1962 historical drama, dir. David Lean, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif;
IMDb /
allmovie. In a world… one
man… epic.
Well, this is an epic film, of a style that really doesn't get
made now that sweeping vistas and casts of thousands can only be faked
with computers. A huge cast (because "stars" didn't take up quite such
a high proportion of the budget in those days), lots of long shots…
did someone mention historical accuracy?
Well, no, not really, and there's a twofold problem there: the script
was written mostly based on Lawrence's The Seven Pillars of Wisdom,
which isn't entirely reliable in the first place, and then it was
altered to make this extremely complex man easier to understand. If
he's been that simple he wouldn't have been able to do the things he
did.
My goodness, Peter O'Toole was young and pretty in the 1960s. He
hasn't quite grown into his face here, but this was a star-making
transition from theatre and TV work into film, after Marlon Brando had
turned the part down to do Mutiny on the Bounty. (But really, a man
that fair in the desert… where is your hat?)
Omar Sharif would go on to work with Lean again in Doctor Zhivago,
probably his biggest role, but this was apparently where he met Lean
and they decided to work together again if they could.
Alec Guinness as Prince Faisal lays down the tracks he would follow
fifteen years later in Star Wars; indeed, it's quite shocking to see
how much of this performance he'd recycle.
But perhaps because my film taste was formed in fallen latter days,
I'm not as impressed by the great panoramas as I should be, and I end
up noticing what a simple story and what mostly one-note characters
are playing out against it. It's a film to go to the cinema and be
bludgeoned by, perhaps in the manner of a modern big-budget superhero
film, rather than one to appreciate for its subtleties.
I can see echoes of this in the style of The English Patient and
The Man Who Would Be King, and even to some extent in Star Wars.
But the thing I think must really acknowledge the influence of this
film is Dune from three years later: here the messiah comes to the
desert nomads and fails to lead them to what he ultimately wants,
there he does manage to lead them and it still ends in dismal
failure.
I talk about this film further on Ribbon of
Memes.