Sending Lawrence to Arabia | Lawrence of Arabia (1962) | Now Playing

[@kondor99999]

That transition to the desert is genius and worked much better on a huge screen. I remember it was shocking.

[@_PJW_]

It did indeed. I've seen it.

[@davidw.2791]

@@_PJW_ Steven Spielberg agrees

[@derjaeger3321]

The best transition ever. Brilliant and it conveyed the fire of the match to the fire of the desert.

[@rbu2136]

Amazing.

[@Nicksonian]

One of my greatest regrets is never seeing this film in a theater. It must be magnificent.

[@georgesealy4706]

As a young kid, I saw this movie in 1962 on the big screen with an awesome sound system in Pittsburgh. It was overwhelming. I will never forget it.

[@robertgift]

Same here! Northills movie theater on McKnight Road, I may mistakenly recall.

[@Pojko]

It’s nice to see that Lieutenant Gibbons was finally gazetted to Captain.

[@TheMonolith20001]

It rightly took him over a hundred years, after his cowardice at Talavera.

[@Pojko]

@@TheMonolith20001 Now that's soldiering.

[@cgavin1]

I have a few I Won The Comments Section Awards. I humbly lay them at your feet and most humbly beg to lick the spittle from your boots after you kick me to the floor sir!

[@davidw.2791]

@@TheMonolith20001Which other movie are you referencing there? ❓🙏🏼

[@mikecimerian6913]

@@davidw.2791 Sharpe Meets His Disrespectful Squad. kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKK8h6iYh653q7c

[@Swarm509]

8:06 And here we have one of the greatest transitions in all of Cinema. I need to watch this movie again.

[@davidw.2791]

Literal #MatchCut

[@jackal111]

Chills every time.

[@davebowman6497]

Yup. Up there with eg Kubricks bone-to-spaceship.

[@jerlewis4291]

I spent a year in Egypt doing hydrographic survey. We were in the Gulf of Suez. We had stations set up to transmit radio waves to the survey craft. We had camps in the middle of nowhere right on the shore. I'll never forget the feeling of when I climbed a sand dune and saw it stretched out. That evening we had a pack of 18 wild camels walk into our campsite on the shore. They didn't ever go around anything.

[@arielfornari6595]

The stations transmitted on VHF or HF? It sounds quite interesting what you were doing with hydrographic charts. I was stationed twice in the 80s in Mina Sulman, Bahrain with my ship. There were some Royal NAVY minesweepers there. I tasted some of their horrible canned warm beer. 😅

[@jerlewis4291]

@@arielfornari6595 It was for World Geographic Survey 84. We were assigned to charge the approaches to Suez. We were manning a trisponder antenna on a 100' mast, we would adjust them based on the position of the ship. The trisponder on the ship generated a digital display and the ship would sail on that arc and every minute they would take a reading of the depth of the water. These were plotted and that was used to produce a rough chart with all the water depths and bottom features. It was like if you drew a very board circle on the chart and the ship drove along that and took measurements we had 3 36' survey launches to go into shallower water. One day we saw the HMS Bossington was anchored out and we took a Boston Whaler out to the ship. Since we were wearing civilian clothes we convinced them we were USN. As soon as we asked to buy beer someone yelled, "Hey, get rid of the bloody SKOL!" I gave one guy a Zippo from our ship and he gave us a cooler packed full of ice. We had a chat with them for about a half an hour. They brought us some breakfast and man was it awesome after eating C-Rats for 8 days.

[@vryc]

Just line after line after line of pure screenwriting perfection then pushed over the edge with world-class acting. Favorite movie "I know you've been well educated, Lawrence. It says so in your dossier"

[@CaptainQueue]

Agree. I love this scene for the same reasons -- so well written and directed. Donald Wolfit who played General Murray did so with such perfect arrogance of that one-half of the British officer corps that was totally incompetent. He was also in the film Becket with Peter O'Toole as an arrogant corrupt church official, and he and O'Toole were just brilliant together in their on-film clashes that were actually quite similar on both films.

