Amazing how good trailers made by classic film fans can be.
One of the last great historical epics, the film tells the tale of Colonel T.E. Lawrence’s involvement in the Arab uprising. It is largely historically inaccurate, although a magnificent story. One reason for the historical inaccuracy, other than the usual transmogrification of history in the hands of filmmakers, is that it relied too heavily on Lawrence’s war memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Lawrence was a brilliant writer and a talented leader of guerrilla forces, but he never let a little thing like truth stand in the way of a good yarn.
The acting is superb throughout, as one would expect from a film featuring Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains, Anthony Quayle and Omar Shariff. The screenplay is by Robert Bolt who would go on to write A Man For All Seasons.
My three favorite scenes from the film:
“Time to be great again, my Lord.”
“Thy mother mated with a scorpion.”
“On the whole, I wish I’d stayed in Tunbridge Wells.”
Anyone who has never seen this classic should remedy that lack as soon as possible.
For a genuinely true story of victory in the desert, I recommend “The Light Horsemen.” This is more accurate than Lawrence and tells of the British/Australian victory at Beersheba in 1917 that essentially eliminated the Turkish presence in the Holy Land.
Beautifully photographed lighting/scenery and acting. Almost as good and factual as John Ford’s cavalry movies set in Monument Valley and Wayne, Bond, Fonda, McLaughlin, et al.
If the Turk wasted a division or two of infantry in a side show of a side show, Lawrence and the Arabs did their job though nothing in the end for the Arabs.
If I’m not mistaken [easily could be], Faisal was made ‘king’ of European-invented Iraq and was assassinated by Arab nationalists.
There seemed to be a subset of the Anglo upper crust that romanticized the desert, the East, Islam, etc. Sir Richard Burton and Chinese Gordon come to mind. Joseph Conrad – Heart of Darkness – sea captain Marlow’s motivation seems simple boredom.
Before the war, Lawrence [Chapman] toured the area studying ruins of Crusader castles/fortresses and etc.
He could have subtitled the book [a great read], “Alone In Arabia.”
“If the Turk wasted a division or two of infantry in a side show of a side show, Lawrence and the Arabs did their job though nothing in the end for the Arabs.”
Actually a fair amount for the Arabs. Faisal became king of Iraq and his older brother, Abdullah, became king of Jordan. The Arabian peninsula became almost entirely independent with Ibn Saud creating Saudi Arabia, and ending the rule of the Hashemite family, by virtue of his native military genius and the fundamentalism he was a champion of. Faisal died of a heart attack in 1933. His grandson was the reigning monarch of Iraq in 1958 who was overthrown and executed. Abdullah was assassinated by a Palestinian terrorist in 1951. His grandson Abdullah II is the current reigning monarch of Jordan.
The ending of the Ottoman Empire was the necessary predicate for the Arabs to play a role in the modern world, and that was accomplished by World War I for good and ill.
Faisal was made ‘king’ of European-invented Iraq
Components of North Africa and the Arabian peninsula had dynasties of local grandees who held what were, de facto, hereditary political offices. That wasn’t the case in the Fertile Crescent, which was divided into provinces with boundaries subject to modification now and again and under the rule of satraps appointed by the Ottoman sultan. Any political configuration therein which removed the area from the control of the sultan was going to be a ‘European created’ map. The only alternative to that would have been a continuation of Ottoman rule. What was regrettable in retrospect was that the Kurdish territories were not detached from the Ottoman and Persian realms and that the boundaries of the new Arab states did not take full account of linguistic distinctions or confessional rivalries.
I haven’t seen it. I definitely will be.
The Turks brought much poverty and hardship amongst Arab nations. My late grandmother born around WW1 in the mountains of Lebanon, used to talk about the hardship and lack of food she endured under Ottoman rule until the French came in. St Charbel, the first Lebanese Saint lost his father under the Turks. A brutal regime, particularly for the Christians. There is no love lost with the Greeks either. They will always have Turkey breathing down their neck.
The British have their ways also- they occupy a nation and just before they leave they make sure to light a fire or two ie. Hong Kong, Sudan, India…The British government are always in it for personal gain. The world enjoys blaming the Americans for Iraq and Afghanistan etc…but the British have executed more than their fair share of Colonial stuff-ups. And yet it goes under the radar. Must be the refined accent and manners in which they do it..😂
The History Buffs channel on YouTube has a video on the “Lawrence of Arabia” movie titled: “History Buffs: Lawrence of Arabia”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9scZDbKxtY