Well, dear readers, I’d walk a mile for a camel and last night I felt like I walked 1000 miles for a camel. Why is that you might ask and I might tell you, for why should I withhold such vital information from dear readers such as yourselves? Last night, you see, I saw a motion picture at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater entitled Lawrence of Arabia. This is a new 4K restoration from an 8K scan of the original (for the most part) 65mm camera negative. For some reason I was under the impression that they would be showing a 70mm print but alas, no, they were showing it digitally – but they brought in a 4K projector to do so, so it looked quite good as digital screenings go. But let me just state up front, I don’t like digital projection – there’s just something flat about it to me. Film is tactile, it has emulsion and when light hits it it’s, well, film. Digital is digital, but I will say this screening was the best digital projection I’ve seen.
I first saw Lawrence of Arabia when I was fourteen, at the Stanley Warner Beverly Hills, in my very own personally reserved seat. Back then I loved anything in 70mm, any epic at all. I was crazy for them and by 1962 I’d seen quite a few, including West Side Story, Ben-Hur, King of Kings, Mutiny on the Bounty and a few others. I couldn’t wait to see Lawrence of Arabia. It was impressive. It was massive. It was interesting. And I did not love it like I wanted to. With most 70mm films, I’d go back three and four times, maybe more. But I never felt like going back to Lawrence. Perhaps it was a bit too cerebral for a fourteen-year-old. I found the who is doing what for what reason very confusing back then, and the character of Lawrence himself was very complex, more complex than my mind could handle back then. It would be another fifteen years until I saw it again, this time in a 35mm IB Tech four-track stereo print. This time I enjoyed it much more. The next time I saw it was the 1988 restoration done by Mr. Robert A. Harris – that I saw at the Plitt in Century City and it was mighty impressive to see it in 70mm again. Later, I bought it on DVD, then a Superbit DVD – and I thought the transfer was absolutely wretched and I stopped watching after twenty minutes.
So how is this new restoration? The man responsible for it, Sony’s Grover Crisp, spoke before the screening and at some point he said rather honestly, “Is it perfect? No.” That kind of honesty is so refreshing, I must say, and Mr. Crisp is self-effacing and charming. And I would agree with his assessment that it’s not perfect. However, it’s pretty damn impressive, really impressive, and as good as it looked last night, it will look magnificent on the Blu-ray. There were moments when the clarity was amazing, and other moments (not many, though) where it was less amazing. They got the color just right, and it’s just so much fun to see a film like this projected, albeit digitally, on a huge screen. The scope of it is breathtaking.
And then there’s the film. I like it a lot these days, although it’s still not my favorite. But David Lean’s direction is so beautiful and perfect – never showing off, despite the beauty of his compositions, and always telling his story in the best possible way. Today they’d drain all the color from it, all the actors would mumble their way through awful dialogue, the editing would be hyper, and sixty percent of the film would be CGI. After, they’d let a colorist gussy up the whole thing. In other words, like most films today, it would look like processed cheese. No, David Lean and Freddy Young actually had to go DO this film – they had to compose, they had to get the shot right, they had to get the lighting right. They didn’t “pre-viz” anything – they were artists, and major ones at that. Today, this literate and great screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson wouldn’t get past a reader. They’d get ten pages in and toss it. Or, let’s say some miracle happened and a studio bought it. It would then go through numerous sets of writers, the punks who run the studios would ask for stupid change after stupid change – I mean, can you even imagine? “What’s Lawrence’s backstory, what obstacles is he overcoming, what’s his arc, what’s his journey, we need a big action scene up front, we need a scene of Lawrence as a child where something happens to him and then at the end we pay it off.”
Peter O’Toole is beyond brilliant in this film – it’s one of the most unique performances ever put on film. And you can hear every word he says, ditto for Omar Sharif. Anthony Quinn almost walks away with the film, Alec Guiness is his usual incredible self, Jack Hawkins is terrific and Claude Rains is a textbook on what great screen acting is all about. He’s in quite a few scenes but doesn’t have much dialogue, but he knows how to react subtly and he is amazing to watch. Back in the day, I wasn’t that fond of Maurice Jarre’s score, even though I was a fan of his because of Sundays and Cybele, which I’d seen just a few weeks before Lawrence. But today I have come to really appreciate it and it works wonderfully in the film. So, based on this screening, I can tell you that this is one Blu-ray you will definitely want to own.
I actually didn’t know many people at the screening, but our very own Nick Redman was there with his ever-lovin’ Julie Kirgo. Prior to the film, I’d gotten up early, and for whatever reasons, awoke to over fifty orders. I printed those out, answered e-mails, then walked over to the bank where I did some banking, which is a good thing to do when you go to a bank. Whilst there, I saw Tanya Roberts. Then I went to Dr. Chew who cleaned my teeth. Did you know when I was a sprig of a twig of a tad of a lad of a youth that I used to buy Chiclets because I thought I was chewing teeth? Just asking. After Dr. Chew, I picked up a package, which contained the two hundred page script to The Man on Lincoln’s Nose aka North by Northwest. I can’t wait to read it. I did glance through it and was amused to see that the non-existent George Kaplan was called George Rosen in this version, and the villain played by James Mason was not called Van Damm here – here he’s called Mendoza. Also included with the script were a few pages of shot notes for two sequences – the drunk driving sequence and the Mount Rushmore sequence. I love having these Hitchcock scripts.
After that, I wrote question for the Harvey Evans interview, which hopefully he’ll get to before he leaves town on Sunday. Then I moseyed on over to the Hills of Beverly and supped at Kate Mantilini’s. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it’s very late and I must get some semblance of beauty sleep.
Today, I shall begin writing the contextual commentary – hoping to be finished with that by Sunday. Then I have some errands and whatnot to do, then hopefully I’ll pick up some packages and an important envelope, then I have to pay some bills, I’ll eat something light but amusing, and then I’m relaxing.
The weekend has stuff but I can’t even remember what it is. I would love to go out and celebrate the Follies release, which I’ve had no time to do, so we’ll see about that. Next week is very busy.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or The Brain Tap because today is the birthday of the humungously errant and truant Miss Karen, mother of the equally errant and truant Cason. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to the humungously errant and truant Miss Karen, mother of the equally errant and truant Cason. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO THE HUMUNGOUSLY ERRANT AND TRUANT MISS KAREN, MOTHER OF THE EQUALLY ERRANT AND TRUANT CASON!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write commentary, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up some packages and an important envelope, pay some bills, eat, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, all upcoming Kritzerland projects. DVD, more Varg Veum. Blu and Ray, Cover Girl and High Noon up next. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I’m quite certain I shall walk a mile for a camel.