amazed that you reference the Roberts confirmation hearings. I listened to all of them, getting angrier and angrier because Roberts never once said anything definitive. Total weasel. I have thought of those hearings frequently since then. :(
I don't really feel like my tastes are sophisticated enough to have any opinion on the score. But I agree at least that it is "good"! But I found it to be very... "opinionated"? I was watching the film and enjoying things, but then the music seemed to suggest that my interpretation of events wasn't the "right" one.
I know that's just a personal preference (I guess Kubrick is famous for always leaving interpretation up the the viewer.) But it feels particularly strange with Lawrence of Arabia because while Lawrence is clearly extraordinary, it seems like a lot of his motivations and decisions are still very up for debate, and that's part of the point of the film, but then the music... Another example of this would be Bridge Over the River Kwai. Another set of debatable decisions, but somehow I felt that Bridge (at least until the end) really left you to decide things for yourself.
(Now that we're talking about this, I wonder why "re-scoring" films isn't a thing? I guess it's just too expensive? Maybe soon with AI...)
I once read how Bette Davis asked her director (Edmund Goulding) when shooting the final scene for Dark Victory: "Who is going up the stairs, me or Max Steiner ?" (Steiner wrote the score).
Please no re-scoring ! And no colorization of B&W movies !
Interesting commentary. I think part of the point of the movie is your supposed to question if he is a good person or not, whether he is actually doing things to help the arabs or for his own glory. I'd also say I dont think the russian revolution is trivialized in dr. Zhivago. Just about everyone in the movie has their lives ruined or profoundly altered as a result of the revolution.
amazed that you reference the Roberts confirmation hearings. I listened to all of them, getting angrier and angrier because Roberts never once said anything definitive. Total weasel. I have thought of those hearings frequently since then. :(
I think the film celebrates his choice because much of the film underlines his extraordinariness:
First line: "He was the most extraordinary man I ever knew."
"Truly, for some men nothing is written unless they write it ."
"Before he did it, sir, I'd have said it couldn't be done."
"Not many people have a destiny, Lawrence."
Maurice Jarre's score is one of my absolute favourites; he was a last minute fallback choice and did it in 6 weeks.
I don't really feel like my tastes are sophisticated enough to have any opinion on the score. But I agree at least that it is "good"! But I found it to be very... "opinionated"? I was watching the film and enjoying things, but then the music seemed to suggest that my interpretation of events wasn't the "right" one.
I know that's just a personal preference (I guess Kubrick is famous for always leaving interpretation up the the viewer.) But it feels particularly strange with Lawrence of Arabia because while Lawrence is clearly extraordinary, it seems like a lot of his motivations and decisions are still very up for debate, and that's part of the point of the film, but then the music... Another example of this would be Bridge Over the River Kwai. Another set of debatable decisions, but somehow I felt that Bridge (at least until the end) really left you to decide things for yourself.
(Now that we're talking about this, I wonder why "re-scoring" films isn't a thing? I guess it's just too expensive? Maybe soon with AI...)
I once read how Bette Davis asked her director (Edmund Goulding) when shooting the final scene for Dark Victory: "Who is going up the stairs, me or Max Steiner ?" (Steiner wrote the score).
Please no re-scoring ! And no colorization of B&W movies !
Interesting commentary. I think part of the point of the movie is your supposed to question if he is a good person or not, whether he is actually doing things to help the arabs or for his own glory. I'd also say I dont think the russian revolution is trivialized in dr. Zhivago. Just about everyone in the movie has their lives ruined or profoundly altered as a result of the revolution.
I don't think we're mean to take this review seriously!
Literally but not seriously
"...that Lawrence has no local knowledge...."
He had a ton of local knowledge...had been in that part of the world many times researching Crusaders castles and with Gertrude Bell
The Real Lawrence, sure. But not the character in the movie!