Rating: 
Summary: ONE TIME ENTERTAINMENT ONLY
Review: Any film that can be enjoyed only when viewed on a gigantic theater screen can't be all that great. Quite the contrary, if it can still be appreciated on the tiniest of televisions then it plainly shows that it has much more to offer than what first meets the eye. Not so with LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Like many others who first saw it on the silver screen right after its restoration 15 or 16 years ago, I was completely blown away by the sheer size and look of the film. Unfortunately the experience has never been duplicated, not even while watching it with the lights down on my bro's huge HDTV with surround sound system. An utter disappointment. Not only did I find the movie long and boring, but the few flaws that I chose to set aside the first time I saw it became more evident. Simply put, this is not a very good movie for anyone who is unfamiliar with the historical events that provide the setting for the story. Audiences are never told in any way, not even at the beginning of the film, that the story takes place during World War One. Thus, movie-goers who are clueless about history have no idea why the English have a beaf against the Turks, who were allied with the Germans at the time. Such a flaw gives people the feeling of watching THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK without having first seen STAR WARS, which in such a case might possibly still be enjoyed if not fully understood. But perhaps the film's worst and irreparable handicap is the gross miscasting of the very British actor Alec Guiness (complete with a very British accent) in the role of an Arab leader. Tragic and comic is all I can say about the choice. Whatever, though. It's very unlikely that I'll ever see this film again, especially since I couldn't even finish watching it on a giant tv, and to this day I've not met anyone who's seen it a second time, either. Have a nice day.
Rating: 
Summary: Lyrical masterpiece about a man trying to define himself
Review: Near the beginning of the film, Lawrence touches a lit match to his skin. When asked how he does it, he responds, "The trick, my friend, is not minding that it hurts."About 2/3 of the way through, he finds himself in a desserted outpost. From far away, a soldier calls out to him from a boat, "Who are you? Who are you?" These two lines define the film about a man that could never define himself. It has been described by some as the last great epic, but the movie is less an epic than it is an exploration of one man's identity, torn between East and West, the lush gardens of England and the deserts of Arabia. Not directly addressed but hinted at is Lawrence's sexual ambiguity, including his sadomasochistic tendencies. No one can know who Lawrence is, the man behind the legend, because he doesn't know himself. The vivid cinematography and Maurice Jarre's haunting score brings to life the vast and ever-changing desert to the point that it becomes another character, one more friend or foe for Lawrence's. The movie must be seen on the big screen to truly appreciate it. A lyrical exploration of one man's struggle--with others, with nature, and with himself--this is not a story about the hero that all men would like to be, but a portrait of the complex man who wishes to play the role of legend.
Rating: 
Summary: Five stars for the film, one star for the presentation
Review: I bought this DVD as a way to show off my new DVD player to my family. I had seen the movie several times in the theater, and knew its bright colors would be beautiful on my TV screen. To my horror, I saw that Columbia had seen fit to alter a masterpiece. Yes, the film came complete with those horrific black bars at the top and bottom of my screen, which obscured about half of the picture. I've seen those bars on the "artsy" videos on TV, and I sometimes enjoy them. But this is a classic work of art! You don't try to make it "hip" and "relevant" with modern touches. It would be like adding a moustache to the Mona Lisa. Until Columbia drops the act and releases "Lawrence of Arabia" without those bars, letting us see all of the picture, stay away.
Rating:
Summary: Best Picture of All Time
Review: Filmmaker David Lean has directed some of the best epics of all time. He set the standards so high that most filmmakers find it almost impossible to live up to Lean's sheer epic, cinema craftsmanship. Lawrence of Arabia was his best. This is a chapter in the life of Captain T. E. Lawrence, a troubled man who wasn't as comfortable with his own eccentricities but certainly made up for them by becoming a charismatic leader of armies that changed nations and the world. He was an adventurer and a historian who just happened to be in the right place at the right time to be useful to: the British army who were trying to drive the Ottoman Empire from Arabia, and the warring Arab tribes for their uprising in the desert lands. David Lean shows off his and his many co-filmmakers talents with cinematic panache. Lawrence won many Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Photography. It was Peter O'Tool's first film and a great beginning for the career of Omar Sharif who went on to star in David Lean's next film: Dr Zhivago. Lawrence of Arabia is well placed on many people's "Best Picture of All Time" list, including my own. See it on a big screen and be absorbed in the experience, because on the small screen it looses some of it's magic.
