Lawrence of Arabia is one of
those classics that any filmophile should make time for and I mean make time for. With a running time of
216-minutes complete with a 15-minute intermission means it easily falls into
the epic category. It is a picture from another era that revels in the vast
emptiness of time and space that occupies the Arabian Desert while simultaneously
focusing on one extraordinary individual at a monumental time.
Peter O’Toole arguably earns the
accolade for greatest screen debut as T.E. Lawrence, a British Officer and
archaeological scholar who is tasked with assisting the Arabic uprising against
the Ottoman Empire. It is a gripping biopic of a mysterious figure that was
immortal and fragile, kind yet cruel and reserved while displaying chauvinism.
O’Tooles’s performance and presence is astounding, earning him immediate
universal praise including the compliment from renowned wit Noël Coward who
told O’Toole: "If you`d been any
prettier, it would have been Florence of Arabia."
The cast is a terrific ensemble
of stars in the making like O’Toole and Omar Sharif and established screen
legends in their twilight years such as Alec Guiness, Anthony Quinn, Jack
Hawkins, Anthony Quayle and Claude Rains. David Lean, a master of the small and
large scale, successfully juxtaposes action with emptiness as he directs many
charismatic performances within an immense landscape and a sweeping score that illustrate
a journey so ambiguous yet impressionable that it doesn’t feel like it ever ends.
Lawrence of Arabia is one of the
grandest examples of the epic films that typified the motion pictures of the fifties
and early sixties. “You were great once” was Lawrence’s lamentation on the
decline of the Arabian civilisation. While films may not have since descended
into barbarism and stupidity it is still the case that Lawrence of Arabia was one of Hollywood’s last flings with films to
its scale.
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