El Aurens

What a movie!

I just finished watching Lawrence Of Arabia. It's been a long time since I last saw it, and it does take a long time to watch (almost four hours), but it is well worth it. An ingenious tale of madness and grandeur, dedication, naïveté, clumsiness and vanity, discipline and friendship, and not least politics and cunning. This Lawrence must indeed have been an incredibly dazzling character, shying away from the brutality of war, yet admitting to enjoying killing - O'Toole seems to have literally impersonated him.

Alec Guiness as King Faisal is incredibly smooth: "You are merely a General, while I /dramatic pause/ must be a King." Upon which an exasperated officer leaves the room, almost running. Also Dryden, dry diplomat & chief architect behind the scenes:"And let's have no displays of indignation. You may not have known, but you certainly had suspicions. If we've told lies, you've told half lies, and a man who tells lies, like me, merely hides the truth, but a man who tells half lies has forgotten where he put it." Or to King Faisal: "Me, your Highness? On the whole, I wish I'd stayed in Turnbridge Wells."

Fine music, too!