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| Lawrence of Arabia (Single Disc Edition) | 
 enlarge | Actors: John Dimech, Jose Ferrer, Alec Guinness, Jack Gwillim, Jack Hawkins
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.94
Buy Used: $4.99
You Save: $9.95 (67%)
New (64) Used (43) Collectible (2) from $4.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  388 reviews
Sales Rank: 2208
Format: Anamorphic, Subtitled, Color, Dolby
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Georgian (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), Thai (Subtitled)
Rating: G (General Audience)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 218
Aspect Ratio: 2.20:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: COLD09431D
ISBN: 076789880X
UPC: 043396094314
EAN: 9780767898805
ASIN: B00006ADD5
Theatrical Release Date: 1962
Release Date: August 27, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Sandy wafare and camel stsatesmanship November 14, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
A timeless classic by David Lean, acted to perfection by perhaps the most underrated actor of the century - Peter O'Toole - and backed up by the electrifying performance of Omar Sharif in his debut "big" role. It is the history of how our present day allies - Saudi Arabia - came into existance, and provides insight into the origins of their religious disregard for human rights. It also shows the depth of character of Lawrence's strength of character as he single-handedly (well, almost) shapes the future of the entire Middle East - whether the British Empire goes along with it or not. This is as essential to your movie experience as Orson Welles' Citizen Kane - if not more so. It certainly is more visual in its widescreen color, and violence among the dunes. Get it, watch it, and remember it for the rest of your life!! Columbia Tri-Star DVD October 9, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Re: the budget Columbia Tri-Star DVD.
I have always loved this movie, but be warned, this single DVD version is NOT the director's cut. It is the restored 1988 version, and very beautiful, but it does not have the wonderful (additional) aerial shots and other scenes included in the longer version. Instead we get over 10 minutes of completely blank screen while the musical overtures play (apparently something director David Lean originally wanted). I would rather have had the director's cut. There is no "bonus" material at all in this version. Use the menu to skip the overtures - unless you need to fix a snack or use the loo.
Magnificant performances in a wonderous land... September 21, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
First released in 1962, and restored some 27 years later, this slightly longer version of the movie is a must see on the big screen - if only for the epic vision of the director, David Lean. A youthful Peter O'Toole takes the central role of T.E. Lawrence, a man who managed to unite several Arab tribes in defiance of the attacking Ottoman Turks in the First World War. This is no simple biopic, however. Lawrence of Arabia is a massive picture in every sense of the word, with Lean utilising the vast expanses of the desert in a way no other director had, or indeed has, since. If you haven't seen it before, there is no excuse. If you have, there's still no excuse.
Amazing. September 17, 2007
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
There has been a good deal of debate recently among bloggers and critics of my generation and that below me-- the new critics, as it were-- about the "old" critics' 100-best lists and the rather heavy concentration in them of "old" movies (for the purposes of this argument, we'll define "old" as "made before 1970"-- at least for the movies), and that when new movies do make the list, they are, by and large, foreign films. When you expand to critics' thousand-best lists, where one might think to find a good deal more new films, the trend actually gets more pronounced. The basis of the argument is that new movies deserve just as much respect as old ones. There's certainly some validity to this point; good movies are made every year. However, I don't think simple nostalgia is the sole basis for this seeming prejudice; let's face it, the film industry in the English-speaking world has changed dramatically in the past forty years. Case in point: try to imagine Columbia, or any other major Hollywood studio, releasing, or even greenlighting, David Lean's magnificent Lawrence of Arabia today-- a war film that comes in just shy of four hours, with as much (if not more) emphasis on the development of two of its main characters as there is actual action. I'm pretty sure any studio exec seeing this script on his desk today would have a cow, or at least a goat. I read an amusing article by Ken Russell today where he calls this mindset the butt factor-- how long a person's butt can stay in a cinema seat before it goes numb-- and he notes that where Hollywood is concerned, the butt factor is about two hours. He implies, by linking this to some of his older films (1969's Women in Love and 1971's The Devils-- both of which, it should be noted, are regular entrants on those thousand-best lists), that the butt factor had been two hours in Hollywood studios for quite some time now. Ah, but such was not the case, thank heaven, in 1962.
To film his life of T. E. Lawrence, David Lean rounded up a stable of well-known, well-loved actors (including Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Claude Rains, and Jose Ferrer, among many others), and then set atop them two relative unknowns: Peter O'Toole, in his first big-screen appearance, and Egyptian actor Omar Sharif, none of whose films had, at the time, been released in America or England. A surprising move, perhaps, and I have little doubt there was carping at the studio over using two unknowns in the top slots of what was to be a lavish, expensive effort. Lean knew what he was doing, though, as history has borne out; O'Toole, nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for this film, snagged his seventh Oscar nomination (all seven, interestingly, have been for Best Actor) in 2006, while Sharif, also Oscar-nominated for his role here, has become a legend both on the screen and at the card table. Between them, the movie's principal actors account for thirty-two Oscar nominations over the years, with four wins; not bad, not bad at all. The movie itself won only seven of the ten Oscars for which it was nominated, with both O'Toole and Sharif missing out (losing to Gregory Peck and Ed Begley, respectively). Still, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Picture, not a bad haul.
Lawrence of Arabia is one of those movies where you don't have to get it to get it. You don't have to notice that almost all the action in the film goes from left to right for your subconscious to figure it out and attach meaning to it. You don't have to notice the incredible cinematography, for which at least one custom lens was developed. All you have to do is sit back and watch two great actors at work. O'Toole's Lawrence may not have won the Oscar, but AFI called his Lawrence the finest screen performance of all time; I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but to say it's impressive would be greatly understating the case. Equally impressive is Sharif's Ali, but the interplay between them is more than the sum of its parts. Lean and screenwriters Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson never let the viewer assume that the friendship between Lawrence and Ali is on firm ground, even when one is risking his life for the other; both are complex characters, and their relationship reflects all the pressures, both internal and external, on each of them.
That's not the only reason to watch this movie, of course. It is expertly paced; the crossing of the Nefud, which takes up the bulk of the second quarter of the film, flies by. Who knew that a bunch of guys on camels picking their way over rocks could be compelling? David Lean did, I guess, and we should thank him for giving us as much of it as he did.
An amazing, beautiful piece of work that must be seen to be believed. ****
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