After 100 years, the verdict is in
April 5, 2016 2:52 PM Subscribe
Just gonna runaway! Never coming back!
posted by alex_skazat at 3:09 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by alex_skazat at 3:09 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I wonder if Col. Lawrence would see the humor in the fact that he originally went to the Middle East to do archaeology, and now archaeologists are looking for signs of him.
posted by anastasiav at 3:36 PM on April 5, 2016 [39 favorites]
posted by anastasiav at 3:36 PM on April 5, 2016 [39 favorites]
I'd like to make sure that everyone knows that "Lawrence of Arabia" was an amazng movie but it was fictional "based on real events".
If you really want to get an idea of what Colonel Lawrence was like, read his book. I have, and he isn't anything like the way the movie portrayed him.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:45 PM on April 5, 2016 [10 favorites]
If you really want to get an idea of what Colonel Lawrence was like, read his book. I have, and he isn't anything like the way the movie portrayed him.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:45 PM on April 5, 2016 [10 favorites]
I fully expect this thread to go right off the rails.
The secret is not minding that it derails.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:45 PM on April 5, 2016 [36 favorites]
The secret is not minding that it derails.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:45 PM on April 5, 2016 [36 favorites]
To wikipedia i go.
You should watch the movie, it'll be much quicker.
posted by Dashy at 3:47 PM on April 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
You should watch the movie, it'll be much quicker.
posted by Dashy at 3:47 PM on April 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
I thought that all they found was sand and blood?
posted by jefflowrey at 3:49 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by jefflowrey at 3:49 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
To wikipedia i go.
While you are there, you should also look up Gertrude Bell.
Or just read the first few paragraphs here.
posted by Michele in California at 3:49 PM on April 5, 2016 [12 favorites]
While you are there, you should also look up Gertrude Bell.
Or just read the first few paragraphs here.
posted by Michele in California at 3:49 PM on April 5, 2016 [12 favorites]
You should watch the movie, it'll be much quicker.
Lord, there is nothing quick about that movie.
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:02 PM on April 5, 2016 [23 favorites]
Lord, there is nothing quick about that movie.
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:02 PM on April 5, 2016 [23 favorites]
Really, that's probably the first time anyone has ever said the movie is quick.
Jeremy Wilson's book is the authority, or was last time I checked. Seven Pillars is brilliant but kind of a tome.
posted by blnkfrnk at 4:05 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Jeremy Wilson's book is the authority, or was last time I checked. Seven Pillars is brilliant but kind of a tome.
posted by blnkfrnk at 4:05 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Seven Pillars of Wisdom is an incredible book. Lawrence was one of the very greatest writers of all military leaders. Here are the first two paragraphs of the book (from the first chapter):
"Some of the evil of my tale may have been inherent in our circumstances. For years we lived anyhow with one another in the naked desert, under the indifferent heaven. By day the hot sun fermented us; and we were dizzied by the beating wind. At night we were stained by dew, and shamed into pettiness by the innumerable silences of stars. We were a self-centred army without parade or gesture, devoted to freedom, the second of man's creeds, a purpose so ravenous that it devoured all our strength, a hope so transcendent that our earlier ambitions faded in its glare.
As time went by our need to fight for the ideal increased to an unquestioning possession, riding with spur and rein over our doubts. Willy-nilly it became a faith. We had sold ourselves into its slavery, manacled ourselves together in its chain-gang, bowed ourselves to serve its holiness with all our good and ill content. The mentality of ordinary human slaves is terrible--they have lost the world--and we had surrendered, not body alone, but soul to the overmastering greed of victory. By our own act we were drained of morality, of volition, of responsibility, like dead leaves in the wind."
It kind of builds from there. Full pdf of the book is available here.
posted by zipadee at 4:06 PM on April 5, 2016 [47 favorites]
"Some of the evil of my tale may have been inherent in our circumstances. For years we lived anyhow with one another in the naked desert, under the indifferent heaven. By day the hot sun fermented us; and we were dizzied by the beating wind. At night we were stained by dew, and shamed into pettiness by the innumerable silences of stars. We were a self-centred army without parade or gesture, devoted to freedom, the second of man's creeds, a purpose so ravenous that it devoured all our strength, a hope so transcendent that our earlier ambitions faded in its glare.
