Lawrence of Arabia - 1962
Directed by David Lean
Written by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson
Based on Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence
Starring Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif
Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains & José Ferrer
Lawrence of Arabia is a magnificent, wonderful and magical film that defies all boundaries of reason and expectation for how interesting, exciting and entertaining it is to watch. Upon first seeing it, I fell in love with it - most probably some time around my mid-teens, unexpectedly being carried away by the preternatural combination of other-worldly score and panoramic vision which turns the desert into one of nature's beautiful creations. Through this we absolutely understand why it's so seductive to the subject of this film - T. E. Lawrence, once an army officer and later a writer of some fame who became known for his part in the Great Arab Revolt - an event which happened during the latter half of the First World War. It turned Peter O'Toole into an instant star, and saw David Lean at the utter peak of his career, coming after the much-heralded
Bridge on the River Kwai, and just before
Doctor Zhivago. Not even a gargantuan running time of 227 minutes could blunt it's popularity and esteem.
The film starts with a prologue showing us Lawrence's death in a motorcycle accident, and the significant dignitaries who attend his memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral in 1935. We then go back to 1916, where he's a disgruntled officer making maps for British Forces, learning about an Arab revolt and having a Mr. Dryden (Claude Rains) convince General Murray (Donald Wolfit) to send him to act as an adviser to Arab Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness) in his fight against the Turks. On his way he meets the distinguished Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif) - a man he'll share a contentious relationship with at first, but whom he'll later become quite close to. Lawrence convinces Faisal to attack the Turkish-occupied city of Aqaba by crossing the deadly and "uncrossable" Nefud desert - picking up another ally, Auda Abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn) on the way. This victory and others increases his standing in the Arab community, and his fame spreads when war correspondent Jackson Bentley (Arthur Kennedy) starts to follow him and write articles about Lawrence for English-speaking people back home. Lawrence is a complicated "hero" however, one seemingly with bloodlust, masochism, and egotistical mania.
I've never seen such an assured and instinctively cinematic performance from a newcomer as I see in Peter O'Toole's portrayal of Lawrence here. He'd be nominated for the one Oscar he really should have won during a long and storied career, but ended up losing to Gregory Peck who had played Atticus Finch in
To Kill a Mockingbird. O'Toole would go on to be nominated another 7 times, always in a leading role, and never win a competitive Academy Award in his lifetime. This was one of the great screen performances in the history of film, and nothing can take that away from him. It's really one of my favourite performances, and absolutely spellbinding. Meanwhile, Alec Guinness is unfortunately in a difficult position in retrospect, being a pale-skinned Brit playing a dark-skinned Arab. Good to see then, that Omar Sharif and Anthony Quinn were called on, preventing this film from being extensively 'whitewashed'. Sharif would be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar - beaten by Ed Begley appearing in a rendition of
Sweet Bird of Youth. Great actors doing great things, but all and sundry are nearly drowned out by the sheer amount of explosive energy delivered from O'Toole.
Shooting this in the deserts of Spain, Jordan and Morocco was the experienced and brilliant cinematographer Freddie Young - doing things here, in such an immersive way, that still impress the eye all these years later. We find ourselves looking at desert most of the time during this 4 hour film, but absolutely no shot looks exactly like another shot, and we're treated to mirages and a derailed steam engine locomotive seemingly heading straight for the camera - two shots which keep on impressing me over and over again. Young won the first of his three Oscars for his work on
Lawrence of Arabia, and his other two would come soon after - in 1966 where he worked again with Lean on
Doctor Zhivago, and 1971, once again with Lean for the epic
Ryan's Daughter. He was also nominated for
Ivanhoe (1952) and a film that I really like a lot, but a lot of others don't,
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). Let me emphasize again that
Lawrence of Arabia is a stunningly beautiful film, and there's hardly a moment that goes by where we're not being treated to something spectacular. It brings the desert to us and envelops us in it's bright majesty, all the while sweeping us forward sure-footedly on camels and in Bedouin tents.
