DB7

Irvin Kershner on David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Irvin Kershner is having what by most people's standards would count as a busy day. Fresh off the 17-hour overnight flight from Los Angeles to southern Argentina, he is teaching a two-hour masterclass at the Mar del Plata Film Festival. Will the 80-year-old director feel up to giving an interview for this series after that? "No problem," insists his assistant. "He's a bull!"

A tall man with a patrician profile, Kershner is energetic and outspoken. At the end of his class, a student leaps up for tips on how to make his first movie. It is a red rag. "How old are you?" "Nineteen." The bull charges. "Well, you should go out and get some culture and a life. Then go and make movies!"

Kershner was 35 when he made his first feature. The son of Ukrainian immigrants, he wanted to work in the arts; the question was, which? He studied classical violin and viola, hoping to become a composer and conductor, then painting and sculpture. He tried photography, before going to make documentaries for the United States Information Service in Iran, Jordan, Greece and Turkey. Finally he had found his metier. Perhaps it's this early formation which prompts Kershner to cite Lawrence of Arabia, shot in Jordan, as a film that has influenced him. "I've seen it maybe seven or eight times and got to know David Lean a little bit. He was a perfectionist in a way that very few filmmakers are now permitted to be. When he went to look for locations, he kept going further, further, further, into the desert. They had to bring in everything and it was hotter than hell, but the film was magnificent. What I love is, he uses environment and weather: rain, a burning sun, storms, sand. Many directors shoot the characters and the rest is pretty pictures."

Yet Kershner says that Lean was also brilliant with actors, albeit in an unorthodox way. "When Peter O'Toole asked, `Can you tell me something about Lawrence?' Lean looked at him and said: 'Find a camel, learn how to ride it and you'll know the character.' It was all in the script. That, to me, is great directing. O'Toole never became melodramatic. The emotion's there, but it doesn't have to be let out. It's in his face, his bearing, the way he would walk and sit. You knew what he was feeling all the time. This is a rare ability, believe me."

Kershner himself quickly made a reputation as a skilled director of actors with work such as The Luck of Ginger Coffey, A Fine Madness and Loving. "My favourite films are my small films," he says. Yet his most widely seen movies are The Empire Strikes Back, Robocop 2 and Never Say Never Again, blockbusters made when US independent cinema was in the doldrums. "You either did a studio film, or you went broke. Why did I do Robocop 2? I was out of work! I'd spent two and a half years trying to peddle my own scripts. I had a family. So I said, 'OK, I'll do it. I'll do it the best I can.'

"At first I didn't want to do The Empire Strikes Back either. I said to George Lucas, `Why do you want me?' He said, 'Because you know everything a Hollywood director is supposed to know. But you're not Hollywood.'"

Empire was praised for combining spectacle with a feel for the characters, and Kershner is positive about the experience. "George has integrity. The only thing is, he's now so caught up in special effects and marketing that he doesn't see the picture any more."

Lean, he believes, stands for an art currently lost in Hollywood: "Big pictures that are not only aesthetically exciting but full of ambiguities, so you can see them again and again. Hollywood makes hundreds of pictures every year. America, is so big, so rich, but do we have one Lean, one Bergman, one Fellini, one Kurosawa? No! Because you have to encourage filmmakers to grow into greatness. The people who run the studios no longer own them. They're lawyers, accountants, hired hands – not even producers like Zanuck or Selznick, who loved film – and they want to keep their jobs."

Lean, I point out, had troubles too. His films were increasingly few and far between and his relationship with producer Sam Spiegel, whom he split up with after Lawrence, was notoriously tempestuous. "He drove people crazy. But he knew he was doing something worthwhile. When I hear stories of how he made Lawrence, I think, Ah! If some day I can make a film with the courage that he displayed, I would feel great."

But surely Kershner must be contemplating a well-deserved retirement? Not so. "I have a film called Sweet Tooth, kind of a sex farce, which is the way sex should be treated. We have a script and almost all the money. I'm doing a documentary about Rachmaninov and I'm a creative producer on a Broadway musical. I'm also a professor at the University of Maryland. That," concludes Kershner, keen to zip off to dinner, "is all I'm doing for now."

DB7

Lawrence of Arabia
BY GARY KAMIYA

Sand. An ocean of sand, without beginning or end, motionless, stretching across a vast screen. The strangeness of the harsh, limitless Earth, the strangeness of a human soul, blown up into a scale beyond familiarity, beyond knowing. A single drone note sounds, always, under "Lawrence of Arabia": The world is deep, deeper than we had been aware. It is the only movie I've ever seen that makes it impossible to forget that we are all crawling around on a big ball of metal and gas hurtling through a void.

Every art form has its "virtue," a special property, a single thing it does better than any other. Film's virtue is showing pictures of the world. And the pictures in David Lean's masterpiece are exalted. No other film I know -- not "Eraserhead," not "Gone With the Wind," not "Red Desert" -- overwhelms the eye, and the mind's eye, like "Lawrence." You drown in it. It is stupefying. You stumble out of the movie -- whose length is as majestic as its subject -- dazed by a vision of implacable splendor and horror, dazed by vision itself.

