Western Front Association - U.S. Branch - Movie Review of Lawrence of Arabia

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962). DVD (two disks) released 2003, about $23 at Amozon.com; previous VHS NTSC format (U.S. and Canada only) price about $4.00; running time: 224 minutes; Columbia/Tristar Studios; ASIN: B0000AGQ6Z. The top stars are Peter O'Toole (1932- ) as T.E. Lawrence, Sir Alec Guinness (1914-2000) as Prince Feisal, Anthony Quinn (1915-2001) as Auda abu Tayi, Jack Hawkins (1910-1973) as General Allenby, and Omar Sharif (1932- ) as Sherif ali ibn el Kharish. Reviewed during 2004 by Jim Minnoch, who rated it

. Jim can be reached at: jemcam@comcast.net.

With the Arab revolt against Turkey, Lawrence was posted to Emir Faisal's army as a liaison officer. He soon verifies what he suspected as an archaeologist specialized in the Middle East, that the Arab tribal warriors could not be used in combat the same way that the professional British Army was trained to operate. They might better be used against the Turkish Army as a fast-moving guerrilla band, often utilizing surprise in attacks. Without orders from the Cairo headquarters, he was able to convince Emir Faisal that by disrupting the Hedjaz Railroad and by capturing the important port of Aquaba from the rear, 500 miles across sweltering desert, that his army could be re-equipped by the British and the Arab revolt toward independence would be successful. The success of capturing the Red Sea town in August 1917 resulted in Lawrence being promoted to Major by Allenby, and his approval of a plan to protect the British Army's right flank to Damascus. The Arabs were told that this city would be the capitol of a new Arab state, but this was not to be as the British and French had long-before arranged for the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire through the secret Sykes/Picot Agreement. Lawrence, now a colonel, returned to Britain on November 11, 1918. After the war, Lawrence struggled mightily to have an Arab republic established, without success. The short Lawrence (5'4") was extremely popular in Britain, and in 1919 Winston Churchill told him that he could be swept into any office that he desired. Interestingly enough, the world did not know of his Arabian adventures until a famous American reporter, Lowell Thomas (1892-1981), who had visited him in the field for eight days in 1917, ran a series of exciting articles for an American magazine just after the war. Like a fast-moving squall, it was news all over the world almost immediately. Here was a hero that somehow lent credence to the whole war, as incredible as the whole affair turned out. The unpredictable T.E. Lawrence (1888-1935) then drifted from sight and spent the remainder of his career enlisted in the Army. But the story grew larger and larger.

Lawrence Rides a Rolls

This is a spectacular movie, mostly made on site in the Arabian desert. It is a World War I movie not to be missed by students of the war. It is best viewed on the largest screen one can find. The theme music is haunting. The acting is beyond reproach, with about 40% pure Hollywood. The studio set out to make an epic-type movie, and they succeeded.

Note: The incredible Lowell Thomas' life was a continuous adventure, traveling the world for stories and reports. He was a trusted reporter, utterly famous in his time to his audiences on radio, in 50 books, in newspapers, and in magazines. He was the voice of CBS News and Fox-Movietone news reels and TV News for 45 years. On Lawrence of Arabia, he felt that Cinerama was the ideal medium for the story and he provided large quantities of material to the movie-makers - but they chose to ignore it, and made their own story. There were few events depicted in the film that related to the facts, he thought. "Great film making becomes a poor history lesson." The Lowell Thomas Archives contain hundreds of photos of the war in the Middle East, many with Lawrence. One of his first publications on the war in Palestine was entitled: "ALLENBY IN PALESTINE, and Lawrence of Arabia", and depicted on the cover is a large drawing of a handsome Allenby, poised as a hero, a pyramid is in the background. Thomas revisited the site of Lawrence on a honeymoon with his second wife, Marianna, and broke a leg climbing a mountain; he was 85-years-old at the time.

Created: 12 April 2004