T.E. Lawrence and the Arab World
February 10, 2006 5:28 PM Subscribe
Lawrence of Arabia was a pretty good film. The true story of T.E. Lawrence is better. The bigger picture, better still.
This post was deleted for the following reason: imdb & wikipedia links?
"Why not, Moses did!"
Lawrence of Arabia is a lot more than a "pretty good film."
Try a classic, and one of the greatest films of all time.
posted by stenseng at 5:48 PM on February 10, 2006
Lawrence of Arabia is a lot more than a "pretty good film."
Try a classic, and one of the greatest films of all time.
posted by stenseng at 5:48 PM on February 10, 2006
It's unfortunate that the Arab Revolt didn't turn out much better than it did, paternalism aside.
It's also interesting that Lawrence had this one sweepingly great moment in his life, and nothing else, seemingly, could live up to it.
posted by dhartung at 5:50 PM on February 10, 2006
It's also interesting that Lawrence had this one sweepingly great moment in his life, and nothing else, seemingly, could live up to it.
posted by dhartung at 5:50 PM on February 10, 2006
I enjoyed it.
posted by longsleeves at 5:55 PM on February 10, 2006
posted by longsleeves at 5:55 PM on February 10, 2006
A few years ago, they re-released a glorious new print of the movie. I took my kid brother, who was 16 at the time, to see it at an old movie house in Chicago. He loved it. Beautiful filmmaking, compelling characters, an amazing soundtrack ... what more could you ask for? It was a true epic and they just don't make them like that anymore.
My favorite line? "Nothing is written!"
posted by zooropa at 6:07 PM on February 10, 2006
My favorite line? "Nothing is written!"
posted by zooropa at 6:07 PM on February 10, 2006
He's good, but he's no Filliam H. Muffman.
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 6:14 PM on February 10, 2006
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 6:14 PM on February 10, 2006
Heh, I didn't mean to knock the film AT ALL! It is just interesting how Lawrence was portrayed as such a Jesus-like archetype, when in real life he was suspected to be a pederastic weirdo. That said, I find the character, both in the film and in life, to be a great hero. It was an amazing feat bringing the arab tribes together. It could probably done today.
posted by snsranch at 6:16 PM on February 10, 2006
posted by snsranch at 6:16 PM on February 10, 2006
this sentence no verb.
thank you sincerely for the history lesson. nice post!
(hooray for the internet! all of it!)
posted by carsonb at 6:22 PM on February 10, 2006
thank you sincerely for the history lesson. nice post!
(hooray for the internet! all of it!)
posted by carsonb at 6:22 PM on February 10, 2006
IMDB, Wikipedia and Everything2?
posted by klangklangston at 6:42 PM on February 10, 2006
posted by klangklangston at 6:42 PM on February 10, 2006
I second third 517 and klangklangston. This is a weak FPP. But still, there's a lot of great stuff out there on Lawrence, like TELawrence.net, an effort to bring together all of Lawrence's published works and letters.
posted by goatdog at 6:45 PM on February 10, 2006
posted by goatdog at 6:45 PM on February 10, 2006
IMDB, Wikipedia and Everything2?
Yea, I'm sorry, that was a quicky! But actually, if you read what's on the links you should find some very interesting things that are not common knowledge.
posted by snsranch at 7:00 PM on February 10, 2006
Yea, I'm sorry, that was a quicky! But actually, if you read what's on the links you should find some very interesting things that are not common knowledge.
posted by snsranch at 7:00 PM on February 10, 2006
Orence, Orence, orence...
posted by loquacious at 7:01 PM on February 10, 2006
posted by loquacious at 7:01 PM on February 10, 2006
The movie is a classic for lots of film history reasons, but it leaves a dramatically overstated impression of Lawrence's importance in World War I-era Middle East affairs (far more than is acknowledged in that Wikipedia link). Any discussion of Lawrence has to mention the work of the American showman Lowell Thomas, who almost single-handedly turned T.E. into "Lawrence of Arabia" with a photo lecture series called The Last Crusade, opening in NYC in 1919 and then moving to London. From David Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East, p. 498:
[The Last Crusade] was a masterpiece of ballyhoo and it set show business records. It played in London for six months and was seen there by perhaps a million people. Thomas then took the show on a road tour around the world. It made young Lowell Thomas rich and famous; and it converted "Lawrence of Arabia" into a world hero. *
Lawrence, though embarrassed by the crudeness of Thomas's account, gloried in its bright glow...Lawrence frequently came up from Oxford to see it: Thomas's wife spied him in the audience on at least five different occasions...
* A few years later Thomas wrote a book...based on the show...It was an immensely readable, high-spirited write-up of Lawrence's service career -- much of it untrue -- that made its points through hyperbole...Feisal's corps of 3,500 men, added to the several thousands serving under Feisal's brothers during the war, when added up by Lowell Thomas produced an Arab army of 200,000.
