trip in Jordan, director Sir David Lean discovered the remains of the Turkish locomotives and railroad tracks T.
Lawrence had destroyed during the Arab Revolution. After forty years in the sun, they hadn't even rusted. Goofs When Lawrence issues the promissory note to Auda he writes right-to-left. Many have interpreted this as the film being processed backwards when in fact he is writing Arabic which is right-to-left. And when he signs his name at the bottom, he does so left-to-right. Quotes [Lawrence has just extinguished a match between his thumb and forefinger.
William Potter surreptitiously attempts the same] William Potter : Ooh! Officer : What's the trick then? Alternate versions There are technically four versions of the film: the original minute print, then cut to minutes after its premiere, the minute theatrical re-cut and the minute including the overture, entr'acte music and play-out music in the restoration. Full details as follows: Originally released at minutes for the UK premiere in December Shortly after premiere which took place in London in December , David Lean , reportedly under the orders of producer Sam Spiegel , cut 20 minutes from the film to minutes.
Cuts included the shot of goggles on the tree, Brighton's "remarkable man" line to the priest, early shots of the drafting room scene, the whole officer's mess sequence where he's called a clown and upsets water on someone, and some dialogue between the General and Dryden.
The theatrical re-release cut the film further to minutes. The film was restored in at minutes. This version, supervised by David Lean, was advertised as a Director's Cut and has been the version made available to home video formats since.
Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from until his death in In , he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Peter O'Toole as Lawrence. Alec Guinness as Prince Feisal. Anthony Quinn as Auda Abu Tayi.
Reviews Great Movies Lawrence of Arabia. Roger Ebert September 02, Now streaming on:. Powered by JustWatch.
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