Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

T.E. Lawrence (writings), Robert Bolt (screenplay)

Stars:

Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn

Top Rated Movies #82 | Won 7 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter O'Toole	...	T.E. Lawrence
Alec Guinness	...	Prince Feisal
Anthony Quinn	...	Auda Abu Tayi
Jack Hawkins	...	General 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

Storyline

An inordinately complex man who has been labeled everything from hero, to charlatan, to sadist, Thomas Edward Lawrence blazed his way to glory in the Arabian desert, then sought anonymity as a common soldier under an assumed name. The story opens with the death of Lawrence in a motorcycle accident in Dorset at the age of 46, then flashbacks to recount his adventures: as a young intelligence officer in Cairo in 1916, he is given leave to investigate the progress of the Arab revolt against the Turks in World War I. In the desert, he organizes a guerrilla army and--for two years--leads the Arabs in harassing the Turks with desert raids, train-wrecking and camel attacks. Eventually, he leads his army northward and helps a British General destroy the power of the Ottoman Empire.

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Plot Keywords:

british military | arab | desert | t.e. lawrence | ottoman empire | 

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Taglines:

After five years... the first motion picture from the creators of "The Bridge On The River Kwai." Columbia Pictures presents The Sam Spiegel - David Lean Production of .....

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

UK

Language:

English Arabic Turkish

Release Date:

15 March 1963 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Lawrence von Arabien

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$32,930 (USA) (4 October 2002)

Gross:

$6,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Horizon Pictures (II)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

216 min 228 min (director's cut) 187 min (1970 re-release) 210 min (original) 222 min (premiere) 227 min (restored roadshow)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (RCA Sound Recording) (70 mm prints) Mono (35 mm prints) (original version) 4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints) (35 mm) (original version)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

T.E. Lawrence declined invitations to film his writings as early as 1926, when Rex Ingram suggested the idea. Later, Alexander Korda tried to launch a version starring Leslie Howard, written by John Monk Saunders and directed by Lewis Milestone. Over the years, such stars as Dirk Bogarde, Robert Donat, Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant, Burgess Meredith, and Alan Ladd were all promoted as leads. Bogarde even suggested there was a club for actors once considered for the role. "We have even designed a tie. Dark background with motif of a burnoose and camel." Screenwriter Michael Wilson finally convinced Lawrence's brother to sell the film rights to Sam Spiegel by submitting his screenplay for approval in 1960.

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Goofs

Further to the change of the shadow position during the "drifting" scene, this shot is of an apparent evening/dusk period where the shadow is almost directly under the camel, revealing it to be a "day-for-night" shot which must therefore have taken place near noon.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Colonel Brighton: He was the most extraordinary man I ever knew.
Vicar at St. Paul's: Did you know him well?
Colonel Brighton: I knew him.
Vicar at St. Paul's: Well nil nisi bonum. But did he really deserve a place here?

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits read: Introducing Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence. However, O'Toole had already played very noticeable roles in two feature-length films, the Disney 1960 version of Kidnapped (1959), and The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960).

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Connections

Referenced in Dumb & Dumber (1994)

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Soundtracks

That Is The Desert
Music by Maurice Jarre
Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra
Conducted by Maurice Jarre

User Reviews

a memento from the days when they made real movies

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.