Flawrence of Arabia

[my_daroga]

I've now seen Lawrence of Arabia as it was meant to be seen: in 70mm, on a HUGE screen, and with my glasses. It's both more beautiful and more flawed than ever. Flawed, in the sense that now I can see it should be subtitled: THE EYELINER EDITION. Seriously, boys, it's cute, but how much makeup did you take to the desert?

Anyway, I may have Important Things to say about it later, but it was an awesome birthday present--thanks, Cinerama!--and while I can't adequately explain why this movie kills me to you or to the people I dragged along, it left me with a thought, which I've now immortalized:



This leads neatly, via Omar Sharif, to:



This could go on all night, and I need to go to work tomorrow. So if this amuses you, I invite you to submit your own favorites to me here. Whose inappropriate racial casting makes you laugh most?

Comments

[freeparking.livejournal.com]

(http://imageshack.us)

[my_daroga]

Good one!! I totally missed the boat on that.

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

Oh good gravy, what movie is that?!

FTW! :-D

[freeparking.livejournal.com]

He's playing Genghis Khan in a movie called "The Conqueror."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049092/

haha...oh man.

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

Oh my God.

[my_daroga]

Looks like a movie night pick to me.

[thunderbox.livejournal.com]

Dear Larry (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000059/) as The Mahdi (Muhammad Ahmad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ahmad)) in Khartoum (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060588/). The astonishing thing is that it's not the maddest bit of miscasting in the film; Charlton Heston as General Gordon is even more absurd (to a British ear, anyway).

Despite this it had a huge effect on me as a little boy, almost – but not quite – displacing LoA as my favourite film.

{I might – possibly – have seen both of these films in 70mm soon after they were first released,. However I refuse to admit this because to have done so would make me really quite ancient now, and I'm in denial.}

[my_daroga]

That's a good one; I haven't seen Khartoum, actually. Charlton Heston gets these parts a lot. I pretty much think he's thinking "OMG I'M MEXICAN!!" all through Touch of Evil.

But anyway, *why* do people keep demanding explanations for LoA being my favorite?

[freeparking.livejournal.com]

Ah man, I love Khartoum. I haven't seen that in years.

*wanders off to blockbuster online*

:)

[my_daroga]

That's two votes then; I guess I should see it.

[halloween49.livejournal.com]

the eye liner was probably the same brand use as the never ending lipstick on the Titanic ( my make up will go on and on )
Regards
G

[my_daroga]

Good point. Never got to a disaster without proper coverage.

[stefanie-bean.livejournal.com]

Can't find a pic - anywhere - but Ricardo Montalban had horrible fake Japanese makeup in the 1957 Sayonara (which was actually a pretty cutting-edge film treatment of interracial romance, for its day, considering that movie censorship usually vetoed any treatment of the subject.)

They used an Asian actress for the Asian woman/American G.I. romance, but for the Asian man/American woman romance, they had to use a non-Asian male actor. Was it just too gruesome in that era to have an Asian actor making cinema love to a white woman?

[my_daroga]

Yes, it was. Because Those People will steal our women!

There are some fantastic fake Japanese actors. My favorite is Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto--it's just ridiculous. And my library has all of them, for some reason.

[tinyholidays.livejournal.com]

Erm, not the highest quality pic, but:



Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Seriously, kids? Seriously?

This might count as a spree for Alec Guinness

[tinyholidays.livejournal.com]

Re: This might count as a spree for Alec Guinness

[my_daroga]

I totally forgot about that movie! I saw it years ago, because Art Malik has a tiny part in it.

Oh hey, The Far Pavilions with Amy Irving as an Indian princess:

Re: This might count as a spree for Alec Guinness

[tinyholidays.livejournal.com]

Lol, that guy sort of looks like Jimmy Fallon.

Re: This might count as a spree for Alec Guinness

[my_daroga]

Oh man, you're totally right.

Re: This might count as a spree for Alec Guinness

[freeparking.livejournal.com]

This was my favorite movie for many many years.

"I suppose, like many old people, I sometimes think
we are merely passing figures in a godless universe." - Mrs. Moore.

Re: This might count as a spree for Alec Guinness

[my_daroga]

I really need to see this again.

Re: This might count as a spree for Alec Guinness

[tinyholidays.livejournal.com]

I like the movie, but it really changes a lot of the psychological elements of the book, so I always feel a little miffed whenever I see it.

Re: This might count as a spree for Alec Guinness

[freeparking.livejournal.com]

glad I never read the book then. :)

[my_daroga]

Oh, I know! And that one's not just miscasting, but offensive as well! (I don't think the Arabs in LoA are portrayed offensively; just laziness on the part of the casting folks who were probably really proud of finding Omar Sharif and went home after that.)

[tinyholidays.livejournal.com]

The Yunioshi thing is almost so offensive as to endanger the rest of the movie, really.

[my_daroga]

Yeah. I've never been a big fan; I don't know how much of that is that particular aspect, but I don't ever go back and watch it.

I can't seem to stop myself.

[tinyholidays.livejournal.com]

Re: I can't seem to stop myself.

[my_daroga]

Wow. I didn't even think to go there. Though, on the other hand, aren't they supposed to be fake in the movie?

Re: I can't seem to stop myself.

[tinyholidays.livejournal.com]

I think your response is supposed to be: "OMG U R BRILLIANT! LOLOLLERSKATEZ!"

Re: I can't seem to stop myself.

[my_daroga]

OMG U R BRILLIANT! LOLOLLERSKATEZ!

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

I can't adequately explain why this movie kills me to you or to the people I dragged along

You know, what the hell is it with that? All I ever get from the people I drag along is at best a raised eyebrow, while my heart is exploding from the sheer goddamn magnificence of it all.

I love all the places it's dumb or wrong, although if they want to re-release it with all the eyeliner Photoshopped out, that would be okay. ;-)

[my_daroga]

You know, what the hell is it with that? All I ever get from the people I drag along is at best a raised eyebrow, while my heart is exploding from the sheer goddamn magnificence of it all.

Quote from last night, as lights go up for intermission: "It's really pretty, and it's a good movie and all, but I don't get why it's you're favorite." Meanwhile, my heart is breaking all over again, for what's happening and what I know will happen.

Argh.

I don't mind the eyeliner. I think it should be adopted by pretty boys at large.

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

"It's really pretty, and it's a good movie and all, but I don't get why it's you're favorite." Meanwhile, my heart is breaking

Maybe it just takes a feeling for him? It's a mystery. I don't know why everybody isn't stunned into reverence for his story --even Leanishly falsified.

*shrug*

I might just be crosswired when it comes to movies, though. Most of them bore the bejesus out of me.

[my_daroga]

I love movies--but I rarely see one that engulfs me so completely. Aside from the makeup issues, it's just *perfect*. Everything is in place. I love the sparsness of the script that says everything it needs to. The cinematography... gah.

But my experience of watching the movie at the Brattle, on the night it became my favorite, also made me fall for Lawrence the man. And I really don't care what was altered for the film: I understand that's not his "true" story, but the movie has a Truth of its own that I find compelling and I either compartmentalize it from Fact or don't care. There are so many "Lawrences" anyway; maybe what I find compelling is the contradiction between each of them, despite their all having a kernel of truth.