There's no getting around a simple, basic truth: watching Lawrence of Arabia in any home-video format represents a compromise. There's no better way to appreciate this epic biographical adventure than to see it projected in 70 millimeter onto a huge theater screen. That caveat aside, David Lean's masterful "desert classic" is still enjoyable on the small screen, especially if viewed in widescreen format. (If your only option is to view a "pan & scan" version, it's best not to bother; this is a film for which the widescreen format is utterly mandatory.) Peter O'Toole gives a star-making performance as T.E. Lawrence, the eccentric British officer who united the desert tribes of Arabia against the Turks during World War I. Lean orchestrates sweeping battle sequences and breathtaking action, but the film is really about the adventures and trials that transform Lawrence into a legendary man of the desert. Lean traces this transformation on a vast canvas of awesome physicality; no other movie has captured the expanse of the desert with such scope and grandeur. Equally important is the psychology of Lawrence, who remains an enigma even as we grasp his identification with the desert. Perhaps the greatest triumph of this landmark film is that Lean has conveyed the romance, danger, and allure of the desert with such physical and emotional power. It's a film about a man who leads one life but is irresistibly drawn to another, where his greatness and mystery are allowed to flourish in equal measure. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Lawrence of Arabia:
Owned this as video. Wanted the clearer Def of DVD.This a pic that is a classic, I watch and re-watch from time to time. No devotee of really great films should be without...
5 stars for movie, 4 1/2 stars for DVD:
The Columbia Classics Collector's Edition of "Lawrence of Arabia" is the best version on DVD. I just discovered this film a few years ago, when the Superbit version was out of print and the Limited Edition was not only expensive, but was infamous for its inaccurate colors. I bought the single disc DVD, and was very pleased with it. However, it had no extra features. Using various website reviews and side-by-side image comparisons, I have come to the conclusion that the Superbit version had the... more info
Lawrence of Arabia:
This winner of 7 Academy Award including 1962 Best Picture is magnificent. The scenery breath taking,Peter O'Tool along with Omar Sharif Jack Hawkins,Jose Ferrer and Claude Rains together with all of the wonderful actors makes "Laqwrence of Arabia"one DVD worthy of a place of honor in our DVD collection
An Unlikely Masterpiece:
I find it amazing this movie was ever made. A three-and-a-half hour epic about a strange, masochistic, messianic, probably gay, possibly mentally disturbed British military officer having an identity crisis while going native & riding a camel back and forth in the desert in the wrong theater of a major war. I wonder how David Lean pitched this thing to Columbia Studios in the first place. There is not one word of dialogue spoken by any female in the entire movie. The movie was made by a major... more info
