Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

[Galactus123]

Originally Posted by ilovenola2

This IS the "original theatrical version."

Thanks for the info. I was under impression that it was shorter originally.

[biglou114]

Originally Posted by ilovenola2

This IS the "original theatrical version."

It's a bit more complicated than that.

Here's a short history as found on Wikipedia:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Theatrical run
The film premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 10 December 1962 (Royal Premiere) and was released in the United States on 16 December 1962.

The original release ran for about 222 minutes (plus overture, intermission, and exit music). A post-premiere memo (13 December 1962) noted that the film was 24,987.5 ft (70 mm) and 19,990 ft (35 mm). With 90 ft of 35 mm film projected every minute, this corresponds to exactly 222.11 minutes. Richard May, VP Film Preservation at Warner Bros., sent an email to Robert Morris, co-author of a book on Lawrence of Arabia, in which he noted that Gone With the Wind was never edited after its premiere and is 19,884 ft of 35 mm film (without leaders, overture, intermission, entr'acte, or walkout music), corresponding to 220.93 min. Thus, Lawrence of Arabia is slightly more than 1 minute longer than Gone With the Wind and is, therefore, the longest movie ever to win a Best Picture Oscar.

In January 1963, Lawrence was released in a version edited by 20 minutes; when it was re-released in 1971, an even shorter cut of 187 minutes was presented. The first round of cuts was made at the direction and even insistence of David Lean, to assuage criticisms of the film's length and increase the number of showings per day; however, during the 1989 restoration, he passed blame for the cuts onto deceased producer Sam Spiegel.[37] In addition, a 1966 print was used for initial television and video releases which accidentally altered a few scenes by reversing the image.

The film was screened out of competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival and at the 2012 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Restored director's cut
The current "restored version" was undertaken by Robert A. Harris and Jim Painten under the supervision of director David Lean. It was released in 1989 with a 216-minute length (plus overture, intermission, and exit music).

Most of the cut scenes were dialogue sequences, particularly those involving General Allenby and his staff. Two whole scenes were completely excised—Brighton's briefing of Allenby in Jerusalem before the Deraa scene and the British staff meeting in the field tent—and the Allenby-briefing scene has still not been entirely restored. Much of the missing dialogue involves Lawrence's writing of poetry and verse, alluded to by Allenby in particular, saying "the last poetry general we had was Wellington". The opening of Act II existed in only fragmented form, where Faisal is interviewed by Bentley, as well as the later scene in Jerusalem where Allenby convinces Lawrence not to resign. Both scenes were restored to the 1989 re-release. Some of the more graphic shots of the Tafas massacre scene were also restored, such as the lengthy panning shot of the corpses in Tafas, and Lawrence shooting a surrendering Turkish soldier. Most of the still-missing footage is of minimal import, supplementing existing scenes. One scene is an extended version of the Deraa rape sequence, which makes Lawrence's punishment more overt in that scene. Other scripted scenes exist, including a conversation between Auda and Lawrence immediately after the fall of Aqaba, a brief scene of Turkish officers noting the extent of Lawrence's campaign, and the battle of Petra (later reworked into the first train attack), but these scenes were probably not filmed. The actors still living at the time of the re-release dubbed their own dialogue, though Jack Hawkins's dialogue had to be dubbed by Charles Gray, who had already done Hawkins' voice for several films after Hawkins developed throat cancer in the late 1960s. A full list of cuts can be found at the Internet Movie Database. Reasons for the cuts of various scenes can be found in Lean's notes to Sam Spiegel, Robert Bolt, and Anne V. Coates. The film runs 227 minutes in the most recent director's cut available on Blu-ray Disc and DVD.

[thatguamguy]

Is the deleted scene on the limited edition Blu part of the missing footage or is it a different deleted scene?

[Norbie]

Originally Posted by Fairfax

Mine's looked like that for a long, long time now. Worse, actually; not just the general book spine but it's seeped onto the outer packaging.

Damn shame......

It looked and felt like I high quality product. It still does I guess, it just loses a few quality points. At least I got it for a good price when I purchased it back in the day.

