VOL. V, NO. 5

Lawrence of Arabia, winner of seven academy awards including Best Picture of the Year and acclaimed by critics as one of the great films of all time, opens November 15 at 17 Chicago area theaters.

Produced by Sam Spiegal and directed by David Lean, who together produced "The Bridge on the River Kawi". "Lawrence" relates the escapades of the British lieutenant T. E. Lawrence, sent to Arabia in 1916 to investigate the Arab uprising against the Ottoman Turks, Lawrence soon takes matters into his own hands when, without army authorization, he leads a band of picked Bedouins across the notoriously impassable waste, known to the Arabs as "the sun's anvil," and seizes the important Turkish seaport of Aqaba from the landward side," . . . for the guns of Aqaba faced the sea." Then crossing the Sinae desert to tell the British in Cairo of Aqaba's capture, he returns with guns and gold.

Soon Lawrence and his Arabs are blowing up Turkish trains from Medina to Deraa. With General Allenby striking from the north, Jerusalem is soon taken and Lawrence rides triumphantly through Damascus.

Masterfully Peter O'Toole as Lawrence and scriptwriter Robert Bolt recreate the powerful forces which took the young lieutenant to the highest plateau of triumph and then dragged him to his ruin. Lavish settings are reconstructed and battles authentically staged. It is no easy task to expertly tell an intricate story of a man's life when set in the midst of the sweeping scope Lieutenant Lawrence's life has to offer. Too often the spectacular backdrops of big pictures overpower what should be their true objective‑to tell a story. Needless to say, despite large sets, "Lawrence of Arabia" achieves this objective.

Alex Guiness, Jack Hawkins, Arthur Kennedy, Anthony Qualye, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif, give excellent performances, but O'Toole steals the show.