[@jimihendrix991]

...the transition from blowing out the match to the sunrise across the desert landscape is beyond explanatory words...

[@davidw.2791]

Literal #MatchCut

[@NONARCS]

This is simply the greatest piece of Cinema ever completed. Argue it if you wish, but for those of the generations who appreciate the art evolved, this is it.

[@paullewis2413]

I tend to agree. What a cast of true professionals and the cinema photography blows any new production into the weeds. The characters are believable unlike the laughable amateurs of today (some notable exceptions of course) with their asinine dialogue.

[@Conn30Mtenor]

Well perhaps not the greatest- that honor belongs to The Seven Samurai but for the most part I agree with you.

[@ericwalstrand3512]

Any movie by David Lean is worthy of that. Dr. Zhivago and Bridge over River Keai.

[@LouiseBrooksBob]

It's pity it isn't a lot more faithful to the historical events.

[@trogers00100]

My favorite movie ... since I was young .... and I'm 70 now.

[@peterblum613]

Makes me almost cry about the state of film today.

[@S2Sturges]

In 1975, I was in Cairo, and trekked up and down the Nile, it was a amazingly different world back then.. One of my excursions took me out into the desert west of the Valley of the Kings, possibly one of the most extraordinary trips in my life... A enchantingly ruthless land, a taste of what it may have been like for Lawrence, one of my lifelong heroes

[@evannn9914]

Omar Sharifs entrance is one of the greatest in cinema

[@thelastjohnwayne]

1000% I thought that Omar's acting in this film should have won him an Oscar . He was brilliant

[@davidw.2791]

CinemaTyler did a whole video on the BYS of that shot. ❤ * BTS

[@myriaddsystems]

Sharif is admirable. I did like that man, he rose about the limitations of his background religion

[@davidw.2791]

@@myriaddsystems Well iirc Islam-majority areas weren’t always fundies, they had their pro-science and pro-enlightenmentish periods and places. A product of the moderates fighting with the fundies, no doubt.

[@hoilst265]

@@myriaddsystems Ah, someone who didn't watch the film.

[@lawrencelewis2592]

The greatest film ever made! I saw it as a kid 60 years ago and saw it again after it was redone in the 1980s in a theatre in Manhattan that was like an indoor drive-in. His face and that lit match were about 60 feet apart. Amazing!

[@danielporter7773]

and it was based on a TRUE story

[@lawrencelewis2592]

@@danielporter7773 No way!

[@psandbergnz]

The most beautiful movie music theme ever composed.

[@2bigbufords]

This movie is incredible. On a big screen its WOW!

[@theoneandonlysoslappy]

I had the pleasure of seeing it in theater during its brief, recent rerelease!

[@chris69-sf8jr]

@@theoneandonlysoslappy I was lucky enough to live in a city with lots of cinemas, including one that showed a different classic every day during the summer. Lawrence of Arabia was shown every year. Only on a big screen and with a good sound system does this film reveal its full glory. It's a real shame that this summer cinema special is no longer available.

[@StudSupreme]

Magnificent. Sweet Jesus. In the annals of cinema, this is the equivalent of Michelangelo's work on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

[@Music--ng8cd]

I think you're spot on. An extremely difficult film to make, and it was crafted so well that it still looks amazing nearly 63 years later.

[@JLindsay-v8v]

A classic and a masterpiece. Depicts the human condition in a harsh yet beautiful world.

[@007ndc]

I really like the humor and whimsy in the first part of the movie.

[@mikecanm]

First half of the movie was better than the second half

[@raterNAZ]

only 10min... now i have to go watch it all over again :)

[@tryarunm]

If a movie can hook you in 10 minutes of character-revealing dialogue it means you've not watched it enough of times.

[@guidochristopherschofisch]

Ich auch

[@kirkvoelcker5272]

@@tryarunm I believe you are right.

[@NoahSpurrier]

The cut to the desert with the swelling music was awesome.

