An odd, stylishly quirky confection, Increasingly anachronistic.

Rating: 7/10 (29 March 2015)

Stunning and ground-breaking cinematography. (Restored to brilliance in the 50th Anniversary BluRay edition)
Gorgeous soundtrack, with its familiar, enigmatic theme. Spectacularly bravura and camp performance by eye-lined Peter O'Toole (of whom Noel Coward noted, "If he'd been any more beautiful they'd have had to rename it 'Florence of Arabia.'" (Omar Shariff may have had the same eye-liner clause in his contract, BTW.)
I wanted to watch this with the family a) to see a movie classic and b) to see how the story of Britain's carving up of the middle-east post Ottoman empire was presented and finally c) to revisit the story of a remarkable (and controversial) man.
The first thing to note is the length of the film - 3 hours and 18 minutes. Blimey! You're not gonna take this one in one sitting. The second is that you may struggle with the plot and context if you don't gen up before (or while) you're watching. e.g. Q: The Arab Bureau? A: A department of the Foreign Office responsible for overseeing the political machinations of the regional players; Turks, France, Britain, local Arab emirs, independent tribes and whose representative decides to support the maverick Lawrence. If you don't know he'd been an Academic already in Arabia for two years or more, spoke fluent Arabic, was well respected by the locals and so on, you might wonder why the Arab Bureau was keen on having him work for them.
Indeed, the historical accuracy is very variable, so don't expect a well structured history lesson. There were some hefty arguments at the time about the content, and how it portrayed the film's prime antagonists.
What it does very well is show the brilliant madness of a man obsessed with his own destiny and special nature. This is probably an accurate representation of Lawrence, at least it concurs with what he autobiogrpahically wrote in his 7 Pillars of Wisdom.
But in watching it, you too will probably be puzzled by his motivation - why he takes many of the actions he does.
Questions remain about Lawrence's sexuality and the film makes nods in this direction as well as his potential sadism, for example when we see him apparently revelling in unnecessary killing (instead of taking prisoners).
Lawrence clearly was an extraordinary man and Peter O'Toole's performance was pretty darned amazing. But for me the narrative doesn't hold up. It's fragmented and sporadic and fails to give the personal or historical insight it deserves. The panoramic shots of expansive desert are indulgently long, as is the whole film.
So, a ground breaking, historical film, with some outstanding performances and truly stunning photography. But it is flawed in its accuracy and proportions and is unlikely to get a great deal of attention from future generations other than film aficionados, for whom it will continue to be a classic and formative.