Lawrence of Arabia
Short description
Lawrence of Arabia follows T.E. Lawrence, a British officer serving in the First World War, who is sent to the Arabian peninsula to assess the situation among the Arab tribes and support their revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Working alongside Prince Faisal, he gains the trust of the Arabs and befriends Sherif Ali. Lawrence succeeds in uniting tribes that have long been in conflict and leads them in a campaign against the Turks, but his position grows complicated as British imperial aims, Arab expectations and his own divided loyalties pull in different directions. The screenplay by Michael Wilson and Robert Bolt draws on Lawrence's own writings, including Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as well as biographical research.
David Lean directed the film, which sits between The Bridge on the River Kwai and Doctor Zhivago in his filmography and was produced by Sam Spiegel for Horizon Pictures. Peter O'Toole plays Lawrence, with Alec Guinness as Prince Feisal, Omar Sharif as Sherif Ali, Anthony Quinn as Auda abu Tayi, Jack Hawkins as General Allenby and José Ferrer as Turkish Bey. The film runs 228 minutes.
Released in December 1962, it cost about 15 million dollars and returned roughly 45 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 8.3 out of 10 from around 340,000 votes, and on TMDB 8 out of 10 from over 3,500 votes. A critics' rating of 9.7 out of 10 from 132 reviews places it above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, director David Lean wanted Albert Finney to play the lead role, but Katharine Hepburn insisted that producer Sam Spiegel consider Peter O'Toole.
- David Lean did not consider Freddie Young as a cinematographer. The reason was that during their first meeting, on the set of 'Brief Encounter' (1945), Young, in response to Lean’s suggestion to change the camera angle, replied that “you can’t teach hens to lay eggs.” Sam Spiegel insisted on Young’s candidacy. However, the first phrase Young said to Lean on the set of 'Lawrence of Arabia' was precisely, “you can’t teach hens to lay eggs!”
- The director's cut of the film has a runtime of 228 minutes.
- The role of Sheriff Ali was first offered to Alain Delon before Omar Sharif, but he refused to wear brown contact lenses that would have hidden his blue eyes.
- When creating one of the key characters in his film "Prometheus" – the robot David, Ridley Scott was inspired by T.E. Lawrence, the hero of David Lean’s classic film. As a result, shots from "Lawrence of Arabia" appear in "Prometheus", and the robot David (Michael Fassbender) dyes his hair while looking at Peter O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia.
- This was Omar Sharif's first film not shot in Egypt, where he was a film star.
- Peter O'Toole admitted that he watched 'Lawrence of Arabia' in its entirety for the first time only twenty years after its official release and was very impressed.
- None of the women appearing in the film have any lines.
- Since filming the night scenes of the film was impossible in complete darkness, they were shot during the day using special filters placed over the lenses. For this reason, the camels in the night scenes cast shadows.
- Almost all movement in the film happens from left to right. Director David Lean used this technique to emphasize that 'Lawrence of Arabia' is a travel film.
- Peter O'Toole nearly died during the filming of a scene in Akaba. A gun, which was supposed to signal the start of the scene, fired prematurely, causing Peter O'Toole’s camel to panic and throw the actor to the ground. Meanwhile, the horses with extras galloped forward, trampling everything in their path. Everything could have ended tragically for the lead actor if his camel hadn't stood over him and protected him from the horses' hooves.
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