LAWRENCE OF ARABIA Movie Review
1962 David Lean
David Lean's epic is one of the few films that legitimately deserves to be called great. It appears on virtually all “ten best” lists and reveals deeper layers of meaning with repeated viewings. It is also a film that was made for the big screen—the bigger the better—and so it loses much of its power on video. (See “Big Screen vs. Small Screen” sidebar, p. 105) The “30th Anniversary” edition is based on the 1989 Robert A. Harris restoration and captures as much of Lean's original intention as any video version can.
Structurally, the film is a standard biography, beginning with the subject's death (in a motorcycle accident), brief interviews with people who knew him, and then a chronological recitation of the high points. The first spoken line of the film is “He was the most extraordinary man I ever knew.” But T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) is not an easy subject. He's a contradictory figure, and the filmmakers properly don't try to pin him down, allowing him to remain a fascinating enigma throughout. In a visual sense, Lean combines a sure sense of place with an approach to the action that he borrows from an unlikely source—John Ford. Lean turns his vast desert canvas into another Monument Valley, and when his Bedouins ride across it, they are not far removed from Ford's cavalry. In many of the early scenes, the stately gait of the camel's walk gives the film a slower pace, and this is precisely what Lean is trying to achieve. Lean even manages to surpass Ford with his understanding of the relationship between his characters and the landscape; how the desert changes those who go into it.
The complex character was created by playwright Robert Bolt in his first script, and blacklisted Michael Wilson (who also worked with Lean on Bridge on the River Kwai) . This Lawrence is at first an ambitious, inexperienced young officer who is transformed by his immersion into the Bedouin world into a messianic hero. Later he comes to understand himself, though that knowledge comes with a large portion of self-loathing.
Lawrence's mission, largely his own creation, is to unite the feuding Bedouin tribes under the leadership of Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness), and to keep the British politicians, as personified by Mr. Dryden (Claude Rains), from putting the Arabs under their colonial thumb after World War I is over. It is accomplished through a semi-episodic series of battles and raids where Lawrence is sometimes accompanied by Ali (Omar Sharif) and Sheik Auda (Anthony Quinn), and equally difficult bureaucratic struggles he faces with Gen. Allenby (Jack Hawkins).
Those two sides of the story are clearly contrasted—the blast-furnace desert exteriors and the cool, echoing marble interiors where the army staff does its work. The initial scene of negotiation, when Lawrence has returned from the desert for the first time and meets Allenby, takes place in a courtyard, neither interior nor exterior. It's a simple device, but an effective way to set the moment apart. In the same way, changes in clothing color and style are used to reveal changes in character, and Lean none-too-subtly inserts motorcycles at odd moments to remind viewers where it is all leading.
As the filmmakers see it, the central conflict within Lawrence is his simultaneous desire for adventure with his sometimes uncontrollable blood lust. He comes to love the berserk rage of battle and to detest himself for it. If they do not resolve that conflict satisfactorily, they don't cheapen it with an easy answer, either, and given the scope and power of the film, that would have been an inexcusable flaw.
Cast: Peter O'Toole (T.E. Lawrence), Omar Sharif (Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish), Anthony Quinn (Auda abu Tavi), Alec Guinness (Prince Feisal), Jack Hawkins (Gen. Allenby), Claude Rains (Mr. Dryden), Anthony Quayle (Col. Harry Brighton), Arthur Kennedy (Jackson Bentley), Jose Ferrer (Bey of Deraa), Michel Ray (Farraj), Norman Rossington (Cpl. Jenkins), John Ruddock (Elder Harith), Donald Wolfit (Gen. Murray); Written by: Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson; Cinematography by: Frederick A. (Freddie) Young; Music by: Maurice Jarre. Producer: Sam Spiegel, Columbia Pictures. British. Awards: Academy Awards ‘62: Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Color), Best Color Cinematography, Best Director (Lean), Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Original Score; American Film Institute (AFI) ‘98: Top 100; British Academy Awards ‘62: Best Actor (O'Toole), Best Film, Best Screenplay; Directors Guild of America Awards ‘62: Best Director (Lean); Golden Globe Awards ‘63: Best Director (Lean), Best Film—Drama, Best Supporting Actor (Sharif); National Board of Review Awards ‘62: Best Director (Lean), National Film Registry ‘91; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘62: Best Actor (O'Toole), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Sharif). Budget: 12M. MPAA Rating: PG. Running Time: 221 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV, Letterbox, Closed Caption.