As time went by our need to fight for the ideal increased to an unquestioning possession, riding with spur and rein over our doubts. Willy-nilly it became a faith. We had sold ourselves into its slavery, manacled ourselves together in its chain-gang, bowed ourselves to serve its holiness with all our good and ill content. The mentality of ordinary human slaves is terrible--they have lost the world--and we had surrendered, not body alone, but soul to the overmastering greed of victory. By our own act we were drained of morality, of volition, of responsibility, like dead leaves in the wind."
It kind of builds from there. Full pdf of the book is available here.
posted by zipadee at 4:06 PM on April 5, 2016 [47 favorites]
Oops forgot the /sarcasm sry
posted by Dashy at 4:25 PM on April 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Dashy at 4:25 PM on April 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
This reminds me of the time I got into an argument once about whether Lawrence fabricated his account of being raped at Deraa in Seven Pillars (as opposed to understandably fudging some of the details). I was 16 and just gave the stinkeye and said that I believed him. I wish I could have that argument now so I could present a bunch of evidence about his general credibility, which seems to just increase with time. Funny thing, even rape victims who happen to be famous military tacticians get doubted.
posted by thetortoise at 4:25 PM on April 5, 2016 [21 favorites]
posted by thetortoise at 4:25 PM on April 5, 2016 [21 favorites]
Agree about Jeremy Wilson's amazing biography (Wilson also maintains this website), but Seven Pillars is it's own thing and should also be read by anyone who is interested in Lawrence.
To state the insanely obvious, to know the story of Lawrence, Auda Abu Tayi, Faisal I, and the Arab uprising is to understand so much more about the sources of conflict in the region to this very day.
posted by anastasiav at 4:28 PM on April 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
To state the insanely obvious, to know the story of Lawrence, Auda Abu Tayi, Faisal I, and the Arab uprising is to understand so much more about the sources of conflict in the region to this very day.
posted by anastasiav at 4:28 PM on April 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
It seems like it would be a PITA to carry a pistol that had unique ammo. I guess he had to carry around a private stock of bullets.
Also, I was told that Seven Pillars of Wisdom was given to people as a primer on guerilla warfare. his tactics seem like basic knowledge to me, but that might be because guerrilla warfare is more the norm than not these days.
posted by small_ruminant at 4:33 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Also, I was told that Seven Pillars of Wisdom was given to people as a primer on guerilla warfare. his tactics seem like basic knowledge to me, but that might be because guerrilla warfare is more the norm than not these days.
posted by small_ruminant at 4:33 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
I fully expect this thread to go right off the rails.
*edit* Damnit, G&P made the same comment up thread. Beat me to it. :)
posted by Fizz at 4:38 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
*edit* Damnit, G&P made the same comment up thread. Beat me to it. :)
posted by Fizz at 4:38 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Anyone who goes to the Middle East to fight should read SPoW and the collected short stories of Paul Bowles.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 4:39 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr. Yuck at 4:39 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Dashy: Oops forgot the /sarcasm sry
I thought you were making a comment about the depth of digging one could get into on Wikipedia by starting with Laurence of Arabia.
posted by clawsoon at 4:40 PM on April 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
I thought you were making a comment about the depth of digging one could get into on Wikipedia by starting with Laurence of Arabia.
posted by clawsoon at 4:40 PM on April 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
"I like it because it's clean."
posted by valkane at 4:49 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by valkane at 4:49 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
So I feel kind of dumb for having to ask this, but didn't find this context in the linked article (and shamefully I've never seen the film) - what was Lawrence's account that this find confirmed, and what had others accused him of embellishing about it?
posted by cobra_high_tigers at 4:58 PM on April 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by cobra_high_tigers at 4:58 PM on April 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
Don't feel dumb. This privileged guy went into the desert of a culture not explainable by modern standards, understood what he was dealing with, understood the culture. found something in it and prevailed.
I believe he was accused of fiction because he didn't fit in with other war memoirs of the time.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:07 PM on April 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
I believe he was accused of fiction because he didn't fit in with other war memoirs of the time.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:07 PM on April 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
what was Lawrence's account that this find confirmed,
That is a great question and I hope someone can find a real answer for you since I wondered that myself.
But I used to watch the movie annually and also did a college paper on the man. The article refers to a movie scene. My recollection is that in the movie scene in question, a young man loses a small explosive item that is intended to set off the larger explosion. Lawrence tells him it is fine, there is time, go fetch a replacement. But the item is actually still in the folds of the boy's clothes and it goes off, seriously injuring him.