The very next aspect of brilliance that will automatically come to mind when thinking about
Lawrence of Arabia is it's sweeping and majestic score, dominated by strings and percussion that bring to mind an Arabian style of music while also being something of it's own heavenly embodiment. It's one of the most memorable in history, and was voted 3rd Best Score ever in the American Film Institute's Greatest Ever American film scores. Maurice Jarre, who was fairly unknown at the time, was offered the chance to score this film only when William Walton and Malcolm Arnold became unavailable - Lean had heard what he'd done with
Sundays and Cybèle, impressing him. Jarre won the first of three Oscars for this, a masterwork of music, and would later, much like Freddie Young, win Oscars for collaborating with David Lean on
Doctor Zhivago and
A Passage to India. He was nominated six other times.* Combine the score, film footage and acting and you're on another level of filmmaking above most others.
Obviously editing is an all-encompassing discipline that affects an entire film, but there's one transition that everyone talks about with
Lawrence of Arabia, and it's one I'm quite fond of as well. When Lawrence blows out the flame from his match, and we immediately switch to a large setting sun in the desert - it's not something that's likely to be visually interlocked shot-to-shot, and in fact it's jarring, but it works incredibly well. It transports us, surprises us and signifies a quantum shift in the story. Anne V. Coates - nominated for an Oscar 5 times in her career had her one win for
Lawrence of Arabia. The film also won Oscars for Best Sound and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration to go along with Best Director for Lean and Best Picture. It was Lean's second win after
Bridge of the River Kwai and meant
Lawrence won 7 out of it's 10 nominations, quite deservedly, along with 4 BAFTAS (O'Toole picking up Best Actor in that format) and 6 Golden Globes. The film picked up many other wins around the world.
To Kill a Mockingbird's screenplay, by Horton Foote beat
Lawrence's for an Oscar, meaning Robert Bolt would miss out on his first (he won twice later in his career.) Michael Wilson, who had first stab at it before it was rewritten would receive an amended co-nomination in 1995 - he had been blacklisted at the time.
Lawrence of Arabia is part of popular culture now, and the main reason a figure like T. E. Lawrence is likely to be remembered beyond those who specialize in early Twentieth Century history. It's a film that always surprises me for how easy it is to watch versus how long it is - for there are numerous films I really like that I struggle with if they shift northwards of the three hour runtime mark. There's just something so pleasing about it's rhythm that it lulls me to the point where it's approaching end always surprises me - and that's with listening to all the Entr'acte and Intermission business, which is the one thing that shows it up for it's age. It's a film that caught my intrigue from Lawrence's "The trick is not
minding that it hurts" comment, which I found especially clever, and which has been picked up upon by other filmmakers and screenwriters. Watching it now, I'm reminded that my youthful enthusiasm for it has carried over into my middle age. I remember being further interested in all of this when reading the play "Ross" in high school, a play by Terence Rattigan that debuted in 1960.
So, what does this visually sun-drenched, operatic and epic tale tell us about the film's version of Lawrence? He was an outsider amongst his own people - born in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was an erudite man who perhaps viewed himself, and was viewed as, a messianic figure for his tactical and strategic cleverness and his wise countenance. That his ultimate failing lay in his bloodthirsty and passionate fascination with death, and a belief in utopian dreams that had no hope at all of becoming realised realities as he thought they might. By the end of the film he seems to be a lone hand playing against the might and superiority of the British Empire, unable to quell a thousand years of tribal enmity and mistrust. He was even more of an outcast, when considering his sexuality and masochism, than he was for his insubordination and individuality. He was brave, and thus respected amongst a people who valued courage above all else. All of this is not to say that the film provides an accurate depiction of what the man was really like - as in all biographical accounts put to film, it dramatizes real events. It's a complex portrait painted on a grand canvas, and one of the greatest cinematic achievements of the 20th Century.
*Jarre's other Oscar nominations were for : Les dimanches de Ville d'Avray (1962), For the song "Marmalade, Molasses & Honey" in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), The Message (1976), Witness (1985), Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey (1988) and Ghost (1990)