Lawrence of Arabia (film)
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| Lawrence of Arabia | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | David Lean |
| Produced by | Sam Spiegel |
| Written by | Robert Bolt Michael Wilson (uncredited due to blacklist) |
| Starring | Peter O'Toole Omar Sharif Alec Guinness Anthony Quinn Jack Hawkins José Ferrer Anthony Quayle Claude Rains |
| Music by | Maurice Jarre |
| Cinematography | Freddie Young, BSC |
| Editing by | Anne V. Coates |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  10 December 1962 (premiere) 16 December 1962 (premiere) 30 January 1963 1 November 1963 |
| Running time | 227 Min Director's Cut |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English / Arabic / Turkish |
| Budget | $15,000,000 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 epic film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Austrian Sam Spiegel (through his British company, Horizon Pictures), from a script by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson (Lean and Spiegel had recently completed the acclaimed film The Bridge on the River Kwai). The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential films in the history of filmmaking. The dramatic score by Maurice Jarre, and Super Panavision 70 cinematography by Freddie Young, are also hugely acclaimed.
The film depicts Lawrence's experiences in Arabia during World War I, in particular his attacks on Aqaba and Damascus and his involvement in the Arab National Council. Its themes include Lawrence's emotional struggles with violence in war (especially the conflicts between Arab tribes and the slaughter of the Turkish army), his personal identity ("Who are you?" is a recurring line throughout the film), and his divided allegiance between his native Britain and its army, and his newfound comrades within the Arabian desert tribes. The film is unusual in having no women in speaking roles.
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[edit] Plot
The film opens with Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) as a civilian, riding his motorcycle down a narrow English country road, only to be killed when he tries to avoid a collision with a couple of bicyclists. His funeral is staged at St. Paul's Cathedral. Reporters try to gain insights into this remarkable, but enigmatic, man from people who knew him, but with little success.
The movie then flashes back to Cairo during World War I, where Lawrence is a misfit British lieutenant, notable only for his insolence and knowledge of the Bedouin. Over the objections of a skeptical General Murray (Donald Wolfit), he is sent by Mr. Dryden (Claude Rains) of the Arab Bureau to assess the prospects of Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness) in his revolt against the Turks, allies of the Germans.
On his journey, his Bedouin guide is killed by Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif) for drinking from his well without permission. Just outside Feisal's camp, he encounters his superior officer, Colonel Brighton (Anthony Quayle), who orders him to keep quiet, make his assessment and then leave. He promptly ignores these commands when he meets Feisal. His fine intellect and outspokenness piques the prince's interest.
Brighton advises the Arab leader to retreat after a major defeat, but Lawrence proposes an alternative, an attack on Aqaba. If taken, the town would provide a port from which the British could offload much-needed supplies for the rebellion, but it is too strongly guarded against a naval assault. However, Lawrence proposes an assault on the lightly-defended landward side. He convinces Feisal to provide fifty men on camels, led by Sherif Ali. As they prepare to leave, two teenage orphan boys, Daud (John Dimech) and Farraj (Michel Ray), attach themselves to Lawrence as his servants. They cross the Nefud Desert, considered impassable even by the Bedouins, travelling day and night on the last stage to reach water. Gasim (I. S. Johar) succumbs to fatigue and falls off his camel unnoticed during the night. The rest make it to an oasis, but Lawrence turns back for the lost man, risking his own life. When he rescues Gasim, the Bedouins are impressed, even the formerly-skeptical Sherif Ali.
Having crossed the desert, Lawrence meets with Auda abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn), the leader of the powerful local Howeitat tribe, and convinces him to turn against the Turks. Lawrence's plans are almost derailed when one of Ali's men kills one of Auda's because of a blood feud. Since no Howeitat can retaliate without angering Ali's followers, Lawrence declares that he will execute the murderer himself. He is stunned to discover that the culprit is Gasim, the man whose life he had saved, but he shoots him regardless. The intact alliance then sweeps into Aqaba and captures it in a surprise attack. Auda is less than pleased though, as the captured Turkish funds are in the form of paper notes, not gold as Lawrence had claimed.
Lawrence heads to Cairo, to inform Dryden and the new commanding general, General Allenby (Jack Hawkins), of his victory. Crossing the Sinai Desert, his servant Daud dies when he stumbles into quicksand. Lawrence is promoted two ranks to major and given arms and money to support the Arabs. He asks Allenby whether the Arabs' suspicions have any basis, that the British have designs on Arabia after the Turks are driven out; the general says at first that he's not a politician, then when pressed, that they don't.
