Lawrence of Arabia (Restored Version)

This review is for the brand new (as of 2/11/26) 4K release..... let me start by saying that I've owned at least 4 versions of this movie, going back close to 40 years; in addition, I've seen this movie at least 4 times in the theater, this is by far the best version I've yet seen! Just last summer (2005) I saw a rerelease of the film, likely in anticipation of the 4k release in local theaters, it looked great but held ZERO candles to the new 4K release delivered by Amazon today! First off, it goes without saying that this movie is BEYOND a five star film, the real question is.....is this new 4K version worth the money? Answer? Yes, it is! Have you ever imagined watching this movie and picking out the sparkle of a single grain of sand in a magnificent vista? Now you don't have to imagine, the transfer is that good; it is so good I would hazard the term stunning! This is super simple, this is the BEST release of one of the BEST films of all times, if you are a cineaste, this MUST be in your collection.

It's hard for the small screen to do justice to such a sweeping cinematographic epic, but there is much more to this film than its visual majesty. The film has one of the most beautiful and recognized scores in the history of cinema, a fascinating subject in the person of T.E. Lawrence himself, one of the most literate screenplays ever written, and a wonderful supporting cast nearing perfection. It is a shame that unless you take the time to buy the DVD and invest the almost four hours it takes to watch it, you are likely to miss out on one of the best films ever made. It is precisely because of its length that it is seldom seen on TV anymore. The backdrop of the film is that the British, in the midst of fighting World War I, are aiding the Arab struggle for independence from the Turks since anything that ties up the Turks accomplishes the British goal of destroying the Ottoman Empire and thus aids in the war effort. T. E. Lawrence is first enlisted to help advise the Arabs in their military goals, but goes on to lead them in a series of stunning military victories that goes way beyond what the British expected of the Arabs, and quite frankly, way beyond what the British wanted. You see, the British had designs on claiming Arabia for themselves after the war ends, years before it was discovered that Arabia was sitting on the world's richest oil supply. However, this is really an oversimplification of a very complex film. This movie is so multi-faceted that you could tackle reviewing it from several angles. To me one of the most fascinating aspects of the film is the complex relationship and contrast between Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif), fellow tribesman and counsel to Prince Feisal, and T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole). When the two first meet Ali shoots down Lawrence's Arab companion who is taking him to first meet Feisel because the man is drinking from Ali's well and does not have permission to do so. An outraged Lawrence chastises Ali citing that Arabia will never be great as long as they war amongst themselves and that he is "barborous and cruel". Towards the end of the film, though, there is a reversal of roles as Ali tries to stop a massacre that Lawrence is not only allowing his troops to participate in, but seems to be genuinely enjoying. Ali is a man who has a good bead on who he is and what he believes. Not having this quality is Lawrence's greatest shortcoming. Lawrence either believes he is much less than he is or much more, depending on his latest exploits and who has talked to him last. Ali clearly sees this problem, and by the end of the film Ali is Lawrence's fast friend - in fact his only true friend. You see, Lawrence is being used by both the Arabs and the British. This becomes immensely clear when at the end of the film Prince Feisel, who has always seemed to be genuine towards Lawrence, says during negotiations with the British "Lawrence is a double-edged sword - We are equally glad to be rid of him, are we not?". By the way, the role of Ali has to be Sharif's finest hour as an actor. I always thought Dr. Zhivago was that finest role, and it is still a great performance, but this one is even better. There are so many other themes going on in this film - the thin line between madness and heroism, the worth of a single human life versus the welfare of an entire army or a nation, the sometimes less than honorable motives behind those fighting for the honorable goal independence, the contrast between western and Arab values - that you could go on forever. That is why I strongly recommend this film. You'll probably come away with something a little different on each viewing.

