Lawrence: After Arabia

The worst film I can remember seeing. Memorable only for the screenwriter, actors, sound recording, cinematographer, editor and director duelling it out for who could deliver the worst performance.

That said I would recommend it if only for comedy value. Films as terribly made as this don't come along often. Enjoy.

I know much of this story from Rodney Legg's 1988 book, so was interested to see it turned into a narrative. And I knew it would be low budget - but low budgets can often be a spur to imaginative and exciting solutions. Not in this case, sadly. Almost every department of moviemaking was shoddy. Direction was leaden. Editing was stodgy. Sound recording was mushy, and sound mixing woeful. Grading? Forget it. Continuity. Ditto. And, as for the acting... From the opening sequence, with a child actor who would have made a primary school nativity audience wince, to our hero, who was presumably trying to convey a tortured soul but only succeeded in looking mildly dyspeptic, even while squeezing out a tear. To be honest, I didn't get far enough into the movie to reach the actors we've heard of. After the second sequence of 'Arabs' running single file right to left I decided to either stay and laugh or go and do something more life-enhancing. I went. If you're interested in the story, track down the book. If you want to see a good movie, go elsewhere.

Imagine an amateur dramatic society at its first meeting gaining access to film equipment & you have some idea of the quality of this film. Sound, photography & continuity were embarrassing in places & the glimpses of good acting brief. The story could have been so much more in depth & instead far too much time was spent on peripheral activity eg the funeral procession.

Having been looking forward to this showing for some time, with a keen interest in the life of T E Lawrence, I was sadly disappointed.

I think my heading sums it up best...

When they started with the opening scene I though it had to be part of the local adverts..... right?

Wrong.... Yes i went in knowing it was low budget & shot locally but even so I expected much better than this.

Everything about it was poor, opening music sounded like it was done on one of those toy xylophone's, sound quality abysmal, acting that would have seen those in a local production having non-speaking parts the following year, the direction... where to start.... I think you get the picture...

It really is one to avoid, i walked out after 30 minutes otherwise I would have been rolling in the aisles & watching it locally I suspect there were a few in the audience who were "extras" so I saved myself the shaming....

Looking through the reviews I suspect those giving high marks actually appeared in the film as I really didnt see anything worthy of more than a one.

It really was horrible & moreso as I admire & am fascinated by the TE Lawrence story.

I had high expectations for this film but unfortunately I found it disappointing. The story itself was interesting and held my attention, but the sound, continuity and photography were all inadequate, not to mention the tedious, incessant and inappropriate music score. The acting, with a few exceptions, was weak, and to bill Brian Cox as the star in the opening credits showed some nerve - what a con! He never even appeared on screen, just providing brief narration. I sat through the whole film wondering how on earth it could have won any kinds of awards or indeed how it was even selected for various film festivals. Clearly this film was made on too small a budget, making it look like an over-stretched amateur production.