Rating:
Summary: 1962's LONE PICTURE
Review: WERE THERE NO OTHER MOTION PICTURES MADE IN 1962? HOW ON EARTH THIS WON BEST PICTURE IS BEYOND ME. WHAT WAS RUNNER-UP "WATCHING PAINT DRY"? THIS MOVIE WAS TERRIBLE AND SHOULD NEVER BE LISTED WITH THE CLASSICS! DO NOT BUY THIS MOVIE.
Rating: 
Summary: Always wear a crash helmet!
Review: Being an epic of awesome proportions, the DVD edition can only be seen on widescreen above 40 inch proportions. Needing two discs, half-time is appropriate. Full of information and directors commentarys, you will not go wrong placing this DVD set in your library.
Rating:
Summary: A Soul Divided: Lawrence story.
Review: This film is 7 Oscar winner, and well deserved. A huge production effort, 10 M dollars, a record for year 1962. To fully appreciate this opus, you should see it in a theater, no doubt, but if that is not possible don't miss it. VHS or DVD will allow you to taste many of the great features of the movie.
First a collection of actors performing in an unusual high level: Peter O'Toole as Lawrence, Omar Shariff as Sheriff Ali (his best character composition, in my opinion), Jack Hawkins as General Allenby, Anthony Quinn as Auda abu Tayi, Alec Guinness as King Feisal, but not only those performances, lots of secondary characters are also paramount: the two kids that followed Lawrence; the expression of the Turk soldier that holds Lawrence while he is whipped, in a scene that takes no more than three minutes; the first guide to Lawrence; the British officers showing their elitist attitudes; almost all performances are remarkable one way or the other.
Second the music of Maurice Jarre with some remarkable compositions, also the more than beautiful photography from Freddie Young, desert pictures are overwhelming, both winning Oscar .
Third the film director, David Lean (also Oscar winner), conducts with the same allure mass battle scenes and intimate dialogues between Ali and Lawrence, Feisal and Lawrence among others. No doubt he influenced the generalized high quality of actor's performance.
Fourth the story: a forceful recreation of a critical war period with its political implications (still unresolved after almost 90 years). The intimate description of Lawrence divided loyalties: to Arab Cause and to British Empire. Of Lawrence's spiritual suffering: he was an intellectual and a mystic thrown in the middle of a bloody war conflict and having to lead human beings to death, suffering and destruction. Lawrence's internals contradictions: he enjoyed killing a man; afterwards, he was incapable to refrain his vengeance desires. His failure to fulfill his promises. All this kaleidoscopic emotions are shown by Peter O'Toole with a compromise rarely seen, he gives real flesh and blood to his historical character.
There are some minor historical inaccuracies (poetic licenses may we say?), King Feisal is shown as an elder man, in reality he was only a couple of years older than young Lawrence. Peter O'Toole was (approximately) 6 feet high (or 1.80 meters) and Lawrence was (approximately) 5 feet 3 inches high (or 1.65 meters), this is in a way minimized by the manner in which O'Toole managed his corporal demeanor.
An unforgettable film!!!
Rating:
Summary: A complex story, intriguing acting, and a great classic
Review: Based on the life of Thomas Edward Lawrence an archeologist. In the movie, Lawrence is a British Officer. The British are engaged in fighting the Ottoman empire and the Turks represent a part of the Ottoman empire, the source of contention throughout the movie.
Lawrence is assigned to King Fasil of Saudi Arabia to assess the Arab resistence against the Turks. The Turks use modern weapons and shower the Bedouins with bombs and gun fire from twin wing planes. The Bedouins appear savage, brutal, and ignorant. Eventually Lawrence will negotiate for weapons and the British will deny heavy artillery not trusting the Arabs. By the end of the movie Lawrence is given all the military resources he requests.
Lawrence convinces King Fasil to give him fifty men to capture Aquaba. Lawrence crosses an impassable desert and gains the love and respect of the Bedouin tribes. The viewer begins to gain a deeper respect of the desert and its people, a power who use the power of a camel to cross sixty miles in a day under blistering temperatures, a people who can drink a small cup of water after traveling many hours in the desert, a people who associate and kill based on tribe, a people who believe water rights are protect by tribe association, and a people who have a strong belief in God. Lawrence quotes scripture with the Bedouins, as they read from the Koran. Perhaps, Lawrence can be viewed as an British Imam representing a neutral tribe and an mediateor during tribal disputes. The Bedouins revere leadership as a result of victories in war. King Fasil is aware of Lawrence growing fame and influence and will eventual sides secretly with Allenby and the French Ambassidor to push him out.
