Tag Archives: Lawrence of Arabia

The Ladykillers (1955)

Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom may star, yet it is Katie Johnson who gives one of cinema’s greatest ever comedic performances.

Deliverance

When we think of American cinema in the seventies, all too often we all too quickly think of the great directors. But what of the cinematograph-auteurs?

Lawrence of Arabia

David Lean’s most enduring masterpiece is the rarest of breeds. An epic that is also a portrait, it somehow avoids all temptations to explain its enigmatic subject.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Thirty-five years old, Spielberg’s classic was inspired by more than just the Saturday matinee serials he watched as a child.

Reel Space/Time – Part Two

In his Poetics, Aristotle wrote that drama needs a unity of space, time and action. How does cinema deal with such restrictions?

Brief Encounter

Once dismissed as parochial and passé, the influence of David Lean’s classic can be seen in such unlikely places as The Third Man, The Godfather and Carol.

Three Days of the Condor

Adapting James Grady’s straight forward thriller, Sydney Pollack delivered a commentary on dehumanising institutions.

Sexy Beast

Jonathan Glazer’s film is one of the most assured debuts in cinema history. But the film has another entrance that also stands with the best of them.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

With this Oscar winning classic, David Lean stopped being an ‘English filmmaker’ and became an ‘international star director’.

The Searchers

The Searchers is both a cinematic monument and an extremely unsettling depiction of the racism that lies at the heart of America’s own mythology.

Once Upon a Time in the West

Sergio Leone’s masterpiece doesn’t only reference American westerns. He also drew inspiration from an English film.

Doctor Zhivago

David Lean’s film of Boris Pasternack’s Nobel Prize Winning Novel whittled the sprawling epic down to a simple love story. Was it successful?

Peter Weir – Master and Commander

Peter Weir: 6 Oscar nominations, no wins. No other living director has been so denied the statuette. Does it matter?

The English Patient

Lyrical language and elliptical plotting can work in a novel, but don’t necessarily make for good films. Does The English Patient succeed?

Love & War

This video-essay examines the dual themes of love and war in epic cinema. Using the epic as their canvas, great filmmakers tell great stories that convey not just the enormous sweep of history, but also capture the human spirit.

Spielberg’s Techniques

This video-essay examines Steven Spielberg’s career, from his days in television up until War Horse, and shows how he uses the disciplines of cinema to secure specific emotional responses.

Point Blank

John Boorman’s first film in America brought a very distinctive and European look to the hardened Hollywood gangster genre.


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