there is a lot of screenings lately for anniversary  editions .. such as  the 30th  E.T.


( has this been out on bluray yet?  maybe this edition is all spruced up to be?

I remember my mother describing what she remembered from the movie (and why she didn't like it):

"All that they did was ride around in the desert for three hours."

I think I'll be going.  I've seen it once before in the theater.  It was on a huge screen...no breaks in the middle...

I saw this maybe 20 years ago, at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, the way it was ment to be seen.

gardibolt-  Keeps these thoughts in mind for your wife who has never seen it ...  It'll be good pre- threatre conversation :
Lawrence successfully blends spectacle, adventure, history and characterization in depth, adding up to one the most satisfying films of the century. Its greatness stems from a fine script by Robert Bolt and the brilliant work of British director David Lean, who was, as Tony Thomas notes in The Great Adventure Films (Citadel, 1976), "immeasurably aided by Freddie Young, one of the most creative photographers in the history of the cinema." It can be said without qualification that imaginative visuals are a major reason that it is possible to stay with this movie through its entire 222 minutes without ever growing restless.

Lawrence was in production for almost two years under frequently difficult conditions. The first location, Jebel Tubeiq, was an intolerably hot, uninhabited area near the Saudi Arabian frontier, 250 miles east of the Red Sea port of Aqaba and 150 miles from the nearest water. The last inhabitants, a group of monks, had abandoned their monastery in the 1600s. The picture's famed action scenes were made among the seemingly limitless red sand dunes. Headquarters were established in Aqaba, but great difficulties were encountered in getting personnel and equipment there from London and Hollywood.

Cairo, Jerusalem, Damascus and Aqaba had become too modern to use in the movie, so they were reproduced in Spain as they had appeared in 1916. A big battle scene in which a Turkish regiment is massacred was filmed in Morocco. Some of the most dramatic photography appears in scenes shot in Spain, in which Lawrence leads his forces against the Turkish Hejaz Railway.

Probably the most famous single image is the lingering scene in which Omar Sharif, riding a camel, is first seen as a tiny spot in a mirage on the horizon. In the foreground, Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) and an Arab youth are drawing water from a well when they notice the wobbly, distorted shape coming toward them. Shimmering in waves of heat and strangely liquid colors, the rider steadily approaches the well. As he gets closer, he is still indistinct, but the ominous thumping of the camel's feet can be heard. Sharif finally emerges from the mirage, raises his rifle and shoots the Arab. The long scene carries a strong element of dread and suspense.

Before actual filming began, Lean had told Young that he wanted to show a mirage in the picture. Because mirages are usually seen only in the distance, Young decided that his best bet would be to bring one close with an extra-long telephoto lens. While he was at Panavision, he saw a huge telephoto which Robert Gottschalk described as a 430mm long-focus lens. This lens was used to make the mirage scene, which was shot in Jordan. Sharif was sent off to a distant mark where he appeared to be a mere pinpoint. Lean told him to ride straight toward the camera, and the entire journey was photographed from only one position.

Young's camera operator was Ernest Day, BSC, while second-unit photography was handled by BSC fellows Skeets Kelly, Nicolas Roeg and Peter Newbrook. All of these men became leaders in British cinematography.

The photographic grandeur of Lawrence of Arabia spurred even the usually blasé Time magazine to a rather poetic response: "Time and again the grand rectangular frame of the Panavision screen stands open like the door of a tremendous furnace, and the spectator stares into the molten shimmer of white golden sands, into blank incandescent infinity as if into the eye of God."

Quoting CalebAndCo:

Quote:
It was wonderful to see this masterful creation on the big screen with a quiet, respectful audience!

My sentiments exactly.