The Silver Screen Oasis

Mr. O'Toole never won a best actor Oscar. Hard to believe. Nor will we ever see movies made like this again.

G.C.

Great film and Omar Sharif was robbed of the supporting actor Oscar. His performance is number two in my books just behind Walter Huston in Treasure of Sierra Madre as all time tops supporting actor performances.

I thought LAWRENCE OF ARABIA was a December release... thank you!
I have watched the film more times than I could count. For me, it's endlessly watchable!

I think Kingrat's explanation on the Sharif/ Begley fan dispute is probably right on the money. But Sharif was a real presence in "Lawrence of Arabia."

Now, I'll say off the bat, that what I find most engrossing about LoA is the first half of the film, as Lawrence gets his mission and then calls an audible. Then it's off to Aqaba! The whole movie-making process is put there right in front of us in terms of character, story, scenery, and the whole vastness of the desert as something to be reckoned with and overcome.

After the second part starts in and we get the scene with Jose Ferrer, the movie starts to frazzle for me. Does anyone feel that, too? The grand adventur of the first half -- by necessity of the truth of the story (more or less) -- flattens into more a bureaucratic wasteland. All the extremely felt emotion of the first half seems to fizzle by the end of the movie.

And maybe that's what Lean wants us to feel? After all, the excitement of Lawrence's campaign has to end at some point; and it's clear Lawrence has grown abivalent about the outcome of the Middle East and his role in shaping it. I just wish someone like Lean could have pulled it off a little more to my liking! And that's not too much to ask, now is it?

All in all, one of my truly top-of-the-list movies to watch when it comes on.

As it happens there is a fun article on LOA in the Daily Mail this morning.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html

1963 was a very competitive year for Oscars. All the nominees in the acting categories gave memorable performances. Ed Begley, who won for Best Supporting Actor, did a good job playing a typical overblown Tennessee Williams Big Daddy type, but I agree Omar Sharif deserved the Oscar.

In terms of Lawrence of Arabia, it is indeed a great film, but I think A Passage to India is David Lean's masterpiece. As a lover of Forster's book, I feared that Lean would not do it justice, but when I saw the film on the big screen at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York, I was amazed at how true Lean was to the spirit of the novel.

Although I did not see LOA on the big screen until decades after its release, I did see a gorgeous restored print, also at the huge Ziegfeld Theater. I originally knew LOA from seeing it on television. It was stunning to see it at the Ziegfeld, but I still think A Passage to India is Lean's masterpiece. The question of what happened in the Marabar Caves is a very difficult one to depict on film. Lean did it brilliantly, giving subtle hints as to his interpretation, which I agree with.

Btw, I visited T.E. Lawrence's house in Clouds Hill, Dorset, several years ago. Fascinating.