The Movie: Lawrence of Arabia is a classic epic film, and I mean EPIC. I rented the two discs for this movie and received them from Netflix and had them for about a week before watching them, because frankly, I would need to dedicate an entire day to watching all 3 hours and 47 minutes of this thing!

This movie was originally shot in the "Super Panavision 70" format, and designed to be shown on gigantic screens with 70mm prints, and in many ways, the way this movie was filmed represents this. This movie really is just too big for any TV. And if you do watch it on TV, please watch it on the biggest one you can find, or a widescreen TV as the anamorphic video format will help you get some more resolution out of it when compared to normal TVs.

I say this because I can imagine many of the shots being absolutely breathtaking on a 60 foot screen, but bordering on boring when viewed on a TV. There are quite a few long (both in length of time, and distance from the action) shots of immense landscape with some action taking off so far away you can barely make it out... famous shots like the sunrise in the desert, or the "mirage" shot with the guy riding in from a long ways away. Of course, I personally have not had the privilege of seeing this movie on the big screen, but I can only imagine how beautiful it would look.

I don't think there was a single point in the entire movie where I felt like saying "WOW! This is a great movie!", and yet, it left a very big impression on me, and even hours or days later, the soundtrack and images linger in my mind. Maybe that's what the movie epic is all about.

In so many ways, this movie would never work today. For one thing, those lingering shots of tiny things off in the distance would probably bore the hell out of today's audiences, especially without the glory of a huge screen at a theater. But not only that, everything in this movie is real. Those thousands of camels you see out in the desert are real, not computer generated. Everything in this movie was done on such a grand scale, and every bit of it is real -- I dare to say no Hollywood movie studio would dare to take on this movie today. It's just too big. And maybe that is what the movie epic is all about.

And all of this without even discussing the plot. As near as I can tell, this movie is based on a true story. It's set out on the little-talked-about (at least in the western world) Turkish front in World War I, and it's about a British soldier (T.E. Lawrence) who disappears off into Arabia, which at the time was a desert full of warring nomadic tribes. Through charm and cunning, Lawrence is able to unite these warring tribes into one force and with camels, horses, and swords, they defeat the Turks, and claim Arabia as one nation of their own.

Again, there wasn't a single moment in the movie where I thought "WOW THIS IS A GREAT MOVIE" but I came away with a lasting impression of this masterfully made epic, it's beauty and wonder lingering on. You really feel the searing heat of the desert, and you can really see the unseen conflict going on inside Lawrence's head. Lawrence of Arabia is a true movie epic -- a genre that is long lost in today's world.

The DVD: This is a two disc set, with a nifty looking collector's box. The movie in two parts (separated by an intermission), with Part I on one disc, and Part II on the second disc along with the special features. This movie was originally shot to be shown on the roadshow circuit, and the DVD stays true to this, including the Overture (music before the movie starts, played with a black screen shown), the exit music, and also the music for the return from the intermission... relics from the old days, I guess. I suppose this two DVD set does just about as much justice to such an epic movie as you can deliver on a TV screen.

The anamorphic widescreen video is fabulous -- even though this movie is 40 years old, it looks brand new, with a wonderfully detailed picture, and virtually no film grain (no doubt aided by the fact that the original was shot in a 70mm format!). Although there are some instances of specks and dust, and the color saturation isn't quite up to today's best standards -- this is about as good as you'll ever see a 40 year old movie looking.

The audio has been remixed rather discretely into an excellent and full 5.1 surround mix. I say discretely in that this movie still sounds 40 years old, and the surround mix is so smooth it doesn't make it seem like they've thrust some new technology into an old film -- it was quite well done... but again, probably due to its age, not quite up to the dynamic range standards of today. But all in all, I'd say that this is about as great as you could possibly make this movie look and sound, and I was actually quite amazed.

The second disc is loaded with features, including a Making of, "A Conversation With Steven Spielberg" (who mostly talks about how he felt when he first watched this movie in high school), four of the original featurettes on this movie, newsreel footage of the premiere in New York, cast/crew bios, trailers for Lawrence of Arabia The Bridge on the River Kwai and The Guns of Navarone, ad campaign artwork, and some DVD-ROM features as well. If you buy this movie, it also comes with a fancy case, and a 10 page booklet that is a reproduction of a souvenir booklet from 1962.

All in all, I think the DVD definitely does as much justice as could be made for this movie -- and now I really want to find some place showing this film in a theater so I can experience the full glory of this masterpiece.