Overbaked, overlong account of intelligent man's flirtation with Arab life and politics during WW1.. which sends him quite crazy - CUT TO - The DESERT, SWELLING MUSIC...
Peter O'Toole heads suspicious cast of Alec Guinness, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Jose Ferrer, Anthony Quayle, Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Wolfit, I.S. Johar.
Written by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson, photographed by Frederick Young (in 2.20:1 on 70mm - the negative had to be kept on ice ), music by Maurice Jarre, production design John Box, editing Lean and Anne Coates, sound John Cox. A great job all round, though Lean's film surprisingly isn't as cinematic as some of his earlier and later ones. Unless you count - CUT TO - a BOILING DESERT. the SUN - SWELLING MUSIC...
I'm being a bit mean here - it's an interesting picture, and the second half isn't too boring.
Shot in Jordan and Spain (Seville and Almeria). The 482mm lens used to film Sharif's arrival from a mirage was dubbed the 'David Lean lens' and not subsequently used.
Whilst the film had premiered at 222 minutes it was then cut down to 202 for general release, and then somewhere along the line (I think in preparing a version for television) another 15 minutes were removed. It was restored in the 1980s with most of the stars being available for re-recording dialogue. I don't mean to decry the incredible job they did with crumbling film, overseen by Anne Coates, but I wouldn't have minded seeing the cut version!
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