Because they were guerilla forces, they were not protected by the rules that applied to soldiers. They had a policy of not allowing their wounded to be taken prisoner because they knew they would be tortured. So Lawrence shoots him. It is a mercy killing.
The article may be avoiding saying that because it is kind of an ugly thing to say: We have proven he really didn't lie and is a trustworthy character by finding evidence that he executed one of his own people.
IIRC, the young man in question is believed to have been either a close personal friend or his gay lover. It was a terrible position for Lawrence to be in.
The circumstances were harsh. Lawrence made the most ethical choices he could. Many people are horrified at his willingness to do what he believed to be right in such cruel circumstances. Many people cannot imagine making those choices. So Lawrence is often accused of making things up for dramatic effect. But I do not believe he did.
posted by Michele in California at 5:22 PM on April 5, 2016 [29 favorites]
That is a great question and I hope someone can find a real answer for you since I wondered that myself.
But I used to watch the movie annually and also did a college paper on the man. The article refers to a movie scene. My recollection is that in the movie scene in question, a young man loses a small explosive item that is intended to set off the larger explosion. Lawrence tells him it is fine, there is time, go fetch a replacement. But the item is actually still in the folds of the boy's clothes and it goes off, seriously injuring him.
Because they were guerilla forces, they were not protected by the rules that applied to soldiers. They had a policy of not allowing their wounded to be taken prisoner because they knew they would be tortured. So Lawrence shoots him. It is a mercy killing.
The article may be avoiding saying that because it is kind of an ugly thing to say: We have proven he really didn't lie and is a trustworthy character by finding evidence that he executed one of his own people.
IIRC, the young man in question is believed to have been either a close personal friend or his gay lover. It was a terrible position for Lawrence to be in.
The circumstances were harsh. Lawrence made the most ethical choices he could. Many people are horrified at his willingness to do what he believed to be right in such cruel circumstances. Many people cannot imagine making those choices. So Lawrence is often accused of making things up for dramatic effect. But I do not believe he did.
posted by Michele in California at 5:22 PM on April 5, 2016 [29 favorites]
Ugh. Meant to say: the bullet may prove he really shot the young man.
posted by Michele in California at 5:24 PM on April 5, 2016
posted by Michele in California at 5:24 PM on April 5, 2016
Many people cannot imagine making those choices.
Many people haven't a fucking clue of what it might be like to be in his position.
posted by Splunge at 5:27 PM on April 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
Many people haven't a fucking clue of what it might be like to be in his position.
posted by Splunge at 5:27 PM on April 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
This privileged guy went into the desert of a culture not explainable by modern standards, understood what he was dealing with, understood the culture. found something in it and prevailed.
Are we talking about Lawrence of Arabia or Paul Atreides?
posted by jamjam at 5:44 PM on April 5, 2016 [15 favorites]
Are we talking about Lawrence of Arabia or Paul Atreides?
posted by jamjam at 5:44 PM on April 5, 2016 [15 favorites]
tomayto, tomahto
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 5:50 PM on April 5, 2016 [14 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 5:50 PM on April 5, 2016 [14 favorites]
The movie is a byzantine leviathan sloth by current standards but hot damn it's a piece of art unparalleled.
posted by Doleful Creature at 5:54 PM on April 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by Doleful Creature at 5:54 PM on April 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
What you are referring to is pacing and editing. There are different ways to do it. That pacing and editing was effective for that movie.
posted by toodleydoodley at 5:56 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by toodleydoodley at 5:56 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
And how could I have left out the three paragraphs after the opening two that I copied above? They are some of the steamiest gay erotica to be found in modern military history (TRIGGER WARNING: HOT GUERILLA ON GUERILLA ACTION)
"The everlasting battle stripped from us care of our own lives or of others'. We had ropes about our necks, and on our heads prices which showed that the enemy intended hideous tortures for us if we were caught. Each day some of us passed; and the living knew themselves just sentient puppets on God's stage: indeed, our taskmaster was merciless, merciless, so long as our bruised feet could stagger forward on the road. The weak envied those tired enough to die; for success looked so remote, and failure a near and certain, if sharp, release from toil. We lived always in the stretch or sag of nerves, either on the crest or in the trough of waves of feeling. This impotency was bitter to us, and made us live only for the seen horizon, reckless what spite we inflicted or endured, since physical sensation showed itself meanly transient. Gusts of cruelty, perversions, lusts ran lightly over the surface without troubling us; for the moral laws which had seemed to hedge about these silly accidents must be yet fainter words. We had learned that there were pangs too sharp, griefs too deep, ecstasies too high for our finite selves to register. When emotion reached this pitch the mind choked; and memory went white till the circumstances were humdrum once more.