Lawrence launches a guerrilla war, blowing up trains and harassing the Turks at every turn. American war correspondent Jackson Bentley (Arthur Kennedy) makes him world famous by publicizing his exploits. With winter approaching, many of the tribesmen go home for the year, leaving fewer and fewer die-hard supporters to continue fighting. On one raid, Farraj is badly injured when the detonator he is carrying blows up prematurely. Unwilling to leave him for the Turks to torture, Lawrence is forced to shoot him before fleeing.
Down to twenty men, he scouts the enemy-held city of Daraa with Ali, but is taken, along with several Arab residents, to the decadent Turkish Bey (Jose Ferrer). For striking the Bey after he is covetously ogled and prodded, Lawrence is severely beaten and then thrown out into the street. Though the matter is controversial, historians and biographers (including Lawrence's authorized biographer, Jeremy Wilson) say that the rape implied by Seven Pillars of Wisdom and other sources is also implied in the film.[1] Traumatized by the experience, Lawrence abandons the fight and makes a futile attempt to return to ordinary life.
In Jerusalem, Allenby urges him to go back to the fighting to support his "big push" on Damascus, but Lawrence is a changed, tormented man and, at first, does not want to return. Lawrence relents and recruits an army, including many known killers and cutthroats motivated by money, rather than the Arab cause. They come upon a column of retreating Turkish soldiers, who have just slaughtered the inhabitants of the village of Tafas. One of Lawrence's men is from the village; he demands, "No prisoners!" Then he charges the Turks by himself and is killed. Lawrence takes up the cry, "No prisoners!"--resulting in a massacre. Lawrence's men then take Damascus before Allenby.
The Arabs set up a council to administer the city, but they are tribesmen, not a nation. Unable to maintain the electricity, telephones, and waterworks, and clashing constantly with each other, they soon abandon most of Damascus to the British. Lawrence is promoted to colonel and then immediately deactivated and sent home, his usefulness at an end. The negotiations are left to Feisal and the British and French diplomats. A morose, dejected Lawrence rides in a staff car on his way back to England.
[edit] Cast
- Peter O'Toole as T. E. Lawrence. Albert Finney — at the time a virtual unknown — was Lean's first choice to play Lawrence, but Finney was not sure the film would be a success and turned it down. Marlon Brando was also offered the part. Alec Guinness had previously played Lawrence in the play Ross, and was briefly considered for the part, but David Lean and Sam Spiegel thought him too old.
- Alec Guinness as Prince Faisal. Faisal was originally to be portrayed by Laurence Olivier; Guinness, who performed in other David Lean films, got the part when Olivier dropped out. Guinness was made up to look as much like the real Faisal as possible; he recorded in his diaries that, while shooting in Jordan, he met several people who had known Faisal who actually mistook him for the late prince. Guinness said in interviews that he developed his Arab accent from a conversation he had with Omar Sharif.
- Anthony Quinn as Auda abu Tayi. Quinn got very much into his role; he spent hours applying his own makeup, using a photograph of the real Auda to make himself look as much like him as he could. One anecdote has Quinn arriving on-set for the first time in full costume, whereupon Lean, mistaking him for a native, asked his assistant to ring Quinn and notify him that they were replacing him with the new arrival.
- Jack Hawkins as General Allenby. Sam Spiegel pushed Lean to cast Cary Grant or Laurence Olivier (who was engaged at the Chichester Festival Theatre, and declined). Lean, however, convinced him to choose Hawkins due to his work for them on The Bridge on the River Kwai. Hawkins shaved his head for the role and reportedly clashed with David Lean several times during filming. Alec Guinness recounted that he was reprimanded by Lean for celebrating the end of a day's filming with an impromptu dance.
- Omar Sharif as Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish. The role was offered to many actors before Omar Sharif was cast. Horst Buchholz was the first choice, but had already signed on for the film One, Two, Three. Alain Delon had a successful screen test, but ultimately declined due to the brown contact lenses he would have had to wear. Maurice Ronet and Dilip Kumar were also considered.
- José Ferrer as the Turkish Bey. Ferrer considered this his best film performance, saying an interview: "If I was to be judged by any one film performance, it would be my five minutes in Lawrence." Peter O'Toole once said that he learned more about screen acting from Ferrer than he could in any acting class.
- Anthony Quayle as Colonel Harry Brighton. Quayle, a veteran of military roles, was cast after Jack Hawkins, the original choice, was shifted to the part of Allenby. Quayle and Lean argued over how to portray the character, with Lean feeling Brighton to be an honorable character, while Quayle thought him an idiot.
