Rating 12
Length 3h47!!!
Release 10.12.1962
Director David Lean
About Lawrence, a lieutenant in the British Army, is asked by Colonel Brighton to moderately assess Faisal, their ally. Lawrence is impressed with Faisal and seeks his help to plan an attack on the enemy.Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: Netflix
Trailer:
The Good
Peter O’Toole is, certainly to me, the mid-century equivalent to David Tennent. The voice that commands attention, with a clear Shakespearean training and way of standing out among a cast of heavy hitters.
There’s something about him, on his own that is enchanting. You then have these beautiful, almost battle of wits, moments between his character and some of the finest actors of their time. My favourite is Lawrence meeting Omar Sharif’s Sherif Ali for the first time. It’s as if it was straight out of a Shakespeare play. He of course also goes toe to toe with Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins and Alec Guinness. It these interactions alone that make the film worth watching.
It’s a beautiful film with incredible shots and pans of enchanting landscapes. There’s no denying that director David Lean has an incredible eye. I’m not a hot weather girl, but even I’m tempted by what I see.
The music is out of this world. I don’t know if its true, but I feel as if there’s an element within Maurice Jarre’s epic and romantic score that was an inspiration or influence to the great John Williams.
The score here is so iconic that I’ve probably heard hundreds of times without realising it’s origins.
The Bad
The film is too long for the bookend filming device to truly work here. You forget about it by the time you reach the end. The film could have quite easily skipped ahead and started with the introduction of O’Toole’s Lawrence.
The Ugly
There is no need for the film to be as long as it is. The restored version on Netflix runs for 3 hours and 47 minutes and its very, Lord of the Rings with all the walking. I perhaps would have preferred to have seen the original parred down 3 hour and 7 minutes, but even that to me feels excessive.
Another David Lean and Alec Guinness bumble. This time, no prothetic for cultural implication. No, this time it’s straight up brown-face while Anthony Quinn is given the prosthetic nose and brown face. Quite a hard thing to watch knowing we have Omar Sharif, of Arab decent, in the cast.
This is the exact problem that actors are challenging today. A historic president was set that these films would not be marketable without this casting of white prominent actors and fitting them to the role. Equally, Sharif was made up to appear white in many of his roles.
This whole thing, and knowing those who are up in arms over The Little Mermaid and Perry White casting changes will not acknowledge these poor representations, too focused on their perceived injustice makes this film, and others like it, a hard watch.
Final Thoughts
A beautiful and epic film with a charismatic lead. Just really could do with an hour cut out to making it a much more manageable affair.
The Queens of Geekdom 