[@mattpeckham667]

The desert is also one of the stars of this movie. Utter brilliance.

[@dcstrng1]

one of my all-time favorites...

[@unknownfilmmaker777]

The extinguishing of a small role and the dawn of a much greater role, continued from the Themistocles quote.

[@gumpyoldbugger6944]

They really knew how to make films back then, unlike today.......

[@richinoable]

You just watch bad movies

[@MoonThuli]

There's still plenty of great films made today. The main reason that older films appear better is because you're biased to remember the good films and forget the bad ones, that and nostalgia. Lawrence of Arabia is an excellent film, but it's not like everything from back then was of similar quality.

[@richinoable]

@@MoonThuli cream rises. Takes time.

[@derricknagul2128]

A majestic film.

[@lyndonanderson2900]

The music is amazing

[@stefanschutz5166]

Maurice Jarre

[@ivebeenaround58]

Jarre won an Oscar for his work on the movie's soundtrack.

[@brianholly3555]

@@lyndonanderson2900 Greatest movie score of all time.

[@_PJW_]

Great movie, great photography, great actors, great music.

[@kennethhigdon1159]

Far from home, a man with a mission In the heat of the glistening sun In the heart of ancient tradition This man’s journey has only begun Lead the charge, a raider has entered the battlefield Sabotage, the game is about to unfold As the darkness falls and Arabia calls One man spreads his wings, as the battle begins May the land lay claim on to Lawrence name Seven pillars of wisdom lights the flame A revolt to gain independence Hide and seek, hunters hot on their trail Joined their ranks, obtained their acceptance Side by side raid the Ottoman rail Lead the charge, Tafilah, Medina, Damascus calls Sabotage, demolish the bridges to dust

[@nickbarton3191]

David Lean was a genius. If you've ever spent long enough in a really hot country, that cut to the sunrise evokes searing, unrelenting heat.

[@marksisto900]

The Anvil of the Sun

[@edwardloomis887]

9:31: Brilliant move. He sends a message with everything he does and doesn't do, and he's smart enough to know that, at least in the script.

[@ALFarrell-kv6ok]

The suited official was the same actor who played the police chief in Casablanca?

[@itsonlyme9938]

Steven Spielburge has said its a fantastic film you cant get a better thumbs up than that.

[@vampirecount3880]

'Lawrence!' 'Yes?' 'you go to Arabia!' Sending Lawrence to Arabia, Lawrence of Arabia

[@soklot]

Lovely film, one of my favorites.

[@mumblesbadly7708]

Look how short the giant of an actor Claude Rains was. While sitting in that adult-size chair in the meeting with General Murray, his feet barely touch the floor, and only just more than the toes!!!

[@thelastjohnwayne]

He looks like dwarf or a little person in that chair

[@billsmith5109]

I wonder when Murray figures out Dryden was the one who instigated his removal from command. This meeting is his final downfall. ‘Side show of a side show.’

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@billsmith5109 Murray was a real general of the time, but Dryden is a composite of several real figures, especially Ronald Storrs, an expert on the Middle East who played a significant role in British government policy.

[@brianholly3555]

Short perhaps, but he steals every scene he’s in.

[@davidw.2791]

Michael Banks: “He’s a giant??” 😮

[@danielporter7773]

A GREAT movie and its a TRUE STORY that really happened which makes this movie even greater

[@neilritson7445]

Sadly not TRUE. Try reading his book "7 pillars of wisdom" and you'll find out what really happened!

[@danielporter7773]

IT is a TRUE STORY, there was such a man, he died much later in civilian life, he did the near impossible

[@Fourarmedman]

Such manners and well spoken-ness.

[@paulpaul246]

Fantastic movie

[@leftcoaster67]

Wolfitt and his characters obsessions with principles. (See Beckett as well...)

[@ElGordo1959]

Yep time to get my high res DVD off the shelf and watch the best movie ever made, but re-read the book Seven Pillars of Wisdom first...

[@dennisgreene7164]

O'Toole is amazing.