- Claude Rains as Mr. Dryden. Rains had previously worked with Lean on The Passionate Friends. Lean considered Rains one of his favorite actors and was happy to work with him again.
- Arthur Kennedy as Jackson Bentley. In the early days of the production, when the Bentley (Thomas) character had a more prominent role in the film, Kirk Douglas was considered for the part. Later, Edmond O'Brien was cast in the part. O'Brien filmed the Jerusalem scene, but he became ill and had to be replaced at the last moment by Kennedy.
- Donald Wolfit as General Murray. Wolfit was a legendary stage actor and one of Peter O'Toole's mentors.
- Michel Ray as Farraj. At the time, Ray was an up-and-coming Anglo-Indian actor, who had previously appeared in several films, including Irving Rapper's The Brave One and Anthony Mann's The Tin Star. This however would be one of his last roles. Ray later became a prominent British businessman and, through his wife, is the majority shareholder in the Heineken brewing company, worth over ƒ3,000,000,000 sterling as of 2002.
- I.S. Johar as Gasim. Johar was a well-known Bollywood actor who occasionally appeared in international productions.
- Zia Mohyeddin as Tafas. Mohyeddin was one of Pakistan's best-known actors, and launched a successful stage career in London after this film's success. Most famously, he played Dr. Aziz in the stage and TV adaptation of A Passage to India in the late 1960s.
- Gamil Ratib as Majid. Ratib was a veteran Egyptian actor. His English was not considered good enough, so he was dubbed by Robert Rietti in the final film.
- John Dimech as Daud. Dimech was a waiter from Malta. In 1959, he had appeared in Killers of Kilimanjaro.
- Hugh Miller as the RAMC colonel. Miller worked on several of Lean's films as a dialogue coach, and was one of several members of the film crew to be given bit parts (see below).
- Fernando Sancho as the Turkish sergeant. A well-known Spanish actor (best remembered for his roles in many spaghetti Westerns), Sancho became close friends with Lean during filming.
- Stuart Saunders as the regimental sergeant major.
- Jack Gwillim as the club secretary. Gwillim was a well-known British character, frequently cast in bit parts in classic British films.
- Kenneth Fortescue as Allenby's aide.
- Harry Fowler as Corporal Potter.
- Howard Marion-Crawford as the medical officer. Marion-Crawford was cast at the last possible minute, during the filming of the "Damascus" scenes in Seville.
- John Ruddock as Elder Harith. Ruddock was a noted Shakespearean actor.
- Norman Rossington as Corporal Jenkins. Rossington had, somewhat ironically, starred alongside Albert Finney in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. He would later play the Beatles' nerve-wracked manager in A Hard Day's Night and appear in several of the Carry On films.
- Jack Hedley as a reporter.
- Henry Oscar as Silliam, Feisal's servant. Oscar was a well-known stage and screen actor who frequently played ethnic parts, including the Sudanese doctor in The Four Feathers (1939).
- Peter Burton as a Damascus Sheik. Burton is perhaps best-known for playing Major Boothroyd (later Q in the Bond film Dr. No).
Various members of the film's crew portrayed minor characters. First assistant director Roy Stevens played the truck driver who transports Lawrence and Farraj to the Cairo HQ at the end of Act I; the Sergeant who stops Lawrence and Farraj ("Where do you think you're going to, Mustapha?") is construction assistant, Fred Bennett; and screenwriter Robert Bolt has a wordless cameo as one of the officers watching Allenby and Lawrence confer in the courtyard (he is smoking a pipe).
[edit] Real characters
- T. E. Lawrence
- Auda ibu Tayi
- General Allenby
- Prince Feisal
- Tafas, Lawrence's guide to Feisal
- Farraj and Daud, Lawrence's servants
- Gasim, the man Lawrence rescues from the desert
- General Murray
- Medical Officer in Damascus, unnamed, but based on an incident in Seven Pillars of Wisdom
- Tallal, charges the Turkish column at Tafas
[edit] Fictional and fictionalized characters
Sherif Ali - A combination of numerous Arab leaders, particularly Sherif Nassir — Feisal's cousin — who led the Harith forces involved in the attack on Aqaba. The character was created largely because Lawrence did not serve with any one Arab leader (aside from Auda) throughout the majority of the war; most such leaders were amalgamated in Ali's character. This character was, however, almost certainly named after Sherif Ali ibn Hussein, a young leader in the Harith tribe, though that Ali played a very small part in the Revolt.
