A feast for the eyes

Rating: 7/10 (1 July 2013)

This film features some of the best cinematography ever done, you really get the feeling for the vast expanse of the landscape, the heat of the desert. The scene where Lawrence returns from the desert, slowly appearing, first only as a speck, in the boiling air - brilliant and not a second too long. And you can't beat hundreds of extras running and riding through giant sets. (btw, there are some blue-screen shots with o'Toole and Sharif on camel-back, those don't ring true) Peter O'Toole is amazing, but I have to disagree about many of the other roles - OK, it was a different time, but some of the performances were plain cheesy or over-the-top, even Olivier and Sharif. Also, while I'm skeptical about today's PC-brainwashed stories, the different factions were presented in a very one-dimensional way, the running time would have allowed for more nuanced characters. Not a film I'd watch very often, but definitely worth the money if you can catch it on a big screen, preferably a 70mm copy. Look for those detailed sets with the tiny mosaic and wood inlay works, or the wide-angle landscape shots! Amazing ...