In one sense, then, "Lawrence" is "about" nothing but the desert. But it is also about one of the most enigmatic figures in history -- T.E. Lawrence, a highly educated British army officer who, operating on his own initiative, led Arab tribesmen in a guerrilla war against the Turks in World War I, returned to England, wrote an amazing, unfathomable book called "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom," joined the Royal Air Force and died in 1935 in a motorcycle accident. Like Nietzsche, Dostoevsky's Ivan or Conrad's Kurtz, Lawrence strived to be, as he put it in a letter, "greater than mankind" -- to somehow break through the limitations of ordinary existence by sheer will. Did he succeed? Fail? He struggled, mightily, then died.

Perhaps an actor can only capture gleaming facets of a diamond-hard personality like this. In a performance that becomes more evocative, more densely textured with each viewing, Peter O'Toole captures dozens of them. They glint and shine for an instant, then vanish.

Some critics have assailed "Lawrence" for being murky, muddled, unsure of what it is saying. There is some justice to this criticism. But this is that rare film whose weaknesses are not only swallowed up by its vast, disturbing ambition, but somehow become part of its strengths. Lawrence's dark, inchoate vision does not fit neatly into the "epic war film" box. It does not fit into any box. His goals are turned against themselves, alien, never entirely known even to their possessor. They stand above and outside. Straining, sweating, "Lawrence of Arabia" reaches toward them.

Two mysteries collide in this film: The earth and the human soul. It doesn't resolve them. It couldn't. We can't. It is a telescope aimed at the unknown. It is a huge film.

DB7

Must-have movies: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Marc Lee celebrates the best of David Lean's tremendous films

David Lean's films got bigger and fewer as his 42-year career as a director progressed. Relatively small gems from the 1940s and '50s were produced in quick succession (Blithe Spirit and Brief Encounter, for example, coming in the same year); then a passion for grand, sprawling epics took over, and the gaps between them yawned wider.


Utterly mesmerising: Peter O'Toole
Lawrence of Arabia is the middle one of his three most celebrated biggies, sandwiched between The Bridge on the River Kwai and Dr Zhivago. And it's the best of them.

At three hours 38 minutes in the restored version, this isn't exactly disciplined filmmaking, but it offers ample rewards with its stunning locations, spectacular action sequences, and Maurice Jarre's gushingly gorgeous theme music. Plus, at its heart, there's Peter O'Toole's extraordinarily intense performance as the Army misfit turned desert adventurer.

Sam Spiegel, the film's producer, once said: "We have not tried to resolve the enigma of Lawrence but to perpetuate the legend." Which is to acknowledge that we never quite see how such a fragile and sensitive soul came to command such reserves of strength and cool determination when despatched to unite opposing Arab factions against the Turks during the First World War. Yet O'Toole, blond and piercingly blue-eyed, is utterly mesmerising in the role, as he goes native, dressing with narcissistic theatricality in flowing white robes. And the aftermath of his appalling treatment at the hands of his Turkish captors - which includes a serious sexual assault - is powerfully portrayed.

The visual treats abound, but two in particular rank among the most memorable moments in cinema, one that's over in a flash, another that seems to stretch time. First, there's the inspired jump-cut from a close-up of Lawrence blowing out a match to a shot of the blazing desert sunrise; then there's the endless approach from the shimmering far horizon of a mysterious figure on a camel - a shot wreathed in menacing silence. You'll want to replay them both again and again.

And notice too that, from beginning to end, not a single word is uttered by a woman

Gibbie

Another fascinating testimony to David Lean's directing ability. I would think O'Toole very difficult to direct.

I think Kershner is a very shrewd and accurate observer of the Hollywood movie industry thing.

Gibbie

Freddy

A letter in todays Telegraph mentions what Noel Coward told Peter O'Toole at the time:

"If you were any better looking, you'd be Florence of Arabia"

regards

Freddy

Stephen Pickard

Recently on a"Lawrence of Arabia" forum somebody enquired about some deleted scenes and I responded to it. I thought that readers of this thread my be interested in reading it:

In 1978 I was fortunate to view all the deleted footage, pre-premiere and post-premiere, on "Lawrence". It was stored away in a studio after Columbia cleared their film material from the vaults at Shepperton in the early seventies.
Shepperton Studios was the base for all the British-based Columbia Pictures. Except for the actual picture editing, which was done at the Columbia offices on South Audley Street in London, all post production was completed at Shepperton. Music was recorded on Stage L and the film was dubbed in 4-track Stereo in what was probably the first of three dubbing stages that could mix in stereo in the fifties and sixties (The second being the British MGM Studios and third Pinewood, their first was "El Cid" in 1961).
Robert Harris had all the material I saw shipped to the US and was able to restore the film to beyond it's premiere length. The premiere length ran 222 minutes.
Eventually Lean came on board and helped Harris fine tune the film to, what Lean claimed how he wanted it back in December 1962.
Below, are the cuts that I can recall that I believe still exist and hopefully will be seen sometime in the distant future.
1) The first scene between Dryden and Murray. This scene opens with a close shot of a three-dimensional map of Arabia, the camera pulls back revealing Dryden looking on. You can see the map in the background of this same scene which just starts later.
2) During the first scene with Tafas in the desert, when they stop for water, Lawrence will only drink when Tafas does and says with the line "I'll drink when you do". I think the edited scene comes after the binocular scene when they are struggling down a dune with the camels and they stop again and Tafas says "...and now we will both drink".
3) When Lawrence decides to take Akaba he is gripping a rock. After saying "Akaba...from the land" in the presence of the two boys he gets up opens his bloody hand tosses the rock in the air and catches it, throws it to the boys and suddenly breaks into a sprint into the camp.

