Yes, same director, same cinematographer. Same composer, the marvelous Maurice Jarre. Same film editor, I imagine, and probably the same production designer. Doctor Zhivago truly is a companion film of Lawrence of Arabia and it's a masterpiece of film-making, but it's a bleak story- the Bolshevik Revolution, dark Russian winters and dark Russian souls...

Lawrence of Arabia has sun and sand. Hell, if you squint a little, you could be in Malibu.

Another Lean favorite of mine:
Bridge Over The River Kwai.
With Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago, three epic films.

Lawrence of Arabia and Dr Zhivago IMHO are definitely 2 of the best movies of all time. When ever I'm flipping thru the
channels looking for something to watch and either one of these is on no matter what point of the movie is at I have to watch. I have both of them on DVD and watch them quite often. I like to watch them in the dark. They are both very visual movies and I believe they both won Oscars for best cinematography. Watching in the dark brings out color, sharpens the images and kinda gives it a movie theater experience. I wish I could have seen them on the big screen. I feel sorry for the younger generations as I'll bet most have not seen either of them.
Bridge on the River Kwai was mentioned as another David Lean movie and is another excellent movie every bit as good as these
but I've noticed that it is not on air as often.

Funny, Lawrence of Arabia was just on and it was of those movies that the more I watch it the better it gets and the more I enjoy it. It truly is a classic.

I've always intended to see it, never have. Need to plan that one out and execute.

quote:

Lawrence of Arabia has sun and sand. Hell, if you squint a little, you could be in Malibu.

Meh. Doctor Zhivago has Julie Christie.

There are two scenes in Dr Zhivago that will always be in my memory. First Julie Christie is studying wearing a white tall collar shirt with a black tye I guess her school uniform. The camera pulls in for a close up of her face and those blue eyes. WOW!!! Second I believe still wearing the same outfit Rod Stieger pulls a gold lace vail on her head then over her face. Again a close up of her eyes her face and her blonde hair. WOW she was quite a beauty. I can think of several others like where she is in the library and Omar Shariff walks in and she longingly sees him from a distance. Another when she is wearing that fur hat late in the movie. I guess you can tell she was one of my favorite actress's and I always had a crush on her.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Over the years, my admiration and love of this film has grown to the point that I now consider it the greatest film ever made- in any language.

For me, no film can ever take the place of The Godfather as my favorite film, but, my God, David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia is a powerhouse. Sprawling and immensely entertaining, it has no equal as far as I'm concerned. Maurice Jarre's grand musical score- Lean's film would have been less with any other musical score. Jarre gets as close to perfection as is humanly possible, in my opinion. And without the performance of Peter O'Toole, I wouldn't be writing any of this.

TCM is airing it right now

Just stumbled across this thread. I love it when Lawrence of Arabia is mentioned in such glowing terms. It has long been my favorite movie (my father took my brother and me to see it during its original release), and I have always thought it was at least among the greatest films ever made. For all the reasons you cite and more. Great script, great score, great acting from a great cast. Breathtaking cinematography... and on and on. All the best elements of movie-making coming together in a grand, entertaining, and absorbing epic. I've lost track of how many times I've seen it, and it has never lost its freshness and appeal. I'm quite sure it never will.

An aside: In a bit of irony, I thought about it just a few minutes ago while watching Quigley Down Under. There is a scene in which the characters are crossing an expanse of Australian desert, and it is a very long distance shot. The wagon and the people riding in it are minuscule compared to vast landscape. My immediate thought was of several similar shots in Lawrence, and I wondered if there was any chance that it was not a conscious copy. Perhaps a homage? In any case, it was straight from David Lean's playbook.

Back in the early 80's I came home from work and we had just got cable and I was standing in front of the TV (no remote) flipping channels and LOA came on...(Presented in wide screen) I stood there and watched the entire movie.