This film begins at T.E. Lawrence’s funeral in 1935 and works backward to the point of his learning to be, first, a map-maker at the beginning of WWI (1914-1918), but acquiring this skill while he was still a student at Oxford. He is now known as an archaeologist, writer, military officer, and diplomat, especially during the Sinai and Palestinian Campaign and Arab Revolt, effectively ending the Ottoman Empire. Like many people who have seen the original 1962 release of Lawrence of Arabia (winner of 7 Academy Awards) in the theaters, I wanted to then re-watch it and other great epic films with important world history themes on DVDs - then the paramount technology (Note that Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg had helped restore a version of the original film for DVD release in 2000). After BluRays had come out, I found and purchased this 50th Anniversary newly-restored 4K version, which also included 3 other discs and other items in special packaging to mark this occasion, to whet my appetite to buy this package. What does this special set contain? I. 8 Things: A 4-disc set (3 film and 1 sound CD) & Other Things: A. Sound Track CD, plus a few new songs B. Disc 1: The newly-restored film an 8K scan/ immediate 4K film restoration, along with “Secrets of Arabia: Picture in Graphs Track” C. Disc 2: Backstories and extras (like Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole finishing filming on different dates, but both racing though the desert and Atlas Mountains of Morocco, where some scenes were shot, and heading for some carousing, courtesy of Sharif in Casablanca! The two became pals for life after this entire experience! Another good one is King Hussein of Jordan, also a pilot, welcoming the planes bringing in the cast and crew to southern Jordan, where most of the desert battle scenes were filmed. This area in real life has been shot in many films, and for those of us who have visited/ lived in Jordan, it is a source of wonder and amazement. D. Disc 3: Anniversary Gift Set Exclusive E. A free, authentic sample of 70 mm film frames, whose packet lists its limited edition # on its front G. An 88-page coffee table book with color photos H. A special 50th Anniversary package, housing all of these items, making this truly a treasure trove of wonderfully-packaged items that owners are proud to show, by placing THIS entire package with items inside on a coffee table! I. The Ultraviolet Download Code (mine was expired, but I would never watch this epic film on anything other than a large-screen HD TV) II. The Exact Quantities of Minutes (Hours) on All Discs, excluding the CD: A. Disc 1, BluRay film: Lawrence of Arabia - 227 minutes (3.78 hours) B. Disc 1, “Secrets of Arabia: Picture in Graphs Track” – 130 minutes (2.16 hours) C. Disc 2 Backstories and related information – 144 minutes (2.40 hours) (TOTAL FILM TIME: 501 minutes (8.35 hours) In a nutshell, what is this film about? Historically, it is about the early 20th century British Empire, with the help of their agent, T.E. Lawrence, loosely following history by uniting the disparate Bedou tribes of Saudi Arabia (Note Anthony Quinn’s stunning portrayal of Auda abu Tayi) to help end the Ottoman Empire (1299-1922), ruled by the Turks which had mercilessly and brutally ruled the ME for 623 years (and caused the Armenian Genocide/ Holocaust from 1915-1917). Specifically related to this include the following: the scene on the British HQ balcony in Cairo. In it, the bleeding Lawrence (whose back was severely lashed in Dara’a, Syria by the Turkish Bey [played brilliantly by Jose Ferrer] who took sadistic pleasure in humiliating Lawrence while torturing and possibly sodomizing him) talked to his commander, General Allenby, played by Jack Hawkins, in which Lawrence agrees to go back in country (Syria) and head Allenby’s men to the meeting in Damascus, to supervise and divvy up the goods/ commodities of the ME. Note that Lawrence had problems with slipping back and forth between the British and Arab Bedou cultures in terms of behavior and dress. The scene in Damascus showed this cognitive dissonance, with his being dressed in desert regalia while behaving like a British Officer reading from the ledger the list of things to be divided and meted out by means of a pre-approved British plan for who would get what. The people in the room, throughout this time were in a state of chaos, gave him no respect, and more chaos broke out amongst the attendees. The end result is that the British then got most of Damascus. This activity, in turn, led to the slicing up of the entire ME region, in chessboard fashion, to change the landscape/ boundaries of certain countries to serve the ruling empires at the time (the UK and France) and then to transfer them to the countries that would later rise to have power. The was done very slowly and almost imperceptively, at a snail’s pace, by means of the following international stepping stones of important documents: The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence (1915-1916); The Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916); Balfour Declaration (1917); The Treaty of Versailles (1919). All of these pieces of paper seemed to sandwich WWI (The Great War to End All Wars), fought from July 28, 1914 – November 11, 1918, with later documents and plans ready to guide what would be mapped out afterwards. In T.E. Lawrence’s 1922 autobiography, he states that “The Arab Revolt had been made under false pretenses.”….”Had I been honorable, I would have sent my men home.” At least he was being honest even if it was in retrospect. All of these disparate parts combined together later to create a new entity in 1948, with the birth of Israel. Lawrence wouldn’t have known about these long-terms plans, though, – very few people would have. His story was only a small cog in a larger system that would later emerge. Current US high school world history educational curricula doesn’t really cover much of this part of world history then, but UK (and French) curricula would. US audiences, then, would have had much of this important historical background and dialog fly right over their heads, especially for younger students who may see this as an action film instead of one that is historical. In today’s global world, though, Americans, especially those who do much reading and travel, would eventually learn what this piece of history was and the results of this that were birthed around the mid-point of the 20th Century. They would specifically learn what really happened, especially to the Palestinians –even though the Balfour Declaration says that they would be respected and protected as a result of this maneuver. During this time period, how could 1 country be given away in order to birth another? Who let it happen and why? Who rules that country today, and who is paying for it? Have these actions led to a better world for everyone involved today? For viewing this film, there are 3 different sections of activities that could be created and used, to create critical dialog according to the age levels of the viewers: Pre-viewing; Viewing; and Post-Viewing. Educators and others could create these activities and share them online. Would I recommend this 50th Anniversary Set? Yes! For the 8.35 hours of film alone, this set is a bargain. For the knowledge of our world history, this set provides immeasurable resources for learning and understanding about our current world today because ‘this current world’ is a result of the activities portrayed in this film. All of these pieces are a pre-‘Chessboard’ to events that continue to shape our world today, with the victors and the losers of Empire, as Zbigniew Brzezinski later showed in his book on the same topic, The Grand Chessboard (1997).

