Lawrence of Arabia on DVD

A Second DVD Look at a Masterpiece

David Lean's epic WWI drama is a sweeping movie spectacle in the grand tradition, one that belongs in every movie lover's library. It's a visually beautiful film in which many of the shots are so gorgeous they could be hung on a wall.

The original DVD release of the film was also an outstanding presentation, a two disc extravaganza that included enough supplementary material to keep movie buffs happy.

But what if you just want to own the movie, and don't care about extra stuff you might never use?

That, undoubtedly, was Columbia Tristar's feeling when it decided to reissue this masterpiece, because they gave us all the steak and the sizzle it came with, without adding a bunch of side orders. So we get the meat, without the vegetables...

This new version puts the entire movie, including overture, entr'acte and exit music, onto a single side of one disc, so unlike the first version, there's no changing of discs at Intermission. This is great, especially since the original release made you sit through all those tiresome FBI warnings et al before you could get at the second "half" of the film.

But the transfer itself appears identical to the original, which is to say that it looks and sounds great, especially on a 16x9 aspect ratio TV.

The superb look of the film's visuals, so beautifully captured on this DVD, blends beautifully with an outstanding musical score and screenplay, and an all-star cast to create one of the great movies of the age.

The story concerns a cartographer with delusions of grandeur, T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole), who wangles an assignment to go into the Arabian desert to seek out and find Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness). He ends up assembling a rag tag Arabian revolutionary army, taking the port of Aqaba, and generally wreaking all kinds of havoc on the Turks who control the region.

Lawrence, who leads by example for the most part - which endears him to his Arab friends - is instrumental in uniting various Arab tribes into a guerilla fighting force. Along the way he begins to feel he's something a tad more than human which, when his inevitable fall comes, makes his discovery of his own humanity all the more difficult for him to handle.

The movie runs about 227 minutes with the Overture and other musical sections included, yet it never, ever drags. The story itself is a ripping yarn, but in the hands of a master director like Sir David Lean, the movie becomes bigger than ever.

Whether it be with shots of the wind blowing sand across the dunes, blazing scenes in which characters come into camera range from beyond the horizon and through a mirage, Lean's touch brings the desert alive, turning it into almost a living, breathing entity. This is a film that should be experienced on as large a screen as possible!

The DVD is of the restored version that played theaters around the beginning of the 1990's. They've done a fine job, too, and the DVD finally does home video justice to the subject material.

As with the original DVD release, at the widescreen picture, enhanced for 16x9 TV's, is spectacular for the most part, though there appear to be a few flaws during some of the particularly bright desert scenes. They aren't DVD flaws, however, but rather must come from the original source.

The audio has been remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1, and they've done a terrific job of incorporating the rear channels to surround the audience with dry desert winds, huge echoes, swooping aircraft and the like.

There are no extras on this reissue, as mentioned above, but that's fine with us since they're leaving both versions on the market and people can buy whichever one strikes their fancy.

But make sure you get one of them! Your library won't be complete without it.

Lawrence of Arabia, from Columbia Tristar Home Video
227 min. Widescreen (2.35:1), 16x9 compatible, Dolby Digital 5.1.
Starring Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Anthony Quayle, Anthony Quinn, Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy, Jose Ferrer
Produced by Sam Spiegel
Written by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson, Directed by David Lean.

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