In many ways, the movie follows the myth created by Thomas much more than it follows history. This captures it more briefly:
Q. Did Lawrence play a significant role in drawing the political map of the Middle East after the First World War, and is he therefore in some way responsible for today’s frontiers?
A: ...In the history of the Middle East in the twentieth century, as seen by specialist historians of that region, Lawrence’s role was a fleeting one which has left few traces. From that standpoint he merits little more than a footnote - albeit a footnote which has some interesting aspects.
posted by mediareport at 7:38 PM on February 10, 2006
[The Last Crusade] was a masterpiece of ballyhoo and it set show business records. It played in London for six months and was seen there by perhaps a million people. Thomas then took the show on a road tour around the world. It made young Lowell Thomas rich and famous; and it converted "Lawrence of Arabia" into a world hero. *
Lawrence, though embarrassed by the crudeness of Thomas's account, gloried in its bright glow...Lawrence frequently came up from Oxford to see it: Thomas's wife spied him in the audience on at least five different occasions...
* A few years later Thomas wrote a book...based on the show...It was an immensely readable, high-spirited write-up of Lawrence's service career -- much of it untrue -- that made its points through hyperbole...Feisal's corps of 3,500 men, added to the several thousands serving under Feisal's brothers during the war, when added up by Lowell Thomas produced an Arab army of 200,000.
In many ways, the movie follows the myth created by Thomas much more than it follows history. This captures it more briefly:
Q. Did Lawrence play a significant role in drawing the political map of the Middle East after the First World War, and is he therefore in some way responsible for today’s frontiers?
A: ...In the history of the Middle East in the twentieth century, as seen by specialist historians of that region, Lawrence’s role was a fleeting one which has left few traces. From that standpoint he merits little more than a footnote - albeit a footnote which has some interesting aspects.
posted by mediareport at 7:38 PM on February 10, 2006
I'm sorry, that was a quicky!
Doesn't this subject deserve better?
posted by mediareport at 7:51 PM on February 10, 2006
Doesn't this subject deserve better?
posted by mediareport at 7:51 PM on February 10, 2006
"Yes, I know, that last link had lots of 'words' to read. That was the point, using a romanticized western figure to lead into greater understanding of the who, what, why and where. I guess it didn't work."
"It was weakly illustrated in this post, but the mysteries of the middle east have yet to be unravelled. They will be, and then we will have peace with the arab nations."
(spoken cryptically with Omar Sharif's voice.)
posted by snsranch at 9:23 PM on February 10, 2006
"It was weakly illustrated in this post, but the mysteries of the middle east have yet to be unravelled. They will be, and then we will have peace with the arab nations."
(spoken cryptically with Omar Sharif's voice.)
posted by snsranch at 9:23 PM on February 10, 2006
LOA had fabulous images—Omar Sharif's arrival as a distant speck on the horizon, for one—and great casting: Peter O'Toole vs. T.E. Lawrence. In a +50 year film career, cinematographer Freddie Young won three Academy Awards for LOA(1962), Dr. Zhivago(1965), and Ryan's Daughter (1970), all directed by David Lean.
posted by cenoxo at 9:35 PM on February 10, 2006
posted by cenoxo at 9:35 PM on February 10, 2006
The movie was one of my favorites. However, when I read Seven Pillars, I spent a number of years feeling disillusioned with Lawrence. I can't explain why...just a sense of disappointment in him for being so humanly egotistical.
It has only been in recent years that I've begun to evolve from that position to contend that the STORY, nevertheless, is a great one, rather than Lawrence being a "great" man, per se.
Thus, the way history unfolded with such a flawed (yet gifted) man is truly epic.
posted by darkstar at 11:41 PM on February 10, 2006
It has only been in recent years that I've begun to evolve from that position to contend that the STORY, nevertheless, is a great one, rather than Lawrence being a "great" man, per se.
Thus, the way history unfolded with such a flawed (yet gifted) man is truly epic.
posted by darkstar at 11:41 PM on February 10, 2006
Don't examine heroes too closely: when the story becomes bigger than the man, you print the story.
posted by cenoxo at 11:54 PM on February 10, 2006
posted by cenoxo at 11:54 PM on February 10, 2006
Didn't notice a link to the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, in case anyone is after it. Alternative.
I still haven't gotten round to reading it, any opinions?
posted by MetaMonkey at 3:24 AM on February 11, 2006
I still haven't gotten round to reading it, any opinions?
posted by MetaMonkey at 3:24 AM on February 11, 2006
"If you'd been any prettier, it would have been 'Florence of Arabia'." (Noel Coward to Peter O'Toole)
hehe-he ...
posted by RavinDave at 4:15 AM on February 11, 2006
hehe-he ...
posted by RavinDave at 4:15 AM on February 11, 2006
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