The first time I saw Lawrence of Arabia in theaters it was a horribly battered pre-restoration print that had entire reels flipped (words on screen were reversed; characters were suddenly left-handed). It was still glorious.
Prints of popular movies deteriorated so fast that you could only see them in good quality within the first few weeks of release. You kids have no idea how lucky you are.
I had the good fortune of first seeing Lawrence on the big screen during the 1989 restoration when it was all spic and span again. I’ll always be grateful to my dad for dragging me to see it.
Brian, let me get back to you re: Egyptian screening.
Incidentally, I would just like to say that I think Omar Sharif gets the greatest entrance of any character in movie history in this film. (Even better than Orson Welles in The Third Man, IMO.)
My dad took me too, it was fucking epic. I can still remember my feeling at intermission, “I can get a snack and there is even more movie!”
No worries Gordon!
I am so excited! I just only saw iton DVD for the first time, and was still blown away by it. Sharif’s entrance actually filled me me with increasing dread as he approached. Amazing feeling.
Wow, tickets are already sold out. :-\
Oh well – enjoy!
I’ve only seen the movie once, and it was on a VHS tape version years ago on a 19" tv. ;) I still recall it being amazing, and I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like to see it on an HDTV with this restored blu-ray version!
Hey Gordon, must’ve been a website issue, as tickets are available again.
I had excellent luck as just last month the 50th Anniversary re-release rolled through here for one-night only. I had looked online previously and thought it was only showing in Winnipeg so it was a very nice surprise. No one would go with me, partly due to length, but goddammit I went.
I think it was the best film I’ve ever seen at the theatre. Probably only ten people showed up so it was a great viewing experience as well. Those amazing early desert shots; the long take at the well to introduce Ali; the Nefud; that wonderful tracking shot as the Arabs swarm into Aqaba; etc.
Oddly I had the DVD but never got very far into it. Blessing in disguise that. I’ll look to get the Blu-Ray soon.
Very nice. :-)
Not only did I get the 50th anniversary set from my secret santa here, but I got to see the 4K restoration on the big screen last night, first time seeing it on the big screen too.
Holy. Shit. I’m still catching my breath.
It’s clean.
No prisoners!
That part makes me sad. :(
I know, it’s so sad to see him break.
Purchased the blu-ray last week and I’m very happy with it. Basically just looked through the extra features so far - including the wonderful Peter O’Toole interview. The Spielberg interview made me very jealous of the personal commentary track he got with David Lean during the 1989 restoration.
I’d recommend watching both the interviews and the included documentary on the second disc as it really put some things into focus for me and showed me some important things that I didn’t catch onto during my initial theatre viewing. The callback to Lawrence initially getting his robes and checking himself out with the knife and then doing so again after the massacre of the Turkish column for instance.
I finally noticed that on the bluray, too. Or at least this time I remembered noticing the way he examines himself in the blade a second time.
There’s still no substitute for the big screen, but good god the clarity & color here were amazing.
I watched those interviews and the documentary on the 2nd disk last weekend and yeah, very enlightening. Had no idea he was checking his reflection in the knife either, but know that bloody scene makes a ton more sense.
Got my blu ray copy for Christmas. Going to fire it up this weekend, I do believe.
Finally sat down and ripped the soundtrack CD that came with the collector’s set, and lord is it amazing. So glad I got this. :)