All the above scenes are in the script which I believe can be accessed.

Stephen Pickard

Marky B

Thanks for that,Steve - much appreciated!
Ta Ta
Marky B [

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

Freddy

Seconded Stephen.

There is an interesting site

Lawrence

which adds to the film and the man.

Freddy

RonPrice

THE CINEMATOGRAPHY WAS GRAND

Perhaps I was attracted to the autobiographical aspect, the epic story, of a larger-than-life adventurer, T.E. Lawrence's Arabian adventure in Lawrence of Arabia. Perhaps it was the impressive cinematography. By the time I came to write this prose-poem I had been working on my own autobiography for 23 years and I had seen the film twice in the 47 years since the start of its production history began back in October 1959, the month I joined the Bahá’Ã* Faith. The film, Lawrence of Arabia, was first released three months after my own pioneering venture began in Canada in September 1962.

Lawrence's life and personality were enigmatic and complex, sexually problematic and excessively arrogant and solitary and adventurous. These are qualities I have myself exhibited, some more than others; they are features of life many people find characterize their own days, especially when they go to write their autobiography. Lawrence's task, among others, was to unite the Arabian Bedouins against their Turkish oppressors. My task was one of trying to bring unity to a people as well, although in the years 1959 to 1962 I had no idea of the scale, the nature and the complexity of the exercise.

I don't want to summarize the story of Lawrence or the movie here, suffice it to say, the cinematography was breathtaking and some argue that this is the main reason for seeing the film. Lawrence seemed to possess the paradoxical qualities of a man blinded by his ego, desirous of fame and yet at the same time self-effacing. The film works with themes of fate and war, Arab tribal disunity and national politics. Lawrence exists as a dark, blank shadow, a complex, jelly-like personality in a brightly it desert. He is a man incomprehensible even to those who knew him best: intelligent, charismatic and slightly mad. In the end he can not bring unity to the Arab tribes, cannot create an Arab state. Unity is elusive for them for many reasons as it is elusive for us. The pioneers of our generation can but construct a portion of it, a stage along the way.-Ron Price, Pioneering Over Four Epochs, 28 December, 2006.

I had no idea back then that
I would be a bit mad, too, as
I journied across the deserts,
the Arctic-ice and the great
tracts of land playing my part
in trying to unite the peoples
of the Earth who did not seem
to want to unite at least through
the mechanism which I advised
and suggested again and again
for over fifty years, say, back to
'56 as they were just starting to
go to the moon and rock-'n-roll.

The cinematography could be
magnificent in the hands of a
David Lean and poetic imagery
with super panavision 70 mm scope.
My, you could capture the hills and
valleys of my life with a spectacular
epic story, a much larger-than-life
idealistic adventurer and reduce my
several decades to, say, 222 minutes.

Ron Price
28 December 2006

married for 41 years, teacher for 35 years and a Baha'i for 49 years.

ChristineCB

I have joined the cause to ensure youngsters see this film on the Big Screen during our annual showing of it. All of these 12 or 15 year olds have seen recent Star Wars or Starship Troopers or ?? whatever is exploding at the moment ?? but without exception, all of them end up during the post-film ice cream by remarking, "Now THAT is a big picture."

And all of them go back to the Water Well Scene, where VERY very little action occurs. Only a single run for a rifle. Only a single shot. And yet, the simplicity of waiting waiting waiting shows so much about the character of the filmmaker, I think.

There are more grand vistas, I think, but hardly any grander scene.

It's also one of the few films they've seen with an intermission, and it's always amazing to see them gasp at its inclusion, and then discover with huge relief that the story's going forward.

I like to think this is one of those films that stirs something in every young person's imagination and makes them wonder if they could be such a storyteller.

Wee Sonny MacGregor

Christine,

There's a very intersting account of the making of the film in Kevin Brownlow's biog of Lean. What a perfectionist.

Sonny

ChristineCB

Mostly I've wondered if the participants changed their views of their hardships and efforts, the worthiness, etc, after years of seeing it 20, 30 and now 40 years later.

I think this film will stand the test of time.

thirdlady

I saw the movie on film 4 during the christmas season it's magical movie! it's mesmorising and also very long but I wasn't complaining!

A.S.Carroll
"Happiness isn't sold in bottles you have to achieve it in your own lifetime!"

gippeswyc

In the "unfolding drama/adventure" catagory this probably is my favorite film. So superbly shot & crafted.

Marky B

I would love to see this film on the big screen.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know