Lawrence units various Bedouin tribes and intercedes to stopping blood fueds by forming an Arabia tribe. The war with the Turks has stalemated. Lawrence conquers Aquaba giving the British a stronger premeter defense of the Suez Canal.
Lawrence esteems himself as a great leader by crossing the Navi desert consider by the Bedouins as an unpassable waste land.
Lawrence leads the Arab Bedouin tribes engineering sabatoge and explosive destruction too the Turkish logistic lines by attacking rail transports onthe Hijaz railway. The Hijaz railway linked Damascus with Mecca and provided important supply movement to the Turkish army. So destroying the railway protected Allenby's right flank. The Hijaz railway was used to transport Turkish military and business men. In the one of the movie scenes, Lawrence has derailed the train and both military and business men are seen wander around bewildered or injured.
Lawrence decides to give the Arabs Damascus. Lawrence is protrayed as both a mad man and an Arabic symbol of power. Lawrence loves absolute power, finding pleasure in killing, buying mercaniers and demonstrates a merciless trait to his personality.
In a very chilling scene in route to Damascus, one lone warrior charges against Turkish supply caravan and is shot down causing first blood to be split by the Turks forcing blood revenge to be executed by the Arabs; Lawrence cries out, "Kill them all, take no prisoners." Even as the Turks are surrendering the blood shed continues. The British are appalled at the carnage and have no explanation for Lawrences actions. Lawrence seems to understand the Arab mentality of warfare and embraces it.
Lawrence is promoted to major and endures a terrible beating. Later General Allenby promotes Lawrence to Colonel and Lawrence leads the arabs into Damascus conquering the city and forming the Arab United Council.
The French and English eventual crave up the city and form treats with Prince Fasil pushing Lawrence out of the internal politics. Lawrence is neither love by the Arabs nor the British and completes the tragic accident depicted at the first of the movie, as dies in a motorcycle accident close to his villia given as a result of reaching the rank of colonel.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking Filming
Review: This DVD does justice - as much as can be done on anything other than a big screen in 70mm - to a film that deserves special treatment for it's glorious lensing. The clarity of the images and sound will, at times, take your breath away. If you've never understood what's the big deal about this movie, this DVD will open your eyes to one of the great films.
Rating:
Summary: They don't make them like this, anymore
Review: I had the great honor of seeing the restored Lawrence of Arabia in a pristine 70mm print in the late 80's. It was an experience I'll never forget. There are movies half its length that seem twice as long. Part of the joy of watching this film is the knowledge that almost everything you see on the screen was REALLY THERE. The film's most exciting sequence, the takng of Akaba, was staged full-scale on a riverbed in Spain. Now it would be done digitally - if anyone would foot the bill. Big, "spectacular" films are still made. But in an age where opening weekends mean everything, no studio would gamble such extravagance on the story of such a complex, conflicted man, who by some accounts was a sadomasochist and homosexual. The film deftly reveals these possibilities without politicizing them or judging them. Honestly there is little historical evidence for these ideas, anyway. What is known is the Deraa incident - a terrifying sequence in the film - where Lawrence was brutally beaten and raped by a Turkish general. That this incident occured, and that it left Lawrence shattered, there is little doubt. The film is circumspect about the details (it was made, after all, in 1962), but clear on its results: Lawrence went from being a gentleman warrior (almost an oxymoron) to a ruthless one. The great achievement of Lawrence of Arabia is that it manages to be an intense character study as well as a spectacular action film. Neither aspect gets short-shrift. The man and desert are so inextricably fused that one layer of the story shades into the other perfectly. It is a masterful piece of filmmaking. There is much talk about the picture and sound improvements in the Superbit edition. I plan to buy it soon. But don't ignore this two-disc set, as well. The second disc has a wealth of extra material, including a fairly thorough "making of" documentary that features interviews with many cast and crew members who worked on the film. If you're not interested in these extras, then the Superbit edition is probably the way to go. If, like me, you enjoy behind-the-scenes stuff as much as the film, then you should probably buy this one. Or perhaps both. After all, they don't make them like this, anymore!
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