I got Lawrence Of Arabia because I heard people say it was an exceptional legendary movie and that it had wonderful music in it. I did not know that Lawrence Of Arabia was a real person before I heard the people on the DVD say so, and according to them there was the usual contempt and bashing for historical inaccuracies that always happens whenever anyone does a fictionalized dramatized story inspired by the existence of real persons. Steven Speilberg appears on the DVD saying that it's all right to do that with obscure history that most people don't know about but if you're dealing with well-known history that's taught every day in school, then it's not all right to put inaccuracies in it. I don't agree with that judgemental statement and I really don't understand why people make such a big judgemental deal about historical inaccuracy. As long as a movie is not professing to be a depiction of the truth, then the moviemakers have a right to tell the story however they want, if they think some fiction will make it more interesting than the real events. Most people know that even when a movie is "based on a true story" there will always be some details that are fictionalized. Just don't ever watch a movie assuming that everything in it really happened and then you'll be all right. I actually think that inaccuracies in movies can inspire viewers to do research and learn more about the real events. That's the point--if you wanna know what really happenned with some historical characters, find out from other sources besides movies made about them. Now, if a history book was written and was claiming to be the truth and contained a bunch of glaring inaccuracies, then I would understand people getting upset about that, cuz a history book is SUPPOSSED to be an education about the truth and if a history book is not true then it is fooling people. But to me, if someone insults and bashes a movie for nothing but historical inaccuracy, that just means it's a bitter person always looking for things to get mad about and it means they didn't like the movie anyway and they use the historical inaccuracy as an excuse to justify their hatred of the movie. I get very tired of hearing criticisms about inaccuracy and hearing people call movies awful and worthless just because they're inaccurate. So, as for the DVD, I found it educational to listen to the people talk on the DVD (educational about how humans view things and how humans think, I mean) and the movie itself is an intriguing story about a man trying to find out who he is and what his place is in the world, shifting his loyalty back and forth between the Arabians and the English military, and I believe there are real people that go through that kind of identity crisis, and I believe any movie about someone who tries to help make a difference in a bunch of oppressed people's lives is valuable, regardless of what is inaccurate about it. There is always constantly something happening in the story and so every scene is informational to the plot and every scene matters despite how long the movie is. They said this DVD was an extended director's cut version with a bunch of scenes that were not in the theatrical release, and I cannot imagine the movie without any of the scenes that are here. If David Lean considers this his best movie, he has good reason to think so because the movie deals with so many human interest issues. Peter O'Toole gives a sympathetic performance and it is easy to see why this movie made him a star. There's too much that goes on in the movie for me to have time to really comment on the plot, but this is a moving drama about respecting people of other civilizations and I think it has a message that can extend to other issues besides the Arabians. This is a very worthwhile movie and anyone who cares about people should see it. It has no shortage of entertainment either.