Mr. Dryden - The cynical Arab Bureau official, was based loosely on numerous figures, including Sir Ronald Storrs, who was head of the Arab Bureau and later the governor of Palestine. It was largely Storrs doing that Lawrence first met Feisal and became involved with the Revolt. This character is also partially based upon Lawrence's archaeologist friend, D.G. Hogarth, as well as Mark Sykes and Henry McMahon, who historically fulfilled Dryden's role as a political liaison. He was created by the screenwriters to "represent the civilian and political wing of British interests, to balance Allenby's military objectives."
Colonel Brighton - In essence a composite of all of the British officers who served in the Middle East with Lawrence, most notably Lt. Col. Stewart F. Newcombe. Newcombe played much the same role as Brighton does in the film, being Lawrence's predecessor as liaison to the Arab Revolt; he and many of his men were forced to surrender to the Turks in 1916, though he later escaped. Also, like Brighton, Newcombe was not well-liked by the Arabs, though he remained friends with Lawrence. (It should be noted that in Michael Wilson's original script, he was Colonel Newcombe, while the character's name was changed by Robert Bolt.) Brighton was apparently created to represent how ordinary British soldiers would feel about a man like Lawrence: impressed by his accomplishments but repulsed by his affected manner. (Lean argued that Brighton was "the only honorable character" in the film, whereas Anthony Quayle referred to his character as an "idiot".)
Turkish Bey - The Turkish Bey who captures Lawrence in Deraa was — according to Lawrence himself — General Hajim Bey (in Turkish, Hacim Muhiddin Bey), though he is not named in the film. Though the incident was mentioned in Lawrence's autobiography Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a few historians have conjectured that this event never happened. This is not the view of Jeremy Wilson, The Authorised Biography of T. E. Lawrence (ISBN 0-689-11934-8) or the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning biography A Prince of Our Disorder, John E. Mack, (ISBN 0-316-54232-6).
Jackson Bentley - Based on famed American journalist Lowell Thomas, who did help make Lawrence famous with accounts of his bravery. However, Thomas was at the time a young man who spent only a few days (or weeks at most) with Lawrence in the field unlike Bentley, who is depicted as a cynical middle-aged man who is present during the whole of Lawrence's later campaigns. Bentley was the narrator in Michael Wilson's original script, but Robert Bolt reduced his role significantly for the final script. It should also be stated that Thomas did not start reporting on Lawrence until after the end of World War I, and genuinely held Lawrence in high regard, unlike Bentley, who seems to hold him in contempt.
[edit] Historical accuracy
The historical accuracy of the film, and particularly its portrayal of Lawrence himself, has been called into question by numerous scholars. Most of the film's characters are either real or based on real characters to varying degrees. The events depicted in the film are largely based on accepted historical fact and Lawrence's own writing about events, though they have various degrees of romanticisation.
Some scenes — such as the attack on Aqaba — were heavily fictionalized, while those dealing with the Arab Council were inaccurate, in as much as the council remained more or less in power in Syria until France deposed Feisal in 1920. The theme (in the second half of the film) that Lawrence's Arab army deserted almost to a man as he moved further north was completely fictional. The film's timeline of the Arab Revolt and World War I, and the geography of the Hedjaz region, are frequently questionable. For instance, Bentley interviews Feisal in late 1917, after the fall of Aqaba, saying the United States has not yet entered the war; yet America had been in the war for several months by that point in time. Further, Lawrence's involvement in the Arab Revolt prior to the attack on Aqaba — such as his involvement in the seizures of Yenbo and Wejh — is completely excised. The rescue and execution of Gassim is based on two separate incidents which were conflated together for dramatic reasons.
[edit] Representation of Lawrence
Many complaints about the film's accuracy, however, center on the characterization of Lawrence himself.
The perceived problems with the portrayal of Lawrence begin with the differences in his physical appearance: 6-foot 2-inch Peter O'Toole was almost nine inches taller than the real Lawrence. His behavior, however, has caused much more debate.
The screenwriters depict Lawrence as an egotist. Lawrence actually shunned the limelight, as evidenced by his attempts after the war to hide under various assumed names. Even during the war, Lowell Thomas wrote in With Lawrence in Arabia that he could only take pictures of him by tricking him (though he did later agree to pose for several pictures for Thomas's stage show). Thomas's famous comment that Lawrence "had a genius for backing into the limelight" referred to the fact that his extraordinary actions prevented him from being as private as he would have liked. Others disagree, pointing to Lawrence's own writings in Seven Pillars of Wisdom to support the argument that he was egotistical.