Such exaltation of thought, while it let adrift the spirit, and gave it licence in strange airs, lost it the old patient rule over the body. The body was too coarse to feel the utmost of our sorrows and of our joys. Therefore, we abandoned it as rubbish: we left it below us to march forward, a breathing simulacrum, on its own unaided level, subject to influences from which in normal times our instincts would have shrunk. The men were young and sturdy; and hot flesh and blood unconsciously claimed a right in them and tormented their bellies with strange longings. Our privations and dangers fanned this virile heat, in a climate as racking as can be conceived. We had no shut places to be alone in, no thick clothes to hide our nature. Man in all things lived candidly with man.
The Arab was by nature continent; and the use of universal marriage had nearly abolished irregular courses in his tribes. The public women of the rare settlements we encountered in our months of wandering would have been nothing to our numbers, even had their raddled meat been palatable to a man of healthy parts. In horror of such sordid commerce our youths began indifferently to slake one another's few needs in their own clean bodies--a cold convenience that, by comparison, seemed sexless and even pure. Later, some began to justify this sterile process, and swore that friends quivering together in the yielding sand with intimate hot limbs in supreme embrace, found there hidden in the darkness a sensual co-efficient of the mental passion which was welding our souls and spirits in one flaming effort. Several, thirsting to punish appetites they could not wholly prevent, took
a savage pride in degrading the body, and offered themselves fiercely in any habit which promised physical pain or filth."
posted by zipadee at 6:14 PM on April 5, 2016 [20 favorites]
"The everlasting battle stripped from us care of our own lives or of others'. We had ropes about our necks, and on our heads prices which showed that the enemy intended hideous tortures for us if we were caught. Each day some of us passed; and the living knew themselves just sentient puppets on God's stage: indeed, our taskmaster was merciless, merciless, so long as our bruised feet could stagger forward on the road. The weak envied those tired enough to die; for success looked so remote, and failure a near and certain, if sharp, release from toil. We lived always in the stretch or sag of nerves, either on the crest or in the trough of waves of feeling. This impotency was bitter to us, and made us live only for the seen horizon, reckless what spite we inflicted or endured, since physical sensation showed itself meanly transient. Gusts of cruelty, perversions, lusts ran lightly over the surface without troubling us; for the moral laws which had seemed to hedge about these silly accidents must be yet fainter words. We had learned that there were pangs too sharp, griefs too deep, ecstasies too high for our finite selves to register. When emotion reached this pitch the mind choked; and memory went white till the circumstances were humdrum once more.
Such exaltation of thought, while it let adrift the spirit, and gave it licence in strange airs, lost it the old patient rule over the body. The body was too coarse to feel the utmost of our sorrows and of our joys. Therefore, we abandoned it as rubbish: we left it below us to march forward, a breathing simulacrum, on its own unaided level, subject to influences from which in normal times our instincts would have shrunk. The men were young and sturdy; and hot flesh and blood unconsciously claimed a right in them and tormented their bellies with strange longings. Our privations and dangers fanned this virile heat, in a climate as racking as can be conceived. We had no shut places to be alone in, no thick clothes to hide our nature. Man in all things lived candidly with man.
The Arab was by nature continent; and the use of universal marriage had nearly abolished irregular courses in his tribes. The public women of the rare settlements we encountered in our months of wandering would have been nothing to our numbers, even had their raddled meat been palatable to a man of healthy parts. In horror of such sordid commerce our youths began indifferently to slake one another's few needs in their own clean bodies--a cold convenience that, by comparison, seemed sexless and even pure. Later, some began to justify this sterile process, and swore that friends quivering together in the yielding sand with intimate hot limbs in supreme embrace, found there hidden in the darkness a sensual co-efficient of the mental passion which was welding our souls and spirits in one flaming effort. Several, thirsting to punish appetites they could not wholly prevent, took
a savage pride in degrading the body, and offered themselves fiercely in any habit which promised physical pain or filth."
posted by zipadee at 6:14 PM on April 5, 2016 [20 favorites]
friends quivering together in the yielding sand with intimate hot limbs in supreme embrace, found there hidden in the darkness a sensual co-efficient of the mental passion which was welding our souls and spirits in one flaming effort
Wow.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 6:17 PM on April 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
Wow.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 6:17 PM on April 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
Intense, huh? I'm telling you, the movie is NOTHING compared to that book.
posted by zipadee at 6:28 PM on April 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by zipadee at 6:28 PM on April 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
You mean they didn't include that scene in the movie? Huh.
