Epic film ... Epic Disc (Lawrence Of Arabia (DVD))

Member Name: DVDKing

Product:	Lawrence Of Arabia (DVD)
Date:	30/05/01 (205 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent value for money even at the RRP, The best quality print of this film you will see in your home, Peter O'Toole's performance

Disadvantages: None

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Format: DVD
Type: 2 Discs: both DVD 9 - Dual Layer, Single Sided.
Region: 2 (UK and Europe)
Case: Cardboard fold-out box

Country: USA
Studio: Columbia Tristar Home Video
Genre: Epic/Biography/Drama/War
Running Time: 218 minutes
Rating: 12 (no cuts made by BBFC, rated 12 because of extras)

Picture Format: Widescreen, 2.20:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Audio: English, German, Spanish (all 5.1)
Subtitles: English, Spanish, German, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Hindi, Turkish, Danish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Greek, Hebrew.
Menus: English

Extras: Making of Documentary, Original Theatrical Trailer, A Conversation with Steven Spielberg, Footage from New York Premiere, Four Featurettes, Advertising Campaign, Lawrence’s Journey, Filmographies, DVD-Rom – Archives of Arabia

The FILM
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The film begins by watching the British soldier T.E. Lawrence at the time of the First World War. Initially shown as clumsy and uninterested with his clerical job, his enthusiasm is sparked by a temporary post with the British Arab Bureau, and more than anything the desert. It is not long before his charisma and leadership skills have enabled him to gain the trust of the Arab forces, through which he is able to unite the various factions in their mutual battle against the Ottoman Empire, although his seeming affinity with the Arabs causes friction with his British commanders, and ultimately himself.

It’s a terrible cliché, but it’s fair to say that they don’t make them like this any more. The sheer scale and authenticity of what director David Lean was attempting to bring to the screen would be baulked at in the conservative modern climate, which only serves to make what was already one of the greatest films of all time, even more special. Thankfully what we get here on this DVD is no
t a butchered, truncated print, but the fully restored version which includes a lot of footage originally thought to be lost and which was approved by Lean.

As with most classics, it’s a case of all the elements coming together perfectly with an intelligent and thoughtful screenplay by Robert Bolt; a perfectly judged central performance by O’Toole, as well as an excellent supporting cast; amazing colour photography by Freddie Young; and overseeing everything David Lean’s totally assured direction meaning that the film never flags once, despite running 218 minutes.

Speaking of the films’ length, this does mean that this title is split across two discs. Although on the surface this may seem like a minor annoyance, the fact that the original film had an interval when it was first shown at the cinema has enabled the manufacturers to make this natural break in the film the changeover point, meaning that it is very unobtrusive and doesn’t in any way spoil the film. I imagine it won’t be too long before multiple-disc machines become the norm (after all, the manufacturers have to find a way to make us spend more money), meaning this change will most likely become even less noticeable.


The DVD
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*MENUS:
The menus make good use of short clips from the film, and in general are easy to navigate with a neat transfer of dust that wipes across the screen when a selection is made. There are fifty-six chapter stops which is plenty, even considering the film’s length. The only improvement I would suggest it that a longer clip of music could have been used so that it didn’t loop quite so often.

*VIDEO:
The restoration done on the film is virtually without fault, revealing the wonderful compositions of Lean and his cinematographer in all their glory. For a lot of people, whose only knowledge of this film comes from TV broadcasts of dodgy prints in dreaded full-screen
, this cleaned up print in its original aspect ratio will come as a revelation – it really is like seeing the film for the first time. Of course it can never match the overwhelming effect of this film viewed on a large cinema screen, but as far as home viewing goes, this is definitely as good as it gets.

It is true that there are a few small problems. One of these is that three of four of the long shots have two lighter vertical bands moving up and down the picture (apparently caused by the heat of the sun cracking the emulsion); the other that there are a few barely noticeable jump-cuts in the footage which has been restored, but these are very minor details when the overall work that has been done on the restoration is taken into account, and can be excused as unavoidable. It is definitely better to have all the restored footage in there, than to omit it over these tiny issues.

*AUDIO:
Although people may be surprised to find a 1962 film presented in Dolby 5.1, this is simply a remix of the original 6-Track soundtrack, which was the standard for 70mm prints at the time. While it clearly never going to match a modern soundtrack, because of the advances which have been made over the years, it still does a good job and makes decent use of ambient surround sounds, with dialogue being nice and clear. Lets not forget Maurice Jarre’s magnificent score either, perfectly evoking the expanse and beauty of the desert with its main theme and well deserving of its Academy Award.