A controversial choice is the portrayal of Lawrence as being repulsed by violence while also enjoying it. The real Lawrence was far from a pacifist before the war; indeed, he was a crack shot with a pistol (his preferred weapon being a Colt .45 Peacemaker) and enjoyed practicing at shooting ranges when he could.[citation needed] There is no record of his feeling any particular remorse over the Tafas massacre in his writings or other correspondence (it was, after all, retaliation by the Bedouin for the Turks' sack of the village). Lawrence was remorseful to some extent over the number of Turks (and Arabs) killed in his campaigns (as is clear throughout Seven Pillars of Wisdom and his other writings)[citation needed], but the depiction of him as a sadist who enjoyed violence is based on no historical evidence.
Lawrence was aware of the Sykes-Picot Agreement,[citation needed]contrary to the film, but he hoped that the Arabs' contribution to the Allied victory would convince the Allies to grant the Arabs their independence. Lawrence was, as the film suggests, torn between loyalty to the British and his promises to the Arabs, but by omitting his knowledge of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the film removes the catalyst for this conflict.
[edit] Representation of other characters
The film's portrayal of General Allenby as a cynical, manipulative superior is not entirely accurate either. Allenby and Lawrence respected and liked each other; Lawrence once said of Allenby that he was "an admiration of mine",[2] and later that "[he was] physically large and confident, and morally so great that the comprehension of our littleness came slow to him".[3] Allenby, for his part, remarked upon Lawrence's death that "I have lost a good friend and a valued comrade. Lawrence was under my command, but, after acquainting him with my strategical plan, I gave him a free hand. His co-operation was marked by the utmost loyalty, and I never had anything but praise for his work which, indeed, was invaluable throughout the campaign,"[4] (in contrast to the fictional Allenby's words at Lawrence's funeral in the film) and spoke highly of him on numerous other occasions. It seems likely that this characterization of Allenby is in large part due to the screenwriters' anti-war sentiments. While Allenby admittedly did manipulate Lawrence during the war, their relationship lasted for years after its end, indicating that, in real-life, they were friendly, if not terribly close. Similarly, General Murray, though initially skeptical of the Arab Revolt's potential, thought highly of Lawrence's abilities as an intelligence officer; the intense dislike shown towards Lawrence in the film is in fact the opposite of Murray's real feelings.
The depiction of Auda abu Tayi as a man only interested in loot and money is also at odds with the historical record. While Auda did at first join the Arab Revolt for monetary reasons, he quickly became a steadfast supporter of Arab independence and only abandoned the cause after the collapse of the Arab government in Damascus. He was present with Lawrence from the beginning of the Aqaba expedition, and in fact helped plan it along with Feisal I of Iraq.
Feisal, far from being the middle-aged man depicted, was in reality in his early thirties at the time of the revolt.[5] While Feisal was considered by Lawrence to be a wise and insightful man, he also had a nasty sense of humour (often involving practical jokes) which is not evident in the film. He also did not speak English, whereas in the film he is quite fluent.
A particularly telling fact of the film's inaccuracies are the reaction of those who knew Lawrence and the other characters. The most vehement critic of the film's inaccuracy was Professor A.W. Lawrence, T.E.'s younger brother and literary executor who had given the rights to Seven Pillars of Wisdom to Sam Spiegel for ƒ25,000. Lawrence went on a campaign in the US and Britain denouncing the film, famously saying that "I should not have recognized my own brother". Lowell Thomas was also critical of the portrayal of Lawrence and most of the film's characters, feeling that the train attack scenes were the only reasonably accurate aspect of the film.
The criticisms were not restricted to Lawrence. The Allenby family lodged a formal complaint against Columbia about the portrayal of their ancestor. Descendants of Auda abu Tayi and the real Sherif Ali (despite the fact that the film's Ali was fictional) went further, actively suing Columbia due to the portrayal of their ancestors. The Auda case went on for almost ten years before it was finally dropped.[6]
[edit] Production
[edit] Pre-production
Previous films about T. E. Lawrence had been planned but had not been made. In the 1940s, Alexander Korda was interested in filming The Seven Pillars of Wisdom with Laurence Olivier as Lawrence, but had to pull out due to financial difficulties. Besides previous attempts, Terrence Rattigan was developing his play Ross, centred primarily on Lawrence's alleged homosexuality simultaneous to pre-production to this film, with Sam Spiegel growing furious and unsuccessfully attempting to have the play suppressed. (Ironically, the furore surrounding the play helped gain publicity for the film.)[citation needed] When Lawrence of Arabia was first announced, Lawrence's biographer Lowell Thomas offered producer Spiegel and screenwriters Bolt and Wilson a large amount of research material he had produced on Lawrence during and after his time with him in the Arab Revolt. Spiegel rejected the offer.