I wonder if any gay filmmakers have taken on "The Real Lawrence of Arabia".
posted by clawsoon at 6:33 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I wonder if any gay filmmakers have taken on "The Real Lawrence of Arabia".
posted by clawsoon at 6:33 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
"Why it's Mr. T.E. Lawrence of Jesus College, Oxford!" was the best line ever in The Young Indy Chronicles.
I've had a love affair with Lawrence for many years now. My first English trade edition of Seven Pillars is one of things I'd rescue from a fire. Crusader Castles is also great, Lawrence's thesis based on his bicycle trip through the south of France and northern Africa. The letters are fine, too:
posted by octobersurprise at 6:34 PM on April 5, 2016 [8 favorites]
I've had a love affair with Lawrence for many years now. My first English trade edition of Seven Pillars is one of things I'd rescue from a fire. Crusader Castles is also great, Lawrence's thesis based on his bicycle trip through the south of France and northern Africa. The letters are fine, too:
"Over the Christmas season two men and four women have sent me fervent messages of love. Love carnal, not love rarefied, you know: and I an uncomfortable towards six more of the people I meet, therefore ... If only one might never come nearer to people than in the street. Miss Garbo sounds a really sympathetic woman! The poor soul. I feel for her."(Also, when I first saw the movie Stargate I was delighted by how much it ripped off Lawrence of Arabia.)
posted by octobersurprise at 6:34 PM on April 5, 2016 [8 favorites]
1. The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a fantastic read. The prose is very readable, but still dense, precise and poetic enough that I don't fault anyone for thinking it embellished.
2. I was introduced to T.E. Lawrence at 11 or 12 years old, when they built a brand-new shiny cinema complex (Cineplex Odeon no less!) up the hill from my house. To show off the biggest of the new theaters, they premiered a newly restored 70mm cut of the David Lean epic.
I sat in the front row of the balcony. It was the first film I'd ever seen that had an intermission. I still feel frustrated for anyone who wasn't introduced to those long, slow desert pans the way I was.
I've seen the film many times since on smaller screens - but always knew that it was a compromise. As such, it will remain one of my favorite films, but one that I am least likely to introduce anyone else to.
posted by Anoplura at 7:24 PM on April 5, 2016 [9 favorites]
2. I was introduced to T.E. Lawrence at 11 or 12 years old, when they built a brand-new shiny cinema complex (Cineplex Odeon no less!) up the hill from my house. To show off the biggest of the new theaters, they premiered a newly restored 70mm cut of the David Lean epic.
I sat in the front row of the balcony. It was the first film I'd ever seen that had an intermission. I still feel frustrated for anyone who wasn't introduced to those long, slow desert pans the way I was.
I've seen the film many times since on smaller screens - but always knew that it was a compromise. As such, it will remain one of my favorite films, but one that I am least likely to introduce anyone else to.
posted by Anoplura at 7:24 PM on April 5, 2016 [9 favorites]
One the greatest movie-going experiences of my life is seeing Lawrence of Arabia in a restored version, complete with overture and intermission, in a theater with three other people.
The actor who played Farraj has an crazy life story. Four years prior he was acting in a film called The Space Children, now he's given up acting and has a controlling interest in Heineken.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:28 PM on April 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
The actor who played Farraj has an crazy life story. Four years prior he was acting in a film called The Space Children, now he's given up acting and has a controlling interest in Heineken.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:28 PM on April 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
I found Seven Pillars of Wisdom readable because I love his descriptions and because he had a fine sense of irony and humor throughout it.
posted by small_ruminant at 7:39 PM on April 5, 2016
posted by small_ruminant at 7:39 PM on April 5, 2016
The Space Children was, of course, MST3K episode 906.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:41 PM on April 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 7:41 PM on April 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
You mean they didn't include that scene in the movie? Huh.