[@noeldown1952]

Today I found out that a colleague's grandfather fought alongside Lawrence. Showed me photos of them together. Mind blown. Also, Lawrence looks much shorter in the photos than the men that surround him, quite the opposite of Peter O'Toole.

[@1earflapping]

He was short and dark, not tall and blonde. So, not type-casting.

[@johnsrabe]

Is that colleague my friend the motion actor Nameer El-Kadi?

[@MrSimonmcc]

Lawrence was 5' 5" and Welsh.

[@BrianCuthbertson]

@@MrSimonmcc Born in Wales to an Anglo-Irish father and Teeside Mum. Photos from the time do make him look quite like Peter O'Toole, apart from hair colour and height.

[@TraitofSiNN727]

Peter O'Toole played my childhood historical hero pretty well.

[@AntPDC]

The Great, Great Donald Wolfit as General Murray. Only two years later he played the Bishop of London opposite O'Toole's brilliant Henry II in "Becket".

[@Nicksonian]

It was a shame that the brilliant Claude Rains was in diminished health when Lawrence was filmed. He was small man who could eat up the scenery and dominate a scene. And Peter O’Toole…to think that this was his first role of any substance. It blows the mind.

[@davidw.2791]

0:40 A Lieutenant flexes. 😂

[@picklerix6162]

What a great movie.

[@romeoh2003]

I must’ve read his biography about 5 or six times and I can confidently say I fell in love with T.E Lawrence. He reassembles the ideal of the warrior philosopher ,that which the greek admire the most.

[@jediroya6810]

So you’re saying he was a Greek-style man?

[@Hereford1642]

Having read his seven pillars of wisdom I find him somewhat pretentious. A great man to be sure. But pretentious all the same.

[@ivebeenaround58]

Lawrence also happens to be gay and a sadomasochist (this was discovered when he was briefly detained by the Turks where he was flogged with a cane. He recalled later after being set free the indescribable feeling of pleasure he felt while being flogged).

[@BrianCuthbertson]

Michael Korda's biography? I agree with your evaluation. Lawrence was a true hero. Comparable to Nelson in my estimation.

[@BrianCuthbertson]

@@Hereford1642 I don't feel he was pretentious. His writings reflect his enigmatic personality as well as the great breadth and depth of his experience and learning. Have you read his renowned Masters thesis?

[@cindyf2396]

Explains a lot as to why that region is so screwed up today.

[@curiousnomadic]

In case anyone wonders, that was Super Panavision. Notice the smoothness and colors. Was it better than 8K?

[@drewbarker8504]

I have the OST to this this film on vinyl. I always loved the movie but getting to see it on the big screen at the State Theatre in Monterey with organ accompanying was bar none

[@newlam7958]

"I can't make out whether your a bloody mad man or just half witted!" "I have the same problem sir.'" "Shut up!"

[@barney6888]

Don't be too shocked when you watch an incredible film to find Claude Rains in the thick of it.

[@captainmorgan757]

This movie reminds me of the movie The English Patient.

[@GarySpeight-cv5sw]

What a music score

[@TheVigilantEye77]

What music !

[@ivebeenaround58]

It's an Oscar-winning music.

[@jeffreyabelson7171]

Just when it was getting good!

[@garyfallows1123]

Great film and a stellar cast, also loved O'Toole in Murphy's War

[@gwine9087]

Certainly one of the stranger characters in modern history.

[@sammywestenberger9303]

Lawrence: Hey 👋

[@VinceLyle2161]

"The trick is not minding that it hurts." Great line. Lifted by G. Gordon Liddy when he would hold his hand over a candle at Georgetown cocktail parties in the early 70s when he was one of Nixon's "plumbers." He should have gone to jail just for not measuring up to T.E. Lawrence.

[@hojoinhisarcher]

My God.I just realized thats Claude Rains!

[@fezmancomments]

What a shame the film stopped where it did… I was really getting in to it.

[@TheDesertwalker]

"Leftenant"...cool...

