Lawrence of Arabia

"Nothing is written."

1962 3h 48m EN

🙌

8.0

BANGER

★8.0TMDB · 3,608

AdventureHistoryWar

Synopsis

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During World War I, English officer Thomas Edward 'T.E.' Lawrence sets out to unite and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes to fight the Turks.

“Nothing is written.”

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Cast

Peter O'Toole
T.E. Lawrence
Alec Guinness
Prince Feisal
Omar Sharif
Sherif Ali
Anthony Quinn
Auda abu Tayi
Jack Hawkins
General Allenby
José Ferrer
Turkish Bey
Anthony Quayle
Colonel Harry Brighton
Claude Rains
Mr. Dryden

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: David Lean
Writers: Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson
Languages: Arabic, English, Portuguese, Turkish
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

At 228 minutes, this is a three-hour-plus commitment — longer than 95% of films ever made.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.7× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

64 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Arabic, English, Portuguese, Turkish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by David Lean, shot by Freddie Young. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Maurice Jarre. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Anne V. Coates shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Peter O'Toole and Alec Guinness and Omar Sharif carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

David Lean directs. Freddie Young behind the camera. Maurice Jarre scores. Anne V. Coates cuts. A long sit — settle in. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in Arabic, English, Portuguese, Turkish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1At 228 minutes, this is a three-hour-plus commitment — longer than 95% of films ever made.
2Made its money back 4.7× over at the box office.
364 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Arabic, English, Portuguese, Turkish.
5Directed by David Lean, shot by Freddie Young. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Maurice Jarre. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Anne V. Coates shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Peter O'Toole and Alec Guinness and Omar Sharif carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Nothing is written.".
10IMDB entry: tt0056172 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 17 themes, including "cairo", "world war i", "arabian", "horse".
12Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Freddie Young
Original score: Maurice Jarre
Editing: Anne V. Coates
Production design: John Box
Costume design: Phyllis Dalton
Makeup / hair: Charles E. Parker
Runtime: 228 min · 3h 48m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $15,000,000
Box office: $70,000,000
Return: 467% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Awards

Silver nugget for the best foreign film
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Academy Award for Best Sound
Academy Award for Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Best Director
Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Color
Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Color
Academy Award for Best Picture

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

David Lean

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Peter McGinn2020-09-24
★ 7/10
This is obviously an epic film, lasting nearly four hours with the wide, sweeping desert vistas and huge cast. It describes a fairly brief period of time out of a remarkable man’s life. I wonder how modern viewers handle the length of the movie, accustomed as they are to movies this lengthy featuring superheroes with humor and almost constant action. I don’t even remember how long ago I originally watched Lawrence of Arabia —quite possibly forty or more years ago. It has aged pretty well overall. The only negative thing that struck me when I recently re-watched it may well be due to my age. But it can be a talkative film at times, which is fine, but they sometimes talk fairly softly, and if such a scene transitions to music, I found the music to be so loud in comparison that it lifted me half of my chair. I had to have remote in hand to be ready to adjust the volume. A minor thing.
r96sk2024-09-10
★ 10/10
227 minutes of greatness! I've always wanted to watch <em>'Lawrence of Arabia'</em> given its standing as being one of the greats, though that rather long run time always put it on my subconscious back-burner. At last, I rooted out some time for it and man it was a well spent near four hours! I'm not going to say its length is ignorable, though it truly doesn't feel like a 3hr 47min movie - so every credit to all involved. Peter O'Toole's performance is undoubtedly outstanding, I can't really add anything more to what I'm sure many, many others have noted down the decades - he is, put simply, brilliant. Other strong performers are Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif and, albeit more minorly, Claude Rains. No-one on the cast puts a foot wrong, as expected. The cinematography throughout is also absolutely exquisite, the entire look and feel of the film is just stunning. There is much more to say about this but I'll leave that to those that have already said such things. I'm just here to watch great movies and this 1962 picture is unequivocally one of those. Quite evidently a classic, no doubt about it.
CinemaSerf2024-11-19
★ 9/10
This has got to be in my top ten movies - it is an almost flawless exercise in marrying fantastic photography, casting, writing, costumes and a score into three hours of wonderful entertainment. Rumour has it that Albert Finney was offered the lead role and suggested Peter O'Toole instead. If that is true (or not) then clearly serendipity was already on hand to guide this rendition of the story of TE Lawrence, who inspired and led an Arab uprising against the Ottoman empire. The iconic scene that introduces us to Omar Sharif as Lawrence heads to meet Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness) starts us on a journey mixing adventure, politics, superstition, ambition and cruelty. Anthony Quinn is superb as are, in lesser capacities, Claude Rains, José Ferrer and Jack Hawkins as his somewhat cynical, but opportunistic GOC. Arthur Kennedy helps take Lawrence's story to the world and through his eyes we see how his character is changed by all the violence around/instigated by him. Peter O'Toole conveys the emotional rollercoaster of a journey from naive, optimistic officer to war-weary veteran in a dazzling fashion. This is a true treat of a film.