Digital Deserts (Lawrence Of Arabia (DVD))

Member Name: MykReeve

Product:	Lawrence Of Arabia (DVD)
Date:	08/04/01 (243 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great collection of extras, Good picture quality, Good sound quality

Disadvantages: UK consumers ripped off once again

The film 'Lawrence of Arabia' is currently available to buy in a 2 DVD box set in Regions 1, 2 and 4 (that's North America, Europe and Australasia respectively). There are only superficial differences between the different releases – the Region 1 release is in NTSC format, where Regions 2 and 4 are in PAL. The result is that the Region 1 release has a longer running time (228 minutes rather than 218), due to the decreased number of frames per second, and that the Region 1 release has fewer lines of information making up the picture.

For this latter reason, the Region 2 and 4 discs are fractionally superior. Since the Region 4 disc was released earlier and costs considerably less than the Region 2 release, (approximately £12.50, to the unreasonably high UK RRP of £24.99), that was the release that I bought.

THE FILM

'Lawrence of Arabia' is an epic heroic adventure based on the life of T. E. Lawrence, and adapted from his novel 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom'.

T. E. Lawrence, played by Peter O'Toole, is a British officer serving in Cairo in World War I, fighting against the Turks occupying the Middle East. The Bedouin peoples of the Middle East are also warring with the Turks, and when Lawrence is asked by the Arab Bureau to find Hashemite Bedouin Prince Feisal and discover his intentions, he agrees.

Upon discovering, and living with the Bedouin, Lawrence decides to stay with them, and assist them in driving back the Turks.

THE DISC

- Distributor: Columbia/Tristar

- Region: 4 (Australasia)

- Type: 2 x DVD-9 (single side, dual layer)

- Running time: 218 minutes

The extended running time of the movie forces it to be split between the two discs. However, this isn't a major problem, because the film's original intermission has been retained. This means that approximately two hours and twenty minutes into the film, you reach the intermi
ssion and have to change discs. This presentation works very nicely, and the music that played during the intermission at cinemas showing the movie back in 1962 is included on the second disc. Also, the musical prelude (Entr'actre) and epilogue (Exit Music), which played as audiences found their seats and left the cinema, have been included.

- Picture format: 2.20:1 anamorphic widescreen PAL

The picture is anamorphic, making optimal use of your widescreen television, should you have one... Picture quality throughout is remarkably good, especially given the chequered history of the film. The version of the film presented in this 2 DVD set is the 1980s restoration of the director's cut created from the (much-deteriorated) original negatives, which has been digitally remastered under the supervision of Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorcese.

Despite the frequent appearances of clouds of sand, thrown up by the hooves of camels and horses, the picture quality remains superb throughout the movie. There's remarkably little bleeding of colours and even the dark night-time scenes are crisply and clearly presented.

At a couple of points on the first disc, vertical bands of lighter colour are visible running down the screen, but these aren't too obtrusive, and forgivable considering the age of the film

- Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 surround (English, German and Spanish)

The audio is also absolutely superb, remastered from the director's cut's 6-track 70mm print.

- Subtitles: English, German, Spanish, Greek, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Hindi, Turkish, Danish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Hebrew

I watched the film with the English subtitle track on, as it appears below the image on my television, and is relatively undistracting. I only noticed one typographical error, which was extremely minor, and wouldn't affect someone's enjoyment o
f the film. Also, by way of an aside, I have never noticed so many different language subtitles on a disc... surely this is a record!

- Extras

The extras, included on the second disc, are absolutely outstanding.

Firstly, there is a new sixty-minute long behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the movie, including interviews with director David Lean (recorded back in 1989), Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, and several of the film's crewmembers. The documentary is pretty interesting, without becoming unbearably adulatory. Most of the documentary concerns the casting decisions in the film, but it also examines the costume design, editing and cinematography. There are a few amusing anecdotes about the making of the film - for example, Sharif tells us about one scene that proved particularly difficult to film, because he and O'Toole couldn't stop laughing.

There is a brief ten-minute interview with Steven Spielberg, in which Spielberg tells us about the effect that seeing the film for the first time had on him as a student in Arizona. He goes on to tell us about his involvement in the remastering of the film, and his impressions of David Lean.

Four original behind-the-scenes featurettes are also included, which were used to promote the movie before its theatrical release in 1962. "Wind, Sand and Star" deals with the difficulties the crew experienced with filming in the hostile Middle Eastern deserts, for example. The others are entitled "In Search of Lawrence", "The Camels are Cast" and "Romance of Arabia".

Brief footage of the film's premiere in New York in 1962 is included, along with a brief film looking at the various marketing campaigns that the film has been subjected to over the years.

A neat little feature entitled "Maps: Journey With Lawrence", allows you to explore maps of Lawrence's route through Arabia, visiting different poin
ts en route, and looking at pictures of T. E. Lawrence and other figures from the movie.

In addition to all these features, the original movie trailer is included, along with the usual actor and crewmember profiles.

The film is divided into 56 chapters; 36 on the first disc, and 20 on the second, which are accessible via 'Scene Selection' menus on both discs, each page of which links to four scenes from the movie, represented by an animated image. The menus on both the discs are nicely presented, with stylish animations, and music from the film.

The box also includes a 12-page souvenir booklet, which contains the text of the original 1962 release souvenir booklet accompanying the film.

CONCLUSIONS

This is a really excellent release, doing justice to a truly remarkable film. Picture and sound quality are both excellent, particularly considering the age of the movie, and a good collection of extras are included. The price is remarkably good, particularly if you import the set from Australia (EzyDVD - www.ezydvd.com.au), as I did. Inclusion of the intermission, entr'acte and exit music is a nice touch, and has surely set the standard for future DVD releases of epic movies!

Summary: