Lawrence of Arabia stars Peter O'Toole in what, incredibly, is his debut performance. He is stellar in the role of T.E. Lawrence, a irreverent and somewhat cynical officer in the British Army during World War One. He's sent to Arabia on what seems like an impossible mission to rally the Arab tribes against the Turkish invaders. At more than three and a half hours long, it is a true epic in both scope and story.
Now, I've reviewed some pretty dark movies on this blog. But I think Lawrence of Arabia takes the crown. I like to describe Lawrence's character arc as "In the beginning, he was weird but everyone else thought he was crazy. In the end he was crazy but everyone thought he was weird." He goes from a somewhat lackadaisical soldier to a cold blooded killer with a God complex, and you get to watch his path into darkness.
The acting is fantastic. Peter O'Toole is fantastic as Lawrence, and although he is the star, he steals the show anyway. All around, the acting is great, from Alex Guinness as Prince Fiesal to Jack Hawkins as General Allenby.
The direction is also amazing, with extreme long shots and some incredible action and dramatic sequences. I think it would be cool to be able to see this movie on the big screen, so you could more appreciate the detail, the little dots on the horizon, and all those small details that come together to make a great movie.
The one problem I did have with this movie was that the editing was a bit sloppy in some places, especially the audio. But that was far overshadowed by all the great things this movie has to offer.
Overall rating: 4 out of four stars. One of my top ten favorites of all time.
Reference scale:
Ben-Hur < Lawrence of Arabia < Nothing (in my opinion, this is the greatest historical epic ever)
Tomorrow:
Documentry Review: Art and Craft
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