No, they had to cut it so they could keep the bit where he gets whipped by the sadistic Turkish commandant with the pencil mustache.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:54 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
No, they had to cut it so they could keep the bit where he gets whipped by the sadistic Turkish commandant with the pencil mustache.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:54 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I don't think you can watch the movie and think Lawrence is only attracted to women. It's pretty clear about that.
posted by michaelh at 8:08 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by michaelh at 8:08 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Or even attracted at all, unless I'm forgetting a scene.
posted by michaelh at 8:09 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by michaelh at 8:09 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
One the greatest movie-going experiences of my life is seeing Lawrence of Arabia in a restored version, complete with overture and intermission, in a theater with three other people.
It may be sacrilege to some, but my best experience of seeing it was when they did some screenings of the new digital restoration at the time of the recent Blu-Ray release. They'd scrubbed every last scratch and speck of dust during the digital scans. (The negatives even showed signs of damage from the desert heat during the original filming.) Seeing this amazingly clear image, the clearest it's been since the original premiere, in a large screen modern theater with a sound system blasting that amazing score.... I know there are "film only" purists out there, but that was truly wonderful.
posted by dnash at 8:42 PM on April 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
It may be sacrilege to some, but my best experience of seeing it was when they did some screenings of the new digital restoration at the time of the recent Blu-Ray release. They'd scrubbed every last scratch and speck of dust during the digital scans. (The negatives even showed signs of damage from the desert heat during the original filming.) Seeing this amazingly clear image, the clearest it's been since the original premiere, in a large screen modern theater with a sound system blasting that amazing score.... I know there are "film only" purists out there, but that was truly wonderful.
posted by dnash at 8:42 PM on April 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
I wonder if any gay filmmakers have taken on "The Real Lawrence of Arabia".
It's not really the thing you're asking about, but Terence Rattigan wrote a play, Ross, that provides an interesting counterpoint to the movie (Alec Guinness originated the lead role).
posted by thetortoise at 8:54 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's not really the thing you're asking about, but Terence Rattigan wrote a play, Ross, that provides an interesting counterpoint to the movie (Alec Guinness originated the lead role).
posted by thetortoise at 8:54 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
...the sadistic Turkish commandant with the pencil mustache.
José Ferrer (an excellent actor) also played the emperor in the Lawrence remake 'Dune'.
posted by ovvl at 9:04 PM on April 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
José Ferrer (an excellent actor) also played the emperor in the Lawrence remake 'Dune'.
posted by ovvl at 9:04 PM on April 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
They are some of the steamiest gay erotica to be found in modern military history
It is a testament to the power of the written word that a tale of a land so relentlessly arid can still flood my basement.
posted by louche mustachio at 9:22 PM on April 5, 2016 [9 favorites]
It is a testament to the power of the written word that a tale of a land so relentlessly arid can still flood my basement.
posted by louche mustachio at 9:22 PM on April 5, 2016 [9 favorites]
"The trick is not minding that it hurts."
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:04 PM on April 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:04 PM on April 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
One of my grandfathers was a geoengineer, an oil expat most of his working life, and one of the crazy-toughest people I've ever known. And he learned some of it from explorations in Arabia Petra and Arabia Deserta travelling with Bedouin. And he told me that after a while he asked what, if anything, the Bedouin thought of Lawrence; and two of his colleagues said their fathers had ridden with Lawrence and respected him, and his name was still abroad in the land. So I've always assumed Lawrence's stories were true enough. And he seems to have annoyed his superiors in a way consistent with that.
posted by clew at 10:53 PM on April 5, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by clew at 10:53 PM on April 5, 2016 [9 favorites]
Anyone familiar with Wilfred Thesiger/Arabian Sands?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:44 AM on April 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:44 AM on April 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
Ah! Wilfred Thesiger, the last explorer. He was the first to cross the Arabian Empty Quarter and had a fascinating life. For me the most impressive thing is he lived until 2003 so he live the time were maps had the 'here be dragons' phrase but also the time of highly detailed maps.
So I highly recommend Arabian Sands, fascinating read.
There's a bio written by Alexander Maitland which I did not read. But if you speak Spanish I recommend the bio by Manuel Leguineche, a great Spanish journalist.
posted by Tiet Peret at 2:54 AM on April 6, 2016
So I highly recommend Arabian Sands, fascinating read.
