Review of Lawrence of Arabia (1962) by Tor M — 07 Apr 2017

One of the true classics and it's not hard to understand that position. It looks impressive and I'm kicking myself for seeing it on a 36 inch or something, and not a bigger one I expect to invest in pretty soon. Man, that desert search scene.

Lawrence, a Britishman has practicly nothing but manage to assemble loads of men, warriors, fighters. How? Well, he is very trustworthy, kind and knows how to interact with people. He always has an answer and he builds his army slowly by befriending enemies. There are naturally a cooperation between the Britishmen and the Arabs and the Turks and they're Ottoman Empire are the badguys here. Lawrence collects different tribes of the Arabs to make sure they reached Damascus after several other defeated areas. Why, you say? Well I'm not really sure, but he was put in the place to check the situation down there, being a liaison, by command from the British army, and I guess he figured he wanted to change a thing or two there.

Amazing performance by O'Toole and a brilliant story. It's very long. Actually so long that my tealights that I lit in it's opening scenes nearly went out. Three and a half hours. That's a long time. I had my moments where I went off screen for shorter periods, since this is no rapid film - it's quite slow paced, but there is a constant development so it never feels flat.

Big production. Loads of men and horses. What there is little of here is women, though. There are only a handful of them on screen for seconds only and there are no words given out by any lady. That's some special stuff indeed.

I did like the moment after two hours plus a lot, called "intermission" - two or three minutes with a black screen and music. Great music by the way, the theme score is both unforgettable and fitting.

Big film, a little dissapointment but still a very good film, worth a go when you really have the time for it. There is action, adventure and a very solid story here with a fantastic lead and production. My last film of 2016, 148 in total.

8.5 out of 10 camels.