Now, I don’t feel the need to really talk about why this movie is a classic. For anyone who really wants to get this release, you likely already know the reasons why. Instead, there’s something else I rather talk about. For one, the steelbook packaging is quite nice; real striking image from front to back. Another stems primarily from the video and audio quality: both are extremely top tier. Even more so if you have an Atmos setup. Sony made the right call in splitting the movie into two UHD discs; keeps the overall video quality (in bitrates) to be fully consistent throughout the picture. And lastly, the special features included are very well done and engaging to sink your teeth to. It might not be readily available right now (for obvious reasons), but whenever Sony puts out another repressing of them, I’d highly recommend giving it a buy. You won’t regret it.

The musical score is the commanding element in this epic 4-hour spectacle. Four hours of movie extras dashing through the desert on camels and Arabian steeds would pall after,say, an hour or so, if it were silent, but the music holds us involved for most of it. Not for all of it, mind you, as four hours is an ungodly long movie. Peter O'Toole's enigmatic Lawrence enjoys privileges possibly unknown or undreamed of by any other English army officer in WWI, or, for that matter, any other war. He bursts into the general's office seemingly at will, and then exploits the general as a psychiatrist, airing, for example, his conflicts about killing. He demands a room with clean sheets for his young Arab devotee and of course it is given to him. He quits, re-enlists, then re-quits. Orders, or the prevailing strategy of the English army, are meaningless to him. We are supposed to admire his bravado, but after a while, O'Toole's omniscient, sensitive, in-your-face adventurer wears thin and becomes a holier-than-thou know- it- all irritant appearing peevish instead of heroic. True to prevailing Hollywood economics, big bucks went for A-list, big name stars trying vainly to seem somehow Arab. Alec Guinness is jarringly miscast as Prince Feisal , Omar Sharif ,who seemingly was in every movie made in the 50's and 60's, was Sharif Ali. He fits in better than Guinness, but it would have been refreshing and more engaging to see a new face in this movie. Then Anthony Quinn bursts on the scene as Auda Abu Tayl. Despite his contagious charm, Quinn is a Hollywood standby playing every ethnic group that isn't vanilla American: For the movie moguls, Quinn is a Greek; he is an Arab; he is a Mexican or any other all-purpose non-native English speaker. Modern awareness of animal issues was not in evidence. I had to wonder if real Bedouins run their camels at top speed in the searing sun as portrayed in this epic. Wouldn't actual desert people conserve the animals' energy? The scene where a trainload of horses have to jump out of rail cars was particularly disturbing. I saw one horse fall on its back. Where was the American Humane Society? The desert photography rates another star after the musical score. Yet in some scenes we see a painted backdrop with still figures - we see this through the flaps of Feisal's tent and then again as the backdrop to a village. In contrast to the vivid photography elsewhere in the film, this is weirdly disconcerting. One can almost see the fabric on which the scene is painted. So several complaints, but engaging overall. This was a landmark production in its day which overturned many Hollywood cliches. For instance,no saccharine romance, thank goodness. The only women are depicted as tribeswomen in the hills, ululating as the menfolk ride off to battle. A few years ago, I had a copy of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, but didn't get around to reading it. I will order one for my Kindle today and replay the film in my imagination, with a different cast and with newly re-awakened curiosity about this figure and Britain's role in the painful history of these still-beseiged nations. And this latter is a compelling reason to recommend this movie.

Must have for film buffs. One of best films ever made by acclaim. Film Steven Spielberg said made him want to be a director. Says it all.

One of the top 5 greatest movies ever made. Hands down the best cinematography ever!