Lawrence's Seven Pillars (Lawrence Of Arabia (DVD))

Member Name: MykReeve

Product:	Lawrence Of Arabia (DVD)
Date:	07/04/01 (209 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great cast, Outstanding cinematography and editing, Superb musical score

Disadvantages: Long

Director David Lean had something of a penchant for making epic movies, and the worst offender in terms of length was the incredible three-and-a-half hour 'Lawrence of Arabia'. The film is unquestionably one of the most memorable movies of all time, with Maurice Jarre's haunting musical theme and the film's sumptuous cinematography lending a beauty and mystery to sand dunes long before Anthony Minghella had Fiennes and Scott Thomas rutting about in the desert.

THE PLOT

The film is loosely based on the real life Lawrence of Arabia, T. E. Lawrence, using his book 'The Seven Pillars of Wisdom'. Lawrence, played by Peter O'Toole, served under the British army in the Middle East during the First World War, fighting against the Turks.

The film begins by showing Lawrence's death, in 1935, in a motorcycle accident, and cuts abruptly to a memorial service for him in St. Paul's Cathedral. None of the attendees approached by journalists seem to have actually known him.

The movie then cuts back to show Lawrence's life in the British army. He is a discontented lieutenant working as a mapmaker in Cairo, paying close attention to reports in the local newspapers of skirmishes between the Bedouin tribespeople and the Turks. Lawrence is requested by the Arab Bureau to serve as an observer, spending three months seeking out Hashemite Bedouin Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness), and discovering his intentions in attacking the Turks.

When Lawrence eventually meets Feisal, he decides to stay and help the Bedouins drive back the Turks, so that the land can finally be rightfully returned to the Arabs. However, the British and French armies have other plans for the land ceded by the Turks...

HISTORICAL ACCURACY

The film does take minor liberties with the history that it portrays, there's no getting away from it. Lawrence is unquestionably portrayed as a far more romantic figure than he actua
lly was. In the modern filmmaking environment, it is unlikely that the film's critics would tolerate the its detours from historical accuracy without comment, as they did in 1962.

For example, the film portrays Lawrence as a far more sympathetic character with regard to some events. When Lawrence has to return to the Nefud desert to recover a lost man, Gasim, in the film, he seems to undertake the task heroically, whereas in Lawrence's book he reports his decision as "very unheroic" and undertakes the task with grim resolve, mentioing his regrets in recruiting Gasim ("a bad-tempered, suspicious, brutal... man"). When Lawrence catches up to the rest of the Bedouin with Gasim in the film, his appearance is greeted triumphantly, and Gasim is enthusiastically received by his fellow Bedouin. In the book, however, Gasim is quietly "transferred with insults" to a new camel, and there is nothing of the film's triumphalism, as Lawrence is, if anything, castigated by Auda for going back.

In another particularly moving scene, after taking Aqaba, Lawrence enters the officers' mess in Cairo with a Bedouin boy, still wearing full Arab dress, and demands that they be served "two large glasses of lemonade". This is an important scene in the film, as it is one of the first to show Lawrence's grim resolve in demanding that the Arabs receive fair treatment by the British, and, perhaps more importantly, his disrespect for the British army's customs. However, this scene is a complete invention, and isn't based on any events in the book.

Nonetheless, the film is accurate in its depictions of Lawrence's achievements. Certainly, the military victories that the Bedouin people were able to achieve with the assistance of Lawrence, and the arms that he acquired from the British army for them, are based on historical facts. So, the historical liberties that the film takes are generally only minor
ones, which are of little import in the great scheme of things – there are no substantial inaccuracies of a 'U-571' nature, that's for sure...

MUSIC

Someone who comes to the film without ever having seen it before will almost certainly recognise Maurice Jarre's outstanding, haunting musical score. This beautiful, moving melody has been used innumerable times in television programmes, accompanying sweeping camera pans across the desert, however, in my opinion, none of these programmes have come close to evoking the majesty and splendour that Jarre's score adds to Lean's exceptional vision.

The first time you hear the familiar 'Lawrence theme' is accompanying a long shot of Lawrence riding a camel across the desert, accompanied by a Bedouin tribesman, after watching a desert sunrise. It's a stirring moment, and one of a great many beautifully composed scenes, perfectly complemented by the musical score.

DIRECTION

Composition of the scenes in the film is truly breathtaking, capturing the size and the majesty of the Middle Eastern desert. Often the camera is a long way from the actors, adding a heat haze "ripple" to the image, which is truly remarkable. This technique is used in another of the film's most memorable scenes, when Lawrence and a Bedouin are at a well, and see a figure in the far distance, which appears firstly as an indistinct dot on the horizon, slowly forming into the shape of a man on a camel.

