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Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers (WGA):
Release Date:
30 January 1963 (Canada)
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Tagline:
The Desert Classic. (1983 Video Release) more
Plot:
Epic rumination on a flamboyant and controversial British military figure and his conflicted loyalties during wartime service. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Won 7 Oscars.
Another 19 wins
&
12 nominations
more
NewsDesk:
(74 articles)
'Avatar' Reviewed On MTV Movies Blog
(From MTV Movies Blog. 12 December 2009)
Twice the glitz and glamour?
(From The Guardian - Film News. 5 December 2009, 4:10 PM, PST)
(From MTV Movies Blog. 12 December 2009)
Twice the glitz and glamour?
(From The Guardian - Film News. 5 December 2009, 4:10 PM, PST)
User Comments:
a memento from the days when they made real movies
more (427 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Peter O'Toole | ... | T.E. Lawrence | |
| Alec Guinness | ... | Prince Feisal | |
| Anthony Quinn | ... | Auda Abu Tayi | |
| Jack Hawkins | ... | General Lord Edmund Allenby | |
| Omar Sharif | ... | Sherif Ali | |
| José Ferrer | ... | Turkish Bey (as Jose Ferrer) | |
| Anthony Quayle | ... | Colonel Brighton | |
| Claude Rains | ... | Mr. Dryden | |
| Arthur Kennedy | ... | Jackson Bentley | |
| Donald Wolfit | ... | General Murray | |
| I.S. Johar | ... | Gasim | |
| Gamil Ratib | ... | Majid | |
| Michel Ray | ... | Farraj | |
| John Dimech | ... | Daud | |
| Zia Mohyeddin | ... | Tafas |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
216 min | UK:228 min (director's cut) | UK:187 min (1970 re-release) | UK:210 min (original version) | UK:222 min (premiere version) | USA:227 min (restored roadshow version)
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
70 mm 6-Track (RCA Sound Recording) (70 mm prints) |
Dolby SR (35 mm prints) (restored version) |
Mono (35 mm prints) (original version) |
4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints) (35 mm) (original version) |
DTS 70 mm (70mm restored version)
Certification:
Hong Kong:IIA |
USA:Approved (original rating) |
USA:G (re-rating) (1971) |
Iceland:12 |
Portugal:M/12 |
Canada:A (Nova Scotia) |
Canada:G (Quebec) |
Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) |
Netherlands:12 (DVD rating) |
South Korea:12 |
Brazil:14 |
USA:PG (edited for re-rating) (1988) |
West Germany:12 (f) |
Argentina:Atp |
Australia:M (Special Edition DVD) |
Australia:PG |
Chile:TE |
Finland:K-16 |
France:U |
Ireland:PG |
Norway:15 (director's cut) |
Norway:16 |
Singapore:PG |
Spain:18 |
Sweden:15 |
UK:PG
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
An urban myth stated that Lawrence's watch switches from his left wrist to the right in the film. Restorer Robert A. Harris actually found this to be true, but only because the second reel of film had been spliced in reverse.
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Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: When Gasim is walking through the sun's anvil after falling off his camel, he begins to shed various items. During a reverse tracking shot, the dolly tracks are clearly visible in the sand.
more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Vicar at St. Paul's: Well nil nisi bonum. But I find something... disproportionate in all this.
Colonel Brighton: He was a remarkable chap. By any counts, remarkable.
Vicar at St. Paul's: Did you know him well?
Colonel Brighton: I knew him.
more
Vicar at St. Paul's: Well nil nisi bonum. But I find something... disproportionate in all this.
Colonel Brighton: He was a remarkable chap. By any counts, remarkable.
Vicar at St. Paul's: Did you know him well?
Colonel Brighton: I knew him.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Dirty Jobs: Camel Rancher (#5.14)" (2009)
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Soundtrack:
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo
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FAQ
A NOTE REGARDING SPOILERSWhat was Robert Bolt's contribution to the script vs. Michael Wilson's contribution, and why was Wilson denied credit?
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more (427 total)
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It is, in a way, depressing to watch this movie today. One winds up contrasting it with the sort of technologically slick and aesthetically shallow spectacles, like "Titanic", that garner the sort of adulation that a truly great movie like "Lawrence" received in its day, and one realizes how far we have fallen.
Ignore David Lean's painterly technique, the way he fills the screen like a canvas. Ignore Freddie Young's stunning cinematography in fulfillment of Lean's vision. Ignore the fabulous score by Maurice Jarre. Ignore the stupendous cast. Ignore the topnotch script.
What we have, beyond all this, is an absolutely gripping and psychologically perplexing character study of a uniquely enigmatic individual that keeps us on the edge of our seats for the full length of the movie. "Lawrence", at over 200 minutes, goes by faster than many a movie of half its length, due to Lean's brilliant pacing and direction, and superb acting all around. To make a comparison in the world of music, this movie, like Mahler's 8th symphony, is a universe contained within itself.
Of course, it is an exercise in self-denial and philistinism to watch this movie in anything other than the wide-screen - or "letterbox" - format, due to Lean's complete use of every inch of the wide screen. To watch it otherwise is to miss half of Lean's intention.
To use a hackneyed phrase, they simply don't make 'em like this anymore.