17 Reasons to Watch Lawrence of Arabia

Thank you Mr. O'Rourke: Brian O'Rourke: 17 Reasons Why You Need To See Lawrence of Arabia

482 MM lens to film Omar Shariff appearing in a mirage. There should be theaters capable of 70 MM projection dedicated to just showing this, and Bridge on the River Kwai.

 

Great film and some interesting stuff on there.
Thanks for sharing.

 

#14) It's an epic that ends on a downbeat.

LoA is one of my favorite films because I always considered it an epic without fat or filler.

I would also add one of my own...

#18) Because Marlon Brando turned down the role of Lawrence.

 

One of my favorites... I believe that there's literally only one shot in the movie that's an effect, and that's a shot of the sun.

 

An amazing cinematic dramatization of LoA. It's a classic and I have it on DVD. I watch it about once per year.

 

I saw a 70 mm restored print of this back in the late '80s. Did you get to catch it then?

As a mater of fact I went twice. It was at a theater in the Loop.

 

yep, one of the great movie going experiences of my life (though I think it was in the 90's). The drama and pacing is so perfectly calibrated that it seemed only about an hour (with intermission)

 

So you just named maybe my two favorite films.

 

Only one reason needed: it is a terrific film from start to finish. The Robert Harris restoration on Blu Ray is superb.

 

Awesome movie, awesome Blu-ray!

 

Naw, there's a bunch of dissolves and titles. No mattes or composites beyond that. There's definitely some miniatures in Bridge on the River Kwai (like the bridge and the train crash), and there might even be some blue screen here and there. Kwai is an ugly movie -- the original negative got warped and damage due to heat and humidity during production.

I would also give credit to Scott Ostrowski at Colorworks, who did all the digital color timing on it. Old movies like this are an absolute nightmare to work on.

 

Yep, I saw that print. Oh man, breathtaking!

 

A few years back I saw the 50th anniversary restored version at a theater. It was marvelous. That scene where Lawrence treks across the desert and the ship passes in front of him… that is my favorite image from the film.

 

Great movie. I also viewed a restored print in the 80s. Amazing! The scene where Omar Sharif appears out of the heat-distorted vista and from his horse just shoots Lawrence's guide is an amazing scene executed perfectly by all involved.

 

Well, yes. I guess I didn't state that the right way. But other than dissolves and titles, I think there's just the one shot of the sun that was an effect.

 

18. Brough motorcycle- the choice of LOA.
Thank goodness for the topic, I thought in the board headings it was going to be 17 reasons to watch Lawrence Welk.
Great movie. Remember watching the wide screen on a CRT --it was about the height of a bug but superwiiiiiiiiiiidddde!

 

From a time when "Oscar worthy" was a seal of quality.

 

So did LoA, as I'm sure you know, noticeable particularly in the sky in the early desert shots.

John K.

 

Star Wars fans fodder these days I would imagine.

 

You really only need one reason: it's an awesome film.

 

Awesome movie.

I saw it at the Fox theater in Detroit in 70mm and it looked great.

 

David Lean may have been a perfectionist and a control freak, but by god the man sure could direct a film! Lawrence is an epic that lives up to its reputation. Sharif's entrance is one of the great sequences in movie history; just a bravura set piece.

 

They were able to digitally stabilize and fix a lot of this stuff at Colorworks, but it was not a simple process.

You could say that about a thousand classic films made over the years. Sure, there's always films like Citizen Kane or Casablanca that had quite a few VFX for their time, but there's even more films that are just cuts, dissolves, and fades, and what they shot is what you got. I don't think the presence or absence of VFX guarantees a good film -- it's more about the execution. Generally, every movie made, including the intimate human dramas, still have some very sneaky VFX in there just to cover up a crewmember, or fix a background sign, or remove a boom mic... tons of that kind of thing. Not all VFX are explosions and spaceships.

 

I was lucky and my first time seeing LOA was the 50th anniversary restored version at Cinemark. It is my Dad's favorite movie, and it was playing the week of his birthday, so it was a no-brainer to take him.

Everyone should see it in the theater if they get the chance.