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Saturday, October 23, 2004 - 11:49amSanction this postReply
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Here I go and actually take the time to write a detailed review of a movie myself, and nobody reads the damn thing.

This is another good reason for me to cut and paste other people's reviews, Peter.


Post 1

Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 8:50amSanction this postReply
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I've tried -- twice -- to watch this movie, and never succeeded in sticking it out for more than an hour. It's boring!

Barbara

Post 2

Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 10:59pmSanction this postReply
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Well, to each his own.  At least you tried.  Twice.

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Monday, November 1, 2004 - 3:20amSanction this postReply
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I've also tried, Orion, but with similar results to Miss Branden I'm afraid. Several years ago a film club at my school offered a Lawrence/Dr Zhivago double feature as a fund-raiser, and people were nodding off in the aisles!

One film involved lots of camels crossing the desert for no obvious reason - the other involved sleighs crossing frozen tundra for equally dull reasons - and at such a length! One could never call David Lean succinct.

I'm sure there is a good film in Peter O'Toole - as there should have been in Julie Christie - but these two are not they.


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Monday, November 1, 2004 - 7:00pmSanction this postReply
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The soundtrack at least keeps me awake. Love that Maurice Jarre!

Post 5

Monday, November 1, 2004 - 10:27pmSanction this postReply
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Carol,

Well, keep in mind that Peter O'Toole and Julie Christie both play the "beautiful flower in the wasteland" character in both films.  Hell, they even look alike.
 
But no, Lawrence is about much, much more than that... It's a psychodynamic commentary on the orphaned and misfit individual's search for identity in an exotic new land, where he is no longer an ugly duckling but a swan of sorts... He gets a clean slate for once, and upon that slate can finally compose his magnum opus and finally find his dignity.


Post 6

Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - 9:04amSanction this postReply
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But no, Lawrence is about much, much more than that... It's a psychodynamic commentary on the orphaned and misfit individual's search for identity in an exotic new land, where he is no longer an ugly duckling but a swan of sorts... He gets a clean slate for once, and upon that slate can finally compose his magnum opus and finally find his dignity
For all I dislike about you, let it not be said Orion Reasoner cannot speak with eloquent and soulful passion when he so chooses.  Your words capture the color of my own spirit as sunlight through stained glass.

Lawrence of Arabia, although I too admit to having fallen asleep to once, is also a movie I dearly love.  Also Doctor Zhivago.

You are a strange person, Orion.  Your armor covers up real poetry.

Jeanine Ring   ))(*)((


Post 7

Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - 4:38pmSanction this postReply
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I agree with Carol's and Barbara's comments that it's a snore-fest, and I agree with carol on Zhivago. I'm gald that it's your own review though, Orion.Much more interesting when we can understand why we might also enjoy the film, even if as in this case I didnt. :-)

Orion: "It's a psychodynamic commentary on the orphaned and misfit individual's search for identity in an exotic new land, where he is no longer an ugly duckling but a swan of sorts... He gets a clean slate for once, and upon that slate can finally compose his magnum opus and finally find his dignity."

The Middle East was a clean slate? IMO the film lacked the context needed within which to judge Lawrence, and dwelt too much on him as a 'nutter,' and on the desert as a 'character' (cue endless shots of sand <yawn> - great opening scene, though, with Lawrence emerging from the heat haze like a man emerging from history.)  
By all accounts Terence Rattigan's play 'Ross' (which supposedy inspired Lean) focussed on the personal as well, yet it also provided the necessary context. (I'm relying here on commentaries since I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading or seeing it.) I think the faults that I see with Lawrence lies with Lean, not with screenwriter Robert Bolt, whose other work is simply masterful. Man for All Seasons for example with Roy Kinnear is just amongst the best things on screen, particularly Kinnear's perfomance as the Common Man. That is something I can watch over and over. :-)




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Post 8

Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - 6:26pmSanction this postReply
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Probably it is not hard to guess that I like Doctor Zhivago?  Or that not only I've seen Omar Sharif/Julie Christi's movie, I've also read the book (English translation), and have seen the recent TV miniseries on PBS starring Kiera Knightley, which is also superb.

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