There's a bio written by Alexander Maitland which I did not read. But if you speak Spanish I recommend the bio by Manuel Leguineche, a great Spanish journalist.
posted by Tiet Peret at 2:54 AM on April 6, 2016
ovvl: "José Ferrer (an excellent actor) also played the emperor in the Lawrence remake 'Dune'."
And Stephanie's dad on "Newhart" which was clearly heavily influenced by Lawrence.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:08 AM on April 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
And Stephanie's dad on "Newhart" which was clearly heavily influenced by Lawrence.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:08 AM on April 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
Michel's life story is more glamorous than many a Hollywood fiction.
The info about the actor who played Faraj is great. I had no idea. I mostly knew that Alec Guinness, of Star Wars fame, was also in Lawrence of Arabia.
posted by Michele in California at 10:07 AM on April 6, 2016
The info about the actor who played Faraj is great. I had no idea. I mostly knew that Alec Guinness, of Star Wars fame, was also in Lawrence of Arabia.
posted by Michele in California at 10:07 AM on April 6, 2016
Wow. They found the bullet. Now let them go look for the smoking gun.
Seven Pillars is a stunning read. The movie was mesmerizing. As an actor Peter O'Toole was probably a genius, but I could see David Bowie as Lawrence.
Lawrence was a brilliant man and a gifted writer; I am so glad he learned the art of semicolon, though recently it has fallen into disuse, because it lets one take a virtual short breath before engaging the rest of the thought.
posted by mule98J at 11:15 AM on April 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
Seven Pillars is a stunning read. The movie was mesmerizing. As an actor Peter O'Toole was probably a genius, but I could see David Bowie as Lawrence.
Lawrence was a brilliant man and a gifted writer; I am so glad he learned the art of semicolon, though recently it has fallen into disuse, because it lets one take a virtual short breath before engaging the rest of the thought.
posted by mule98J at 11:15 AM on April 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
Years ago a friend of mine dubbed me a punctuation fetishist for my love of semicolons.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:04 PM on April 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:04 PM on April 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
Seven Pillars is such a strange, wonderful book. So many fine passages.
A first knowledge of their sense of the purity of rarefaction was given me in early years, when we had ridden far out over the rolling plains of North Syria to a ruin of the Roman period which the Arabs believed was made by a prince of the border as a desert-palace for his queen. The clay of its building was said to have been kneaded for greater richness, not with water, but with the precious essential oils of flowers. My guides, sniffing the air like dogs, led me from crumbling room to room, saying, 'This is jessamine, this violet, this rose'.posted by doctornemo at 12:54 PM on April 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
But at last Dahoum drew me: 'Come and smell the very sweetest scent of all', and we went into the main lodging, to the gaping window sockets of its eastern face, and there drank with open mouths of the effortless, empty, eddyless wind of the desert, throbbing past. That slow breath had been born somewhere beyond the distant Euphrates and had dragged its way across many days and nights of dead grass, to its first obstacle, the man-made walls of our broken palace. About them it seemed to fret and linger, murmuring in baby-speech. 'This,' they told me, 'is the best: it has no taste.' My Arabs were turning their backs on perfumes and luxuries to choose the things in which mankind had had no share or part.
Another discovery related to a more ancient long-debated question: Hannibal's Route through the Alps Found via Ancient Dung?
posted by Existential Dread at 1:06 PM on April 6, 2016
posted by Existential Dread at 1:06 PM on April 6, 2016
Mule, in a gay desert erotica, I'm not sure many scientists want to search for a smoking gun
posted by Jacen at 1:28 PM on April 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Jacen at 1:28 PM on April 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm wondering about the modern day implications of his exploits. But he sided primarily with the Hashemites, who are not the Wahhabi-aligned Saudis making mischief and tyranny in the modern day. And he promised the Arab revolters more than Sykes-Picot. One wonders what would have happened had he not passed on so early, what influence he could have had on British policy towards the Middle East, and how different our world would have been.
posted by Apocryphon at 10:03 PM on April 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Apocryphon at 10:03 PM on April 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
A Report on Mesopotamia, by T.E. Lawrence, August 2nd, 1920.
posted by homunculus at 10:01 PM on April 7, 2016
posted by homunculus at 10:01 PM on April 7, 2016
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posted by Mr. Yuck at 3:06 PM on April 5, 2016 [14 favorites]