Michael Wilson wrote the original draft of the screenplay. However, David Lean was dissatisfied with Wilson's work, primarily because his treatment focused primarily on the historical and political aspects of the Arab Revolt. Lean hired Robert Bolt to re-write the script in order to make it a character study of Lawrence himself. While many (if not most) of the characters and scenes are Wilson's invention, virtually all of the dialogue in the finished film was written by Bolt.
Lean reportedly watched John Ford's film The Searchers (1956) to help him develop ideas as to how to shoot the film.[citation needed]
[edit] Filming
The film was made by Horizon Pictures and Columbia Pictures. Shooting began on May 15, 1961 and ended on October 20, 1962.
The desert scenes were shot in Jordan and Morocco, as well as Almería and Doñana in Spain. The film was originally to be filmed entirely in Jordan: the government of King Hussein was extremely helpful in providing logistical assistance, location scouting, transportation, and extras. During the production of the film, in fact, Hussein met and married Toni Gardner, who was working as a switchboard operator in Aqaba. One of the film's technical advisors/horse wranglers in Jordan was a descendant of Auda abu Tayi.[citation needed] The only tension occurred when local Jordanian officials learned that English actor Henry Oscar, who did not speak Arabic, would be filmed reciting the Qur'an; permission was granted only on condition that an imam be present to ensure that there were no misquotes.
In Jordan, Lean planned to film in, among other places, the real Aqaba and the archaeological site at Petra, which the real Lawrence had been fond of as a place of study. However, the production had to be moved to Spain, much to Lean's regret, due to cost and outbreaks of illness among the cast and crew before these scenes could be shot. The attack on Aqaba (one of the more stirring and memorable scenes in the movie with a spectacular pan shot of dust rising up from behind the charging Arabs while Turkish cannons are aimed harmlessly out to sea) was reconstructed in a dried river bed in southern Spain; it consisted of over 300 buildings and was meticulously based on the town's appearance in 1917. The execution of Gassim and the train attacks were filmed in the Almeria region, with the former's filming being delayed because of a flash flood. The city of Seville was also used to represent Cairo and Jerusalem, with the appearance of the Alcázar of Seville and the Plaza de España. All of the film's interiors were shot in Spain, including Lawrence's first meeting with Feisal and the scene in Auda's tent.
The Tafas massacre was filmed in Ouarzazate, Morocco, with Moroccan army troops substituting for the Turkish army; however, Lean was unable to film as much as he wanted because the soldiers were uncooperative and impatient.[citation needed] One of the second-unit directors for the Morocco scenes was Andre de Toth, who suggested a shot wherein bags of blood would be machine-gunned, spraying the screen with blood. Assistant director Nicholas Roeg approached Lean with this idea, but Lean found it disgusting. De Toth subsequently left the project.
The film's production was frequently delayed because, unusually, the film started shooting without a finished script. After Wilson quit early in the production, Bolt took over, with playwright Beverley Cross working on the script in the interim (although none of his material made it to the final film). A further mishap occurred when Bolt was arrested for taking part in an anti-nuclear weapons demonstration, and Spiegel had to persuade Bolt to sign a recognizance of good behaviour in order for him to be released from jail and continue working on the script.
Camels caused several problems on set. O'Toole was not used to riding camels and found the saddle to be uncomfortable. While in Amman during a break in filming, he bought a piece of foam rubber at a market and added it to his saddle. Many of the extras copied the idea and sheets of the foam can be seen on many of the horse and camel saddles. The Bedouins nicknamed O'Toole "Ab al Isfanjah"[Correct transliteration required] (أب الإسفنجة), meaning "Father of the Sponge".[7] The idea spread and to this day, many Bedouins add foam rubber to their saddles.
