Jon Robertson
Screenwriter
- Joined
- May 19, 2001
- Messages
- 1,568
Dennis: It's the best films ever made, in my opinion?
...it was simply too long.It's exactly the right length. It's sad that many modern movies are short and clipped to the point of being downright frantic. This, of course, is to placate our hurried, zero-attention-span society and to cram as many showings as possible into the cineplexes. The Lord of the Rings and Titanic are notable exceptions to this rule (and incredibly successful as well). Films like these take their time setting up the story and immersing the viewer in a world that demands to be lived in, not simply fast-forwarded through.
Borrowing a criticism aimed at W.A. Mozart in the equally epic Amadeus, are there really "too many notes" in Lawrence of Arabia? If so, which ones would we cut? One could trim Lawrence of Arabia down to half its running length without removing the basic story--but it would diminish the soul of this work of art in ways that can't be measured. Imagine thinking that the Sistine Chapel ceiling is too big and that we should cut it down a little because it's tiresome to look at. You know, just so we get the basic idea of what the painting's all about... see, God over here, guy with a finger over there. Beauti-ful.
*Shudder*
It's exactly the right length.(re: Lawrence of Arabia)
Again I have to disagree with you- there is no "exactly the right length". If only you could find a team of writer/director/editor who could make a movie that is "exactly the right length" ... sadly these things only happen in dreams. (just like perfect actors...)
Lawrence.. is as long as it is; it doesn't need anything added or taken away because that would make it a different movie. If you are making a movie from scratch you will naturally try to make it around two hours long, but if you have adapted story to cover that doesn't fit that then you need to do what you can with what you've got. I'd say that Richard Wagner's Ring of the Nieblung operas are almost the right length for cinema adaptation; you can fit everything in. But Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov has far too much plot to be accuratly adapted in a comfortable cinema format- it would work as a TV mini-series, hoever.
The key is to make sure that the story fits the media: IMHO, Lawrence is wonderful because of it's beautiful cinematography and acting, but it's length is a painful aspect.
all right, enough sidetracking; Lawrence of Arabia may not be done justice in it's current DVD release, but if you don't live in the land of 70mm cinema, and you don't have Laserdisc, I'd say rent the film on DVD and spend a week of evenings watching it a few times. It's one of the best films made (IMHO ), and it deserves every ounce of respect that can be given.
The only proper place - in a real movie theater! The 70mm re-release comes out on September 20 in New York and L.A. (and other cities). It would be worth a long drive to see it in 70mm. LOA should NOT be seen for the first time on video.This is one of the few films that I feel does not do well outside of a theater. And maybe even a 70mm print.
Both Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge On The River Kwai are wonderful movies in need of wonderful restorations by Mr. Harris & Co.Lawrence of Arabia has been restored. The DVD simply lacks correct color timing and audio mixing. Kwai looks great on DVD except for the 16mm footage used. That part looks very soft and grainy, but that's just a problem with the source. The rest of the film looks fantastic.
What was cut from the restoration credits? They looked complete.
The DVD's are botch jobs to say the least. Sony needs to get its collective head out of its collective you know what and do right by these immense classics.
This is an absolute reduculous statement! Have you actually watched these dvd's? These DVD's are FAR from botch jobs and I would doubt anyone would even have noticed the LOA problems if they weren't pointed out by Robert A. Harris! These films look outstanding on DVD and aside from a few minor problems (which very few would even notice) are a visual pleasure to watch!
This is the same BS as when The Phantom LD came out it was heralded as the best audio track put out but when the DVD came out and had a noticably different audio track a bunch of these same people started spewing the "TPM Laserdisc is overcooked"!