The film's director David Lean had made a name for himself in Hollywood as an editor, and worked closely with the editors on this movie. Lean has used a technique of sharp cuts regularly throughout the movie, with a sound or an image linking the scenes. This is a technique that was used commonly at the time in French films, but rarely to such great effect as Lean puts it to here. Probably the best known of these comes very early in the film, when Lawre
nce is shown blowing out a lit match, followed immediately by a cut to a desert dawn.

Lean's attention to detail, and dogged pursuit of the scene as he envisioned it, is legendary. Thousands of extras were brought in for the film, so that the scenes showing entire armies look as impressive as they do. Lean would wait for exactly the right time of day, and the right lighting, for all of the film's shots. One of the recurrent themes in Lawrence's book is his obsession with the cleanliness of the desert, and Lean skilfully portrays this aspect of the terrain.

The film was originally shown in cinemas at its full three-and-a-half hour length, however, commercial pressures forced them to edit it down to a mere three hours. In the 1980s, the full director's cut of the film was recreated, which required the restoration of numerous cut scenes. Lean was brought back in to work on this restoration, and Martin Scorcese and Steven Spielberg, both of whom were keen fans of the film on its original theatrical release, assisted with reconstruction and restoration of the original version of the movie.

ACTING

The casting in 'Lawrence of Arabia' is, with few exceptions, absolutely first rate.

Lawrence himself is played to superb effect by Peter O'Toole, in his first starring role. Originally, Lean wanted Albert Finney to play Lawrence, but producer Sam Spiegel was convinced by Katharine Hepburn to persuade Lean to cast O'Toole in the role. The decision to use O'Toole was inspired casting; he manages to convey Lawrence's initial awkwardness, and later resolve and confidence, with great aplomb. Throughout, his piercing blue eyes make him a striking and imposing figure – as Noel Coward remarked to him; "If you'd been any prettier, it would have been Florence of Arabia." His clipped delivery of Lawrence's lines is also remarkable, strongly implying a depth and intelligence to the
character.

Director David Lean has one line in the film, in which he shouts to Lawrence, "Who are you?", while the camera plays on Lawrence's face. This is the whole mystery of the film... little is known of Lawrence's character, and O'Toole does a remarkable job of injecting personality and expanding on a man of whom history records little but his achievements.

Alec Guinness, with some heavy make-up, and sporting a beard and moustache, plays the part of the noble Prince Feisal, with characteristic skill. In order to perfect his Arabian accent, he spent several hours talking with Omar Sharif, and duplicated his accent with consummate ease.

Omar Sharif plays Sherif Ali, in his first Western film. He portrays the suspicious, yet dignified, Sherif with great skill, especially considering that this was a role that he only agreed to read for after realising that this would be his opportunity to meet David Lean, director of 'Bridge on the River Kwai'.

Anthony Quinn is the obligatory, at that time, American actor, sporting heavy make-up, and an enormous fake nose, to play Auda abu Tayi. He is good as the confident Bedouin leader, but somehow falls short of being entirely convincing, to my mind, throughout the whole film. Certainly, he delivers his rousing speeches with appropriate confidence and nobility, and spits out his snide insults with damning venom, but a few of his deliveries are less persuasive.

Jack Hawkins and Claude Rains play General Allenby and Mr Dryden of the British army respectively, with seemly aloofness and superiority throughout.

CONCLUSIONS

'Lawrence of Arabia' is a very long film, but despite that, is never dull. Even in those rare scenes where there is nothing remarkable happening on screen, a viewer cannot help but be impressed by the superlative composition of the image, and the stirring score. An epic in every sense, the film uses a tremendous cas
t, both in terms of quality of casting, and in terms of number, 'Lawrence of Arabia' is unquestionably a classic film. The film's portrayal of one of British military history's greatest, and most mysterious, heroes, is insightful and evocative, and at times, truly breathtaking.

The film received seven Oscars in 1962, including Best Picture, Best Director (David Lean) and Best Score (Maurice Jarre).

The film is currently available in an excellent 2-disc DVD set, featuring the film split over the two discs, as it would have been in theatrical presentations. The film's length required a reel change approximately two hours and twenty minutes into the film, with a musical intermission, composed by Jarre, between the reels, which is faithfully reconstructed on the second DVD. There is also a musical prelude to the film, which would originally have played as patrons entered the cinema, and a musical epilogue, which played as patrons left the cinema, both of which have been restored for the DVD release.

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