Later, during the filming of the Aqaba scene, O'Toole was nearly killed when he fell from his camel, but fortunately, it stood over him, preventing the horses of the extras from trampling him. (A very similar mishap befell the real Lawrence at the Battle of Abu El Lissal in 1917.) In another mishap, O'Toole seriously injured his hand during filming by punching through the window of a caravan. A brace or bandage can be seen on his left thumb during the first train attack scene, presumably due to this incident.[citation needed]
[edit] Music
The score, composed by Maurice Jarre, was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Although Sir Adrian Boult is credited as the conductor of the score in the film's credits, he was unable to conduct most of the score, due in part to his failure to adapt to the intricate timings of each cue. Maurice Jarre replaced him as the conductor, and is so credited on the original soundtrack recording, which was originally released on Colpix Records, the records division of Columbia Pictures, in 1962. A remastered edition appeared on Castle Music, a division of the Sanctuary Records Group, on August 28, 2006.
Kenneth Alford's march The Voice of the Guns (1917) is prominently featured on the soundtrack. One of Alford's other pieces, the Colonel Bogey March, was the theme song for Lean's previous film, Bridge on the River Kwai.
[edit] Release
The film premiered in London on December 10, 1962, and was released in the USA on December 16, 1962.
The original release ran for 222 minutes (plus overture, intermission, and exit music). A later theatrical re-release ran for 202 minutes; an even shorter cut of 187 minutes briefly surfaced in the 1970s. The first round of cuts was made at the direction and even insistence of David Lean, to assuage criticisms of the film's length and increase the number of showings per day; however, during the 1989 restoration, he would later pass blame for the cuts onto then-deceased producer Sam Spiegel.[citation needed]
[edit] Restoration/Director's Cut
The current "restored version", undertaken by Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz (under the supervision of director David Lean), was released in 1989 with a 216 minute length (plus overture, intermission, and exit music).
Most of the cut scenes were dialogue sequences, particularly those involving General Allenby and his staff. Two whole scenes - Brighton's briefing of Allenby in Jerusalem prior to the Deraa scene and the British staff meeting in the field tent - were completely excised, and the former has still not been entirely restored. Much of the missing dialogue involves Lawrence's writing of poetry and verse, alluded to by Allenby in particular, saying "the last poetry general we had was Wellington." The opening of Act II, where Feisal is interviewed by Bentley, and the later scene, in Jerusalem where Allenby convinces Lawrence not to resign, existed in only fragmented form; they were restored to the 1989 re-release. Some of the more graphic shots of the Tafas massacre scene - the lengthy panning shot of the corpses in Tafas, and Lawrence shooting a surrendering Turkish soldier - were also restored. Most of the still-missing footage is of minimal import, supplementing existing scenes. One scene is an extended version of the Deraa rape sequence, which makes Lawrence's punishment in that scene more overt. Other scripted scenes exist, most notably a conversation between Auda and Lawrence immediately after the fall of Aqaba, but these scenes were probably not filmed. The actors still living at the time of the re-release dubbed their own dialogue, though Jack Hawkins's dialogue had to be dubbed by Charles Gray (who had already done Hawkins' voice for several films after the former developed throat cancer in the late 1960s).
A full list of cuts can be found at the Internet Movie Database.[8] Reasons for the cuts of various scenes can be found in Lean's notes to Sam Spiegel, Robert Bolt, and Anne V. Coates.[9]
The film runs 216 minutes in the most recent Director's Cut available on DVD.
[edit] High Definition
The HD premiere was telecast on HDNet on February 10, 2008.[10] Sony remastered the film into HD. In its High Definition version, the film is 3 hours and 36 minutes.
[edit] Reception
Upon its original release, Lawrence was a huge critical and financial success, and it remains very popular with the public and critics alike to this day. While some critics - notably Bosley Crowther and Andrew Sarris - criticized the film for its allegedly indefinite portrayal of Lawrence and lack of depth, most critics praised film - in particular O'Toole's performance, the striking visuals, dramatic music and literate screenplay. Currently, it is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. Its visual style has influenced many directors, including Steven Spielberg, who described the film as "a miracle", George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, and Martin Scorsese. Its influence upon film making and popular culture has been called "undeniable".[citation needed]
It is today regarded as a masterpiece of world cinema and is often featured highly on critical lists of best films. It was rated the fifth greatest American film of all time by the American Film Institute in 1997 (a thoughtful but puzzling accolade, given the film is entirely British-made and -financed); in its 2007 Tenth Anniversary Edition list, the film dropped to seventh. In 1991, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 1999 it came 3rd in a BFI poll of British films, while in 2004 the magazine Total Film named it the 8th greatest British film of all time. In a Sight and Sound poll, it came in the top ten Best Films of all time as voted by directors. O'Toole's performance has also often been considered one of the greatest of all time, topping lists made by both Entertainment Weekly and Premiere.
