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wA Common Misconception |
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Exciting stories of a slightly less-than-average girl's monotonous life. Guitars, small towns, bad jokes, and chicken.
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wThursday, October 09, 2003 |
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Crazy subject lines of junk mail I have gotten today:
1. Claim Your Free Radio Control Helicopter
2. .^:d_ont be shy.. ta_ke a l*ook qzjpvzbdmavt
3. ,^;Gi^ve her s.ome th"ing t.o prais_e you f-or! uzedmdlhvgxv
The second two were regarding penis enlargement, but the first one had a kind of interesting message:
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) is the filmic retelling of T. E. Lawrence's heroic, autobiographical account of his own Arabian adventure, published in "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" (originally published with the title Revolt in the Desert). The cinematic "men's film" (with first-time screenwriter Robert Bolt's screenplay) is a superb character study of a compelling cult hero.The beautiful masterpiece (accompanied by a superb score from Maurice Jarre) is thought by many to be director David Lean's best (even topping The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)), with its Super Panavision 70 mm scope, magnificent color cinematography and poetic imagery of the desert captured within a spectacular epic story of a larger-than-life, idealistic adventurer.The film conveys the enigmatic, complex life and exploits of an eccentric, rebellious, desert-loving, messianic, Oxford-bred British officer/Welsh-man (repeatedly referred to as an "Englishman"), who aided the Arabian Bedouins against the Turks (an ally of Germany) during World War I. The Arabian desert functions as a majestic backdrop and metaphysical land for Lawrence's exploits. The film focuses on four major events in his life - told in flashback: the glorious conquest of Aqaba, Lawrence's capture and torture in Deraa, the "no prisoners" massacre at Tafas, and the anti-climactic fall of Damascus.In 1962 when the film first opened, it was 222 minutes long, but it was subsequently cut down to 187 minutes, and not restored to 217 minutes until 1989. The nearly four-hour long film (without any female speaking roles) featured a star-studded cast, with a virtually unknown, blue-eyed Irish Shakespearean actor Peter O'Toole in his first starring role as the heroic and contradictory uncrowned King of Arabia - Lawrence - a solitary, masochistic adventurer (with confused sexuality) who paradoxically wanted to be both extraordinary and ordinary. In the end, his excessive arrogance and pushing of limits leads to his own downfallIt was also a major award-winning film that received ten Academy Award nominations and seven Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Picture, Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Music Score (Maurice Jarre), and Best Film Editing. Its nominations for Best Actor (Peter O'Toole), Best Supporting Actor (Omar Sharif), and Best Screenplay (Robert Bolt) were unrewarded - O'Toole lost to Gregory Peck for his performance in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).The opening scene of the film is both a prologue and an epilogue, depicting Lieutenant T. E. Lawrence's (Peter O'Toole) death in mid-May of 1935. After the credits, Lawrence races his motorcycle along an English country road. [The custom-made motorcycle was a 'George VII' Brough Superior (Model SS100) with a 998cc overhead valve engine - Lawrence nicknamed it Boanerges or 'Son of Thunder'.] His daredevil face is alternately illuminated and darkened - foretelling his own destiny - as he passes through shadows cast by roadside trees. At the crest of a hill, he brakes and swerves to avoid two bicyclists, losing control and crashing his motorcycle into shrubbery - he disappears off-screen. His riderless motorcycle hurtles through the air and comes to rest with its rear wheel spinning. His eye goggles hang lifelessly from a branch. The freakish, disastrous motorcycle crash is fatal.Following the mysterious accident, the camera pulls back from a bronze bust of T. E. Lawrence 1888 - 1935, located in St. Paul's Cathedral in London, where a memorial service is being heldColonel Harry Brighton (Anthony Quayle) offers his assessment of LawrencHe was the most extraordinary man I ever knew.The camera pans down the front of the Cathedral, where on the steps, General Lord Allenby (Jack Hawkins) and then American journalist Jackson Bentley (Arthur Kennedy) [in a role based upon real-life reporter Lowell Thomas] are asked for a few words by an agile reporter. In an informal eulogy, Bentley provides two contrasting, contradictoryviews of the man and legend:
Then there is a picture of the "Air Hunter" - the free radio controlled helicopter that I will get if I click on the picture.
Yesterday I got a copy of someone's resume. I'm not sure why because it wasn't even addressed to me. Oh well. Good night.
posted by
Colleen at 9:29 PM
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