I have always felt that Bolt's screenplay in "Lawrence" is not
just good, but spectacular. There's a reason why it remains in
the top ten lists of the greatest films ever made. It is so
far ahead of its time with its ambiguous portrait of Lawrence
that it feels timeless and undated. In fact, the parts that
linger on the visual majesty of the desert or the battle scenes
sometimes drags down the pacing. I've always felt (and I know
there is debate about this), that despite my love for Gregory
Peck, who won Best Actor that year, that Peter O'Toole's
performance in Lawrence is simply electric and drop-dead
perfect. And what an ending! It disappoints many, but it is
an anti-climax that is faithful to the integrity of where
Lawrence's story HAD to go. Can you imagine some corn-ball
U.S.-tinkering happy ending tacked on to make Lawrence's
efforts uplifting and redemptive?
A generalization, but I think the Brits have a knack for making
wonderfully written films that - as I wrote last year - are
masked when they're budgeted by American dollars and cast
(e.g., Anthony Quinn, who was a major star here in 1962) to
draw an American audience. Astoundingly, the country-of-origin
and first printing of "Lawrence" is the U.S.A. like "Bridge
over the River Kwai" (which was cast budgeted to include
William Holden) - despite being thoroughly British in tone and
sensibility. Hence my obsession with "country-of-origin"
posters which I treat like first edition books regardless of
less than attractive art. I'm bitter that the beginning of
Carol Reed's "The Third Man" was butchered by Selznick when it
was released in the U.S.; the British version is superior. But
at least in the case of the wonderfully written "Third Man" --
the country-of-origin is rightfully the U.K.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2010 11:57:20 -0500
From: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Subject: Re: OT; BLIGH ME, GUVNOR
To: [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
I think Bolt started the screenplay for The Bounty, but had a
stroke and the eventual film contains little of his original
writing.
I imagine the movie with a screenplay by the Bolt of the early
1960s, and it would have been wonderful.
I first read the three novels by Charles Nordhoff and James
Norman Hall (Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea, and
Pitcairn's Island) as a teen, and I know there is still a great
series of movies (or an epic TV mini-series) waiting to be made
of the entire story (only parts of which were addressed in the
earlier versions).
Bruce
On Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 8:50 AM, Kirby McDaniel
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
He also co-wrote the script for THE BOUNTY (1984), the
mutiny on the HMS Bounty story, which David Lean had always
wantedto film, but was never able to get financed.
This film takes a fuller look at the BOUNTY epic, and is
enjoyable enough, directed by Roger Donaldson. But one can
only imagine that tale with the Lean camera and editing
synergy and perfectionist sensibility. Maybe the
financiers remembered all too well the MGM experience with
the Brando version. I have always liked that version.
LEAN went on to make A PASSAGE TO INDIA, a thoroughly
wonderful film, in my opinion. I think that'sout on BLU -
RAY now.
K. On Jun 12, 2010, at 7:49 AM, Bruce Hershenson wrote:
Robert Bolt, who wrote Lawrence, quickly followed with
Doctor Zhivago <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059113/>,
A Man for All Seasons
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374856/> (from his
earlier play), and Ryan's Daughter
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066319/>, a pretty
amazing string of wonderful screenplays.
Of course he didn't manage to include a tagline as
great as "Get off my lawn!" in any of them, but he did
his best.
Bruce
On Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 1:06 AM, Phil Edwards
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Odd, we nearly always think of LAWRENCE in terms of
its epic scope and spectacular visuals, but it has
one of the most literate andprecise screenplays of
almost any film I can think of.
----- Original Message ----- From: Kirby
McDaniel <mailto:[email protected]> To:
[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> Sent:
Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:06 PM Subject: [MOPO]
OT; BLIGH ME, GUVNOR
Tony Hayward: I am reminded of the wonderful
line Claude Rains (Dryden) gets in LAWRENCE:
Prince Feisal
<http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000027/>: You, I
suspect, are chief architect of this
compromise. What do you think? Mr. Dryden
<http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001647/>: Me, your
Highness? On the whole, I wish I'd stayed in
Tunbridge Wells.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/massive-flow-of-bullshit-continues-to-gush-from-bp,17564/
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