Because some of the sound had been lost from the footage which was restored, it meant that the dialogue had to be re-recorded. Thankfully this was done with the original actors under the supervision of Lean, meaning that despite the time that has passed it is impossible to hear where this has taken place.

It is also excellent to hear that the original overture, interval and exit music have been preserved and are presented in full, keeping in line with
the very thoughtful presentation this film has received all round.

*EXTRAS:
Unlike some titles, this one does live up to its label of Special Edition, being blessed as it is with a good number of high-quality extras.

We begin with a Making of Documentary, which has been made exclusively for this DVD, and is fairly substantial affair at around an hour in length. Using a mixture of archive interviews with the likes of Lean and O’Toole, along with new video interviews from among others Omar Sharif, editor Anne V. Coates and art director John Box, it manages to cover all the major angles in detail and there are many interesting anecdotes along the way.

The Original Theatrical Trailer is a longish affair (nearly 5 minutes) which does a good job of setting up the enigma that is Lawrence’s character, as well as showing off some of the more action orientated elements of the film. I’m sure audiences of the time must have been pretty amazed when they saw this for the first time.

A Conversation with Steven Spielberg last around ten minutes, and describes how this film was instrumental in Spielberg’s development as a filmmaker, and how he later came to be involved in the film’s restoration. Seeing this, it’s seems a little surprising that Spielberg doesn’t do more commentaries as he is a very natural talker, and obviously very enthusiastic about films. Maybe he just doesn’t like talking about his own? As well as explaining the reasons why the film could never be made today, he also tells a story of how at the first screening of the restored film, David Lean talked him through the making of the entire film. What a commentary this would have made!

Footage from NewYork Premiere is a short newsreel showing the stars and celebrities turning up for, surprise surprise, the NewYork Premiere.

The Four Featurettes are as follows: ‘How Camels are Cast’, ‘In Search
of Lawrence’, ‘Romance of Arabia’ and ‘The Making of a Classic’, the titles pretty much explaining what they feature. These were released as a build-up to the film, and as is typical for pieces of this period the commentaries at time do sound a bit dated, but certainly they are all still worth a look and the Making Of featurette does cover a few more areas to complement the more extensive one mentioned above.

The Advertising Campaign highlights how advertisements for the film have changed over time, as well as varying from country to country. For example, Omar Shariff was notably absent from the initial campaign until this film made him a star, whereupon that situation was quickly remedied. This section is full of excellent artwork, and the narration guides you through it well.

Lawrence’s Journey is an inventive little feature which plots the course of Lawrence’s movements through the desert over his three year campaign, with all the major events having associated text and images to look through. A very interesting section, this also highlights how expert a storyteller Lean was in being able to guide audiences seamlessly through this long and complicated tale.

The filmographies focus on the stars, Lean, and the producer Sam Speigel. They’re selective rather than comprehensive, but they look good enough, and it would probably seem slightly odd not to have them.

As its name would suggest, the DVD-Rom – Archives of Arabia feature is only available to those with DVD drives in their PCs. No complaints about the section itself as there is quite a lot of information and photographs here, all of which are very interesting to look through. The only thing is that I’m not entirely convinced that it was necessary to make this section exclusive to PCs, as it would seem that a DVD player could handle the navigation just as well, so a number of people may well be excluded from viewing t
his unnecessarily.

*PACKAGING:
The fold-out packaging certainly looks impressive, and gives the title the appearance of something more special than your standard Amaray case. My one gripe is that it’s made out of cardboard meaning it’s obviously not the most durable thing in the world. I would of much preferred the outer case at the very least to be made out of plastic which would offer better protection. As well as the large amount of information on the disc itself, the packaging also includes a twelve-page booklet which includes text from the original 1962 souvenir booklet which explores the legend of Lawrence as well as a section on the making of the film. A nice addition to the overall package.

*OVERALL:
I would have quite happily bought this disc just for the film itself, as the richness of detail it possesses means that repeat viewings really do bring something new each time. The excellent selection of extras are just the icing on the cake meaning that even at its RRP of £25 (though shop around and you can save quite a bit) this disc is excellent value-for-money and one of the few discs that can truly be labelled as a must have.

Summary: