Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

A flamboyant and controversial British military figure and his conflicted loyalties during his World War I service in Arabia.

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

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

Stars:

Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn

Top 250 #69 | Won 7 Oscars. Another 20 wins & 13 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:

desert | army | turk | arab | flashback | 

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Taglines:

BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR WINNER OF 7 ACADEMY AWARDS (post-Oscar)

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Arabic Turkish

Release Date:

30 January 1963 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Lawrence de Arabia

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

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

Gross:

$342,481 (USA) (25 October 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, 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

The film took longer to make than it did for the real T.E. Lawrence to go from lieutenant to colonel, to see the desert tribes united and tip the balance in the Allies' favor against the Turks in World War I.

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Goofs

When Lawrence is crossing the desert with the prince's 50 men he starts to drift off. He is seen looking at his own shadow on the right side of the camel, but in the next shot the shadow is right under the camel. (See also Revealing Mistake)

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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, and The Day They Robbed the Bank of England.

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Connections

Spoofed in Ernest in the Army (1998)

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Soundtracks

"The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo"
(1892) (uncredited)
Music and Lyrics by Fred Gilbert
Sung a cappella by Peter O'Toole

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.