Lawrence Of Arabia

Starring: Claude Rains, Peter OToole Director: David Lean Original UK Premiere: 1962 Dvd Release: 8th December, 2003 Number Of Discs: 2 Format: Box set, PAL, Region 2 Encoding

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Lawrence of Arabia is an Academy Award -winning film based loosely on the life of T E Lawrence, starring Peter OToole as the title character, directed by David Lean & produced by Sam Spiegel.. The score by Maurice Jarre & the on-location cinematography are especially acclaimed. Shooting began on May 15, 1961 & ended on October 20, 1962. Part of the desert scenes were shot on Almerķa, Spain. The film premiered in London on December 10, 1962 & was released in the USA on December 16, 1962. The film was nominated for ten & awarded seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in 1962. It was named the number five movie of all time by the American Film Institute. The film has been deemed culturally significant by the Library of Congress & selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 2004 the magazine Total Film named it the 8th greatest British film of all time. Despite its 216 minute length, the film includes no women in speaking roles. Arab nomad culture at the time of World War I required women to avoid speaking to anyone except their close relatives.

Such a wonderful film, I strongly recommend it to anyone, anywhere. I was about to write a long review, but I saw that the description gave it what I believed. The film is a brilliant one, & this special edition is fabulous. A towering picture.

Claude Rains was an English actor. Rains was born in London. Gassed during World War I, he was almost blind in one eye for the rest of his life. Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, founder of The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, recognized Rains acting talent & paid for the elocution lessons he needed to succeed as an actor. Later Rains taught at the institution, working with John Gielgud & Laurence Olivier, among others. It was ironic that Rains first Hollywood role was as the star of a movie in which he did not appear until the very end. That was the title character in James Whale s The Invisible Man. It was his distinctive voice which had won him the role. Following The Invisible Man, Universal Studios tried to turn him into another horror film actor, but he broke free with his Academy Award nominated role in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington & followed that up in probably his most famous role, that of French police Captain Louis Renault in Casablanca. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6400 Hollywood Blvd. Posters Of The Invisible Man

Editors Choice: Lawrence Of Arabia, Caesar And Cleopatra, The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man, View DVDology

Peter OToole is a famous Irish film actor. He was born Peter Seamus OToole in County Galway, Ireland & was raised in Leeds, England. He left school at an early age & became a journalist, working at the Yorkshire Evening News. But after National Service he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art on a scholarship. He worked in theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic & with the English Stage Company, before making his television debut in 1954 & a very minor film debut in 1959. In 1958 he married actress Siān Phillips ; they divorced in 1979. OTooles major break came when he was chosen to play Lawrence in David Lean s Lawrence of Arabia, after Albert Finney turned down the role. His performance introduced him to US audiences & earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. His subsequent film choices have ranged from superb to mediocre. Posters Of Bright Young Things

Editors Choice: Lassie, Bright Young Things, The Final Curtain, Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell, Coming Home, Phantoms, Rosamunde Pilchers Coming Home, King Ralph, View DVDology

Sir David Lean was a British film director, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia. He was born in Croydon, Surrey & started at the bottom, as a clapperboard assistant. By 1930 he was working as an editor on newsreels, including Gaumont Pictures & Movietone. His career in mainstream films began Escape Me Never & he went on to edit Gabriel Pascals Pygmalion & Major Barbara & Powell & Pressburgers Forty-Ninth Parallel & One of our Aircraft is Missing. His first work as a director was in partnership with Noel Coward on In Which We Serve. He came into his own with Brief Encounter & directed several films based on classic novels, such as Great Expectations. The Sound Barrier is a display of British stiff upper lip, while Hobsons Choice, which Lean also produced, is a stylish comic update of King Lear set in Victorian Manchester. With the advent of colour, Lean became well-known as the director of blockbusters such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, for which he won an Academy Award, followed by another for Lawrence of Arabia. Posters Of Doctor Zhivago

Editors Choice: A Passage To India, Lawrence Of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, The Bridge On The River Kwai, Great Expectations, Brief Encounter, In Which We Serve, Oliver Twist, View DVDology

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