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Dom Robinson reviews
Special Edition “Nothing is written…”
Columbia TriStar
- Cert:
- Cat.no: CDR 10055 CE
- Running time: 219 minutes
- Year: 1962 (restored 1989)
- Pressing: 2001
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 56 (36/20) plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English, Spanish, German
- Subtitles: 19 languages available
- Widescreen: 2.20:1 (Super Panavision 70)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 2 * DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Main Featurette: “The Making of Lawrence of Arabia”, Four other Featurettes, A Journey with Lawrence, Trailer, A Conversation with Steven Spielberg, Footage from the New York Premiere, Advertising Campaigns, Filmographies, Texts and Photos, DVD-ROM content (Archives of Arabia)
Director:
- David Lean
(The Bridge on the River Kwai, Brief Encounter, Doctor Zhivago, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Great Expectations, Hobson’s Choice, In Which We Serve, Lawrence of Arabia, Oliver Twist, A Passage to India, Ryan’s Daughter, The Sound Barrier, Summertime)
Producers:
- Robert A. Harris and Sam Spiegel
Screenplay:
- Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson
(from original writings by T.E. Lawrence
Music:
- Maurice Jarre
Cast:
- T.E. Lawrence: Peter O’Toole
Prince Feisal: Alec Guinness
Auda abu Tayi: Anthony Quinn
General Allenby: Jack Hawkins
Sherif Ali: Omar Sharif
Turkish Bey: Jose Ferrer
Almost 40 years after the original cinema release – and ten years after the director’s death – Lawrence of Arabia arrives on the format it deserves in the complete 219-minute director’s cut.
T.E. Lawrence (Peter O’Toole) is dead. No, I’m not spoiling any part of the plot as the film begins – after the sumptuous overture – with Lawrence going for an ill-fated spin on his motorbike, but he will be remembered for the work he carried out during World War I as a British officer in uniting two warring Arab factions against the ruling Turkish empire in a true-life story.
The magnificent cast of old-time stalwarts includes Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins and Omar Sharif as Sherif Ali, who first appears in the oft-shown scene where he approaches Lawrence and his Bedu friend. I say ‘oft-shown’ because it’s frequently used as an example of why the full widescreen ratio is always required.
David Lean‘s film is a hugely-entertaining one most of the time, but one that requires viewers of great patience as it does go on for nearly four hours. In order to maintain the quality as best as they can, Columbia have divided the film up into two parts. Disc one contains some DVD-ROM extras and the film’s first 134 minutes, ending with the word “INTERMISSION” emblazoned across the screen. The second begins with the score from said intermission and the final 85 minutes, as well as the rest of the supplemental material. Note that the overtures during the start, intermission and end all play without images adorning the screen, which was at the request of the late director.
A film company’s favourite words, “Digitally Remastered”, are always employed when an old film is taken and spruced up. The anamorphic Super Panavision widescreen ratio of 2.20 looks mostly fantastic, but there is shimmering during some daytime scenes including an early sunrise across the desert, plus later when Omar Sharif first appears to Lawrence, as alighted to earlier. The average bitrate is 6.7Mb/s, occasionally peaking above 9Mb/s.
Dolby Digital 5.1 has been provided in English, German and Spanish. Whether it’s planes flying overhead Lawrence (disc 1, chapter 10), Maurice Jarre‘s rousing score or the throbbing motorbike engine, ridden by Lawrence in the post-opening credits sequence, such aural moments give great pleasure, but the dialogue can seem a little tinny on occasion. The main featurette does explain that some lines of dialogue were re-recorded for this director’s cut.
“How long is that bloody Pizza Hut delivery guy going to take?”
The first extra is the 62-minute featurette, The Making of Lawrence of Arabia, blending non-anamorphic film clips with interviews with many surviving cast and crew members. This featurette was rated certificate 12, hence the reason why the entire package was upped from a PG.
A Journey with Lawrence is a well-produced chronological sequence of events for the man, allowing you to click on a particular time period or place where he went in order to find out more information. An anamorphic 16:9 widescreen Trailer looks a little ropey in terms of quality but at five minutes long, it’s certainly the most lengthy one I’ve witnessed to date.
A Conversation with Steven Spielberg is an 8½-minute monologue with clips from the film mixed in. The 70-second Footage from the New York Premiere is like an old-age Pathe news item. Very dark and lacking in visual quality, but an absolute must for the die-hard collector. Advertising Campaign runs for five minutes and portrays how the film was too long at first before being shortened and turned into more of an actioner. It wasn’t until 1989 before the entire director’s cut was restored to its full glory. Filmographies are also included for the entire cast and crew.
Four additional featurettes, totalling a shade over 17 minutes, are here, taking in Maan, Jordan: The Camels are Cast; In Search of Lawrence; Romance of Arabia; and Wind, Sand and Star: The Making of a Classic.
For such a long film, Columbia have treated us to 56 chapters and subtitles in a massive 19 languages : English, German, Spanish, Arabic, Dutch, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Bulgarian, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish and Swedish.
The menus are all animated and scored with excellent swipes inbetween of a dusty sandstorm sweeping across the screen with horses being ridden appearing as a clever visual effect within.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.