[edit] Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 1962, and won seven, including Best Picture.
[edit] Academy Awards
[edit] BAFTA Awards
| Award | Person | |
| Best British Film | David Lean Sam Spiegel |
|
| Best Film from any Source | David Lean Sam Spiegel |
|
| Best Actor | Peter O'Toole | |
| Best British Screenplay | Robert Bolt | |
| Nominated: | ||
| Best Foreign Actor | Anthony Quinn | |
[edit] Golden Globe Awards
| Award | Person | |
| Best Motion Picture - Drama | David Lean Sam Spiegel |
|
| Best Director | David Lean | |
| Best Cinematography (Colour) | Freddie Young | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Omar Sharif | |
| Most Promising Newcomer | Omar Sharif | |
| Nominated: | ||
| Most Promising Newcomer | Peter O'Toole | |
[edit] Other awards
- Directors Guild of America
- David di Donatello Awards
- Best Foreign Film - Sam Spiegel
- British Society of Cinematographers
- Best Cinematography Award - Freddie Young
- Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
- Best Director Foreign Film - David Lean
- Kinema Junpo Awards
- Best Foreign Language Film - David Lean
- Best Director - David Lean
- Writers' Guild of Great Britain
- Best British Dramatic Screenplay - Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson
[edit] Influence
The use of the locations in Almería, Spain for the train sequences and others made that region popular with international film makers. Most famously, it became the setting of virtually all of the Spaghetti Westerns of the '60s and '70s, specifically those of Sergio Leone. (The oasis set from Lawrence briefly appears in Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965).)[citation needed] Many of the sets used or built in the film later resurfaced in later movies, including John Milius's The Wind and the Lion (1975), which used several of the same palaces in Seville and the Aqaba set as the setting for its climactic battle, while the Plaza de España appears in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), as the Theed Palace.
The chorus in the main music theme is identical to the one used in the 2004 film Troy in which Peter O'Toole also appears.
The main musical title of the film was used in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) in the scene where Roger Moore and Barbara Bach's characters wander through the desert after their car breaks down. This was done as a joke by one of the editors who liked to play music from the film during the daily rushes.
Film director Steven Spielberg considers this his favorite movie of all time, and the one which convinced him to become a film maker.[11] Screenwriter William Monahan, who scripted Kingdom of Heaven and The Departed, among others, is a fan of Robert Bolt and has stated on numerous occasions that viewing Lawrence is what inspired him to be a screenwriter.
[edit] Sequel
In 1990, a made-for-television film, A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia, was produced as a sequel to the film. It featured Ralph Fiennes as Lawrence and Alexander Siddig as Prince Feisal. The movie dealt primarily with the attempts of Lawrence and Feisal to secure independence for Arabia during the 1919 Versailles Conference following the end of World War I. The movie was generally well-received and deals more with the political ramifications of Lawrence's efforts in the Middle East.
[edit] References
- ^ Jeremy Wilson. Lawrence of Arabia or Smith in the Desert? David Lean's film viewed as history. telawrence.info (T.E. Lawrence Studies).
- ^ The Seven Pillars Portraits. castlehillpress.com.
- ^ General Allenby (biography). pbs.org.
- ^ General Allenby (radio interview). pbs.org.
- ^ Prince Feisal. pbs.org.
- ^ Adrian Turner, Robert Bolt: Scenes From Two Lives, 201-206
- ^ Peter O'Toole, interview on the Late Show with David Letterman, May 11, 1995.
- ^ Alternate versions for Lawrence of Arabia (1962). imdb.com.
- ^ Director's Notes on Re-editing Lawrence of Arabia. davidlean.com.
- ^ HDNet (2008-02-06). "HDNet Movies Presents the High Definition Premiere of "Lawrence of Arabia"". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
- ^ DVD documentary, A Conversation with Steven Spielberg
[edit] External links
- Lawrence of Arabia at the Internet Movie Database
- Lawrence of Arabia at the TCM Movie Database
- The Making of Lawrence of Arabia, Digitised BAFTA Journal, Winter 1962-3
- Site dedicated to one of Britain's Greatest Heroes
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| Preceded by West Side Story |
Academy Award for Best Picture 1962 |
Succeeded by Tom Jones |
| Preceded by Ballad of a Soldier tied with The Hustler |
BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source 1963 |
Succeeded by Tom Jones |
| Preceded by A Taste of Honey |
BAFTA Award for Best British Film 1963 |
Succeeded by Tom Jones |
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