New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Going into the film, Alec Guinness was by far the actor I knew best from Lawrence of Arabia's cast, but I was somewhat worried about how he - a white British man - would play an Arab prince. I didn't want it to be a situation like John Wayne in The Conqueror, where he played Genghis Khan. Of course, Guinness is a much better actor and the makeup used was convincing enough to make him look like the real life Prince Faisal, so much so that people who actually knew Faisal were taken aback. The last hurdle in creating a believable foreign character is the accent and Guinness nailed it here. He reportedly based his accent on Sharif's, which was a good choice.

As a character, Faisal goes in and out of the story, and is always a welcome treat. I don't think any of his scenes last longer than five minutes, but Guinness makes the most of his screen time. Just like Lawrence and Ali, Faisal is an interesting, funny, and well written character. Due to the lack of screen time, Faisal doesn't have as much character development as Lawrence or Ali, but he's still a fully developed person, which says a lot about the quality of the writing.

Speaking of the writing, I was very surprised to learn the production had several delays due to Lean and company starting filming without a finished script. Usually, in these types of instances, you can tell while watching the film that there were difficulties, but that's not the case with Lawrence of Arabia. The writing - from the basic plot to the characters and dialogue - is very good for the most part and excellent at times. Considering it's a film set in an exotic location (with exotic sounding places and character names) and deals with a lot of politics of the area, it could have ended up confusing to someone watching it for the first time, like me. The screenplay is structured in such a way, however, that it was never a problem. After hearing the names a few times, it was very easy to keep everything straight and I give the screenwriters, Michael Wilson and Robert Bolt, a lot of credit. Wilson wrote the first draft, which was centered more on the politics and history of the area, and Lean and Spiegel weren't entirely pleased and brought in Bolt to rewrite as more of a character study of Lawrence. In the end, Wilson's contributions amounted to the characters created and the majority of the scenes, while Bolt wrote all the dialogue and changed the focus of the story. Again, the final product just doesn't seem like it went through these issues - it appears seamless. The Academy Awards thought so, too, a Lawrence of Arabia was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, but lost to To Kill a Mockingbird, just like O'Toole did.

One of the most surprising things about Lawrence of Arabia, for me at least, was how humorous the film was. I didn't know a whole lot about the plot or characters going into the screening - which is probably the best way to view any film - but I just assumed it wouldn't be particularly funny. I was very wrong. All the characters are amusing at different times, but Lawrence is easily the funniest. O'Toole delivers dry, sarcastic jabs at everyone from his superior officers to the Arab soldiers to the Prince and everyone in between. These quick and inherently British retorts come at any and all times, whether Lawrence is at ease or in mortal danger. This was a masterful way to break up the tension and I'm sure the film would have been much less enjoyable without the influx of humor.

Continued:       1       2       3       4       5