[@HoTrEtArDeDcHiXx]

You’re a big noble fellow 😏

[@baggy1067]

08:14 is what we all wait for.

[@LouiseBrooksBob]

Claude Rains says that the desert is a fiery furnace, which is then followed immediately by an advert for holidays in Qatar.

[@myriaddsystems]

“Sheepstealers”… 🤣🤣🤣

[@ClayHarris-g4r]

The ever amazing Sir lord Peter o toole

[@ProfessorPesca]

I don’t know why they posted Lawrence of Arabia to Egypt in the first place with a name like that. If I was Allenby I’d have said “Get that guy straight to Arabia”.

[@neilritson7445]

British army. Eric Newby the travel writer spent six difficult months learning Urdu in India. When finally fluent he was posted to Europe.

[@K.Straughan]

Great Film. Great Story. Free Palastine. X

[@DirtyHarryFan88]

"The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts."

[@richardsmyth305]

This scene was used in Prometheus (2012), where the android character, played by Michael Fassbender, mimics Lawrence's voice, appearance and mannerisms. Ridley Scott successfully created the most memorable and enigmatic character in the whole film.

[@JakePurches-Base2music]

Only a public school boy could say that.

[@jamescrydeman540]

If you enjoy the movie and would like to know more of the gentleman and his life, find a copy of "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom", great background to the man and it includes details as to why the "no prisoners" event happened.

[@Hereford1642]

His style of writing is so academic as to be almost unreadable. No normal person would tolerate it were it not for the history of the author.

[@jamescrydeman540]

@@Hereford1642 I had no trouble reading it and was thrilled when he pointed out that far more is achievable by courage than by fear. I recall in primary (grade) school learning about fear as a motivator and sensing something missing or wrong in that approach and as a teenager I had worked out what Lawrence pointed out. I was equally thrilled by coming across a Galbraith quote that I had worked out in my early 20s except that Galbraith way of putting it was far more diplomatic than the way I had it worked out. He warned about our inclination, when confronted with the prospect of having to change our minds about something or proving there is no need ,how we usually go straight for the proofs. I had considered it further and come to the conclusion that when people take the “proofs” option they have converted their opinion to their prejudice.

[@jamescrydeman540]

@@Hereford1642 I am glad I am as not normal as Lawrence for in reading his book I found we shared a conviction I developed at high school, the conviction that more can be achieved with courage than fear.

[@neilritson7445]

@@Hereford1642 Actually, it is a simple diary, elevated to an ethnography which demonstrates the problem of arab culture/s.

[@McRocket]

4:24 - the general makes a very good point here. Pretty naive of the British/French to give the Arabs power and then expect them to give it up after the war. ☮

[@brucetucker4847]

Pretty naive of the Arabs to help the British and French take control of their land from the Turks and then expect them to just go home after the war.

[@Wolfen443]

Well, that was the West's undoing i guess, but priorities dictated that they assisted them against the Ottomans at least.

[@TheDesertwalker]

Not naive at all. They did what was expedient & pragmatic.

[@McRocket]

@@TheDesertwalker No, it wasn't. The Turks were no threat to take the Suez. They could barely keep their own empire together. The general was right - the Arab uprising was a sideshow of a sideshow. All the British/French had to do is hire/lightly arm whatever Arabs were needed as guerillas - whilst promising them absolutely nothing once the war was over. BTW, please remember. The movie is rather inaccurate (as almost all historical films that I have seen are). Other then getting a few names and major dates roughly correct. It took huge liberties with many events. For instance, the Battle Of Aqaba as told in the film is hugely different than it was in reality. And Lawrence's travel to Cairo after the battle is ridiculously dramatized. He didn't stumble into Cairo HQ with one of his surviving 'assistants'. He arrived in Suez with 8 people. Talked to the military there. And then took a train to Cairo to report to Clayton and Allenby. And on and on. ☮

[@NH1973]

A man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy. What is the problem Mr Lawrence?

