Lawrence Of Arabia is epic in every sense of the word.

Rating: 10/10 (30 September 2010)

The celebrated scholar and mapmaker T.E. Lawrence's (Peter O'Toole) adventures and life with the Arabs, and the inspiration help he offered them in resisting the Turks, told in flashbacks after his accidental death in the 1930s.
Lawrence Of Arabia is a sprawling epic that does full justice to its contradictory, remarkably complex hero. It's a triumph of large-scale film-making that demonstrates brain as well as budget. O'Toole is mesmerising in the title role, though the relative newcomer Omar Sharif also rose to the occasion magnificently; it's a sign of this film's power that Sharif's first entrance on screen - a long, long fixed shot as he approaches across the hot, shimmering sands, not only holds the audience's attention but is actively spell-binding. Director David Lean would never again scale such heights. The dramatic score by Maurice Jarre and the Super Panavision 70 cinematography by Freddie Young are also highly acclaimed.