This was the second of the Jordan movies, and a friend came over to watch it with me, even though it was the longest one. Although it did include a short intermission and a black screen to start, the movie was listed as 3 hours and 47 minutes!
Lawrence of Arabia was the best picture Oscar of 1962. Based on a true story, I had only known T.E. Lawrence from the translation work of The Odyssey. Indeed, it was the story of his military life that was spent rallying a group of disparate Arabs, from the Bedouin desert to conquer Aquaba and move towards Damascus.
Set as a heroic story for an antihero, it was good at very prolonged suspense. It avoided all exposition, but I didn’t know what was going on sometimes. It needed editing, and a little more explanation. However, the story of the Arab uprising against the Turks as part of Britain’s WWI campaign was interesting.
While Lawrence was changing from his uniform to a desert costume, the main Arabic characters were played by western actors like Alec Guinness and Omar Sharif.
One highlight was when they rode by a rock I had stood on, with a photo to prove it!
Classic, interesting, strange dislikable character finding a way to belong.
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