Lawrence of Arabia is the story of a young Army lieutenant that is sent to the Middle Eat to harass the Turks and convince the Arabs to help in the cause. Throughout the film he’s shown to have many misgivings about his deeds and what he is forced to do in order to secure more and more territories for the British forces and the Arabs. Near the end he discovers that for all he’s done there is little in the way of stability that is left behind, eventually the British take over anyway. Disillusioned and not at all certain of his life any longer, he eventually returns home to Britain.
The deeds that one does are not always appreciated, especially when what is left behind is coveted by so many.
10. A lot of the Arab soldiers are real soldiers.
King Hussein of Jordan was kind enough to lend his soldiers to the making of the film. He even visited the sets and fell in love with a young British secretary who became his second wife.
9. The film was banned in many Arab countries.
Many countries felt the film did not cast them in a favorable light and did not want to promote it.
8. Alec Guinness was mistaken for the real Faisal.
The makeup and clothing he had to wear made many people mistake him for the real person quite often.
7. Peter O’Toole actually bled the first time he rode a camel.
He rode with jeans on and by the time he’d gone for any distance there was blood oozing out of his jeans.
6. O’Toole didn’t have a lot of luck with his camel.
He fell off a few times and almost got trampled a couple of times, but once the camel actually stood over him to prevent it as it was trained to do so.
5. O’Toole didn’t even watch the film until twenty years later.
A lot of actors don’t seem to watch their films right away, almost as if living through was enough. Apparently he was very impressed though.
4. There is no female dialogue in this film at all.
Every spoken word is from a male, as there was no dialogue set for women as per the culture it’s believed.
3. Water had to be ferried in by truck to the set.
A water truck would travel 150 miles from the nearest well to deliver water to the cast and crew. This was a rather arduous trek that had to take place often.
2. The Aqaba scenes were filmed in Spain.
A dry riverbed in Spain was used as the setting of Aqaba since it was deemed good enough for what was needed.
1. There are a few parts of the film that were fiction, but it’s based on a true story.
The real Lawrence of Arabia did exist but a good number of things and people within the movie weren’t true to life experiences. In Lawrence’s brother was slightly appalled at the use of fiction in his brother’s story.
Movies are bound to tell a slightly different tale than reality.
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