The Films of David Lean
This Happy Breed
Blithe Spirit
Brief Encounter
Great Expectations
Oliver Twist
The Passionate Friends
Madeleine
The Sound Barrier
Hobson's Choice
Summertime
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Lawrence of Arabia (August 17/11)
Directed by David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia follows British intelligence officer T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) as he embarks on a quest to document the Arab revolt against the Turks during the First World War - with complications ensuing as Lawrence, having decided to join the fray himself, eventually leads a guerilla army of Arabs into battle. Filmmaker Lean, working from a script by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson, has infused Lawrence of Arabia with an almost excessively deliberate pace that initially holds the viewer at arm's length, with the film's hands-off vibe exacerbated by an ongoing emphasis on sequences of an overlong or flat-out needless variety (eg the opening hour seems dominated by long shots of characters traveling through the desert). The sporadic inclusion of electrifying moments - eg the first appearance of Omar Sharif's Sherif Ali - goes a long way towards compensating for the pervasively flabby atmosphere, while O'Toole's consistently engaging performance proves instrumental in transforming his character into a sympathetic and periodically captivating figure. It's clear, though, that Lawrence of Arabia's lack of momentum becomes more and more problematic as time progresses, as Lean's relaxed approach ultimately ensures that the movie is only engrossing in short-lived spurts (eg Lawrence watches helplessly as a friend is trapped in quicksand). The end result is an overlong yet watchable epic that benefits substantially from Lean's grandiose directorial choices, with one's continuing difficulties at wholeheartedly connecting to or sympathizing with the title character's exploits confirming the movie's place as an egregiously erratic piece of work.