Filming T. E. Lawrence: Korda's Lost Epic [Hardcover]

Andrew Kelly (Author), Jeffrey Richards (Author), James Pepper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 1997 | ISBN-10: 1860640486 | ISBN-13: 978-1860640483

The 1962 Speigel-Lean "Lawrence of Arabia" was an attempt to dramatize T.E. Lawrence's war adventures on screen. Three decades earlier Alexander Korda had tried, over five years, to film Lawrence's life. The story of his attempt is the basis for this book, which provides a portrayal of the workings of British film censorship in the 1930s, highlighting the ability of foreign governments to influence British politicians and film makers. This book tells how initial opposition came from Lawrence himself, and how after his death in 1935 Korda faced resistance from the British Foreign Office and the government of Turkey, the country cast as a villain in the depiction of Lawrence's part in the Arab revolt.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 172 pages
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris (February 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1860640486
• ISBN-13: 978-1860640483
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,410,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lawrence and Korda: the unreleased epics, June 11, 2000

By 

S. Williams (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Filming T. E. Lawrence: Korda's Lost Epic (Hardcover)

Behind David Lean's directorial masterpiece `Lawrence of Arabia' (1962) lay a series of attempts to film T. E. Lawrence's life, most of them centred around the abridged version of `Seven Pillars of Wisdom', known as `Revolt in the Desert.' Chief amongst the filmmakers eager to produce this epic was the great Alexander Korda, who bought the rights to both books and also to several biographies that contained their material. Korda was asked by Lawrence himself not to make the film while he was alive. Five months later, Lawrence was killed in a motorbike accident and Korda began his preparations. Locations were scouted, scripts were drafted, and several actors were tested to play the lead. Walter Hudd (who had played the Lawrence-based character Private Meek in `Too True to be Good') and Leslie Howard were the favourites, although Cary Grant and Laurence Olivier were also considered. The Foreign Office thwarted Korda at every turn, protesting that it would be ill advised to show the Turks in an unfavourable light with the ongoing political unrest in the East. After a dozen attempts to make the film, Korda let it slide. This book is tripartite: part one sketches a brief history of the attempts to film `Lawrence of Arabia' and includes pictures of all the key players. The second part is an interview given by Leslie Howard on how he would play Lawrence; and thirdly, the final script (1938) of the Korda epic is reproduced. While it is a laudable piece of work, the book fails to hang together and emerges as two articles and a film script that are linked by the same subject, but have no cohesion. Part One is far too brief for the reader to gain an understanding of the forces arrayed against Korda and his project, and it would benefit from more research and more expansion on the views of the various directors and actors engaged for the film in its different stages. Part Two is simply the Howard interview with no editorial comment offered. Part Three, the script, also has no analysis. This is surprising, as it is rich in allusion and with peculiar sequences that (to modern eyes) detract from the overall pacing of the film. It relies heavily on `Seven Pillars' for dialogue and description, with little or no modification. To those who are acquainted with the Robert Bolt script of the Lean film, the Korda Lawrence is but a pale shadow: eloquent passivity rather than "nothing is written" man of action; cold detachment rather than anger and angst in crucial scenes (Tafileh, the Turkish hospital); the smug imperialist rather than the tortured anti-imperialist. Korda's Lawrence was intended to be heroic, a ( ) puff-piece with a serious bite, but looking at the script today, he seems shallow, self-important and obnoxious. The real Lawrence evaded any attempt to capture him by constant shifts in personality, presenting a different face to each person he met. It would appear that the celluloid Lawrence of Korda's vision was the same; and, as such, defeated him wholly.