[@AmadeusHortfrick]

It is longer since the film was released than the time since the arab revolt to the film...

[@drmaybe7680]

One of my all-time favourite films, but it kind of bugs me when he quotes Themistocles then says he was a philosopher. Themistocles was a politician and a general, not a philosopher at all.

[@neilritson7445]

Weren't they all? philosophy just means love of knowledge!!!

[@thomasjamison2050]

THe movie ignores the fact that Lawrence spent four years living on his own in the region before the war started. He was hardly unfamiliar with anything about the Arabs.

[@GUNTHERSHELL]

I cant hear what they are saying.

[@alanscott6836]

Claude Rains.....

[@siypic]

Loved by Weylands synthetics

[@myriaddsystems]

I’m not or buying anything from you, thank you

[@siamesevodka]

Yeah, you can see why Noël Coward called him "Florence of Arabia:.

[@1earflapping]

Pot!

[@simonpatterson3288]

Florence of Arabia (Noel Coward)

[@charmantbeaugarcon8306]

"The Bedouin, they're a nation of sheep stealers."

[@Music--ng8cd]

The Scottish, they're a nation of sheep _____________

[@BuzbyWuzby]

Fantastic film, but for me Anthony Quinn stole it! He was by far the best actor followed by Alec Guinness and then Jack Hawkins

[@russ254]

“. . . Because I am a river to my people!”

[@Wolfinger1935]

Couldn't agree more. Every scene he was in ... he was magnetic. And they didn't want to cast him. He pulled a Brando and showed up for the audition in make-up. Supposedly they didn't know it was him (after they already turned him down) and thought he was amazing and authentic. The rest is cinematic history.

[@RWR1911]

Though all fine, no actor in the film could hold a candle to O'Toole.

[@simonf8902]

He is extremely camp.

[@michaelhughes7458]

I wonder what life would be like if Lawrence did not help the Saudi Arabia

[@Wolfen443]

Turkey was going to lose as an Empire, The British and French were still going to split the lands between them but without the sense of national independence Lawrence created.

[@awordabout...3061]

English officer? Dear me, @NowPlaying, T.E. Lawrence was many things but he was certainly not English!

[@RWR1911]

Though born out-of-wedlock in Wales, Thomas Edward Lawrence can certainly be regarded as English. His father was Sir Thomas Chapman, 7th Baronet, part of the Protestant English aristocracy in North Ireland (called the "Anglo-Irish") and his mother was the England born-and-bred Miss Sarah Junner (governess to Sir Thomas' daughters by his wife, Edith). In all, Sarah bore his father five sons, all illegitimate. So as not to court scandal, Sir Thomas and Sarah (fifteen years his junior) lived together under the assumed surname of Lawrence.

[@frederickjohnsen4246]

That's the military - British or American: ridicule and fear what you do not understand and cannot control with anything other than a hammer. Nothing worse than a superior who feels inferior to his subordinate.

[@sonnysantana5454]

O'Toole was 1' bad irishmen

[@JohnRoberts-wk6rf]

About an hour too long, but a good movie.

[@Wolfinger1935]

The clumsy, hamfisted edit at the end from Maurice Jarre's amazing score to some techno trash groove ruined 10 minutes of genius filmmaking. Does anyone know what a fade to black is anymore? A couple of seconds of black... then you can play your horrifyingly cliched and tacky end tag. Sheesh... 🤮

[@johnsrabe]

Good heavens! Are there insinuations in this scene that Lawrence is - I can hardly bring myself to say it - an homosexual?

[@temperedglass1130]

They should remake this but with a trans lead character.

[@Peter-c1x]

Give me a break.

[@madhack69]

Weirdo

[@HashiGani]

0000000000000000000

[@1safety4all]

God Bless President Trump, MAGA Nov 2024

[@tudyk21]

This must have been before O'Toole learned how to act.

[@RWR1911]

If you watch the whole movie, he is brilliant in it; nominated for Best Actor, back when the Academy Awards meant something. At age 27, he was already a phenomenal actor on the stage.