[Fairfax]

Yes, I took another look just now... The glue stain on mine (and it's extremely large, covering much of the spine) seeped through the book's spine and onto the main box, which in turn soaked through so it's visible from the outside; you can see it clearly even when the collection's sitting on the shelf (that's how I noticed it to begin with, those years ago). I'd be amazed if anybody's will remain pristine forever; even if they look fine now I imagine the general contact with air will cause the reaction at some point or other.

[hpDeskjet600C]

I bought a used copy from a thrift shop and found a UV code insert; not sure if it's already redeemed or valid since it's way past the expiration date. If anyone wants to try it out here it is:

ABN25S1XCWVXPTM3

@ sonypictures.com/uvredeem

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by hpDeskjet600C

I bought a used copy from a thrift shop and found a UV code insert; not sure if it's already redeemed or valid since it's way past the expiration date. If anyone wants to try it out here it is:

ABN25S1XCWVXPTM3

@ sonypictures.com/uvredeem

Already have it, but I checked and it's still valid

https://www.myuv.com/redeem

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by hpDeskjet600C

I bought a used copy from a thrift shop and found a UV code insert; not sure if it's already redeemed or valid since it's way past the expiration date. If anyone wants to try it out here it is:

ABN25S1XCWVXPTM3

@ sonypictures.com/uvredeem

Thanks man!

...hope I can do you a solid somewhere down the road.

[Shalashaska]

Lawrence of Arabia - official trailer - presented in 70mm - YouTube

It appears we're getting more 70mm releases. The IFI (screening the film in October) claims their getting a "brand new" print.

I assume these are taken from the 4K masters and not original film elements, right?

[thatguamguy]

At the time the most recent restoration was done, they didn't make 70mm prints of it because of expense, so yeah, it's almost certainly from the 4k. (Or they're lying.)

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

At the time the most recent restoration was done, they didn't make 70mm prints of it because of expense, so yeah, it's almost certainly from the 4k. (Or they're lying.)

I would think so too. I wanted to get the JP release since it is spread across two discs with better PQ than the US release, but it has remained expensive.

[as117]

Has anyone seen this in 4K? If so is it noticeably better in picture quality than the Blu Ray? If so will they be releasing this on UHD blu-ray? Right now I understand it has to be downloaded or something which I dont know how to do. And I dont want to stream it since I am looking for the best PQ.

Thanks

[Sommerswerd]

The Castro Theatre in SF will be showing a new 70mm print of Lawrence of Arabia over the next four days (8/31-9/4): http://castrotheatre.com/p-list.html#aug31

[thatguamguy]

I saw it in Queens last month, the new print looks beautiful.

[reanimator]

Originally Posted by as117

will they be releasing this on UHD blu-ray? Right now I understand it has to be downloaded or something which I dont know how to do.

Sony has made no official announcement, but since LOA has been available on their own 4K download service for some time, a UHD blu ray release is considered very likely in the future.

[RICKBONDOO7]

Lawrence in 4K UHD Please ! River Kwai is on the way Guns of Navarone also Please.

[as117]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

I saw it in Queens last month, the new print looks beautiful.

Is the 4k a noticeable improvement over the new Blu-Ray? Will it be noticeable on a 55" TV? I am wondering if I should wait for the UHD disc before buying.

[as117]

Originally Posted by reanimator

Sony has made no official announcement, but since LOA has been available on their own 4K download service for some time, a UHD blu ray release is considered very likely in the future.

How do I download from Sony? Is the 4k much better than the new blu ray?
Do you know if they did an HDR pass?

Thanks.

[as117]

Originally Posted by RICKBONDOO7

Lawrence in 4K UHD Please ! River Kwai is on the way Guns of Navarone also Please.

River Kwai will be cool. I didn't realize it is coming out on UHD disc.

[flyry]

Originally Posted by as117

Is the 4k a noticeable improvement over the new Blu-Ray? Will it be noticeable on a 55" TV? I am wondering if I should wait for the UHD disc before buying.

I was skeptical about picking up Spartacus and Ben-Hur this week for $9 and $10 respectively just because I iknow we'll probably get anniversary versions on UHD in 2019 and 2020.

But I mulled it over for a week and pulled the trigger because the price was too good to pass up. I also picked this up about a year ago only a few weeks after getting my UHD tv.