Bell Lightbox has been showing all the films which it named as Essential Cinema Top 100 films of all time. Number 22 is the Academy Award winning movie Lawrence of Arabia, depicting British army officer Thomas Elliot Lawrence's efforts to lead an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks during World War II.
Lawrence of Arabia is one of those epic movies that needs to be watched on a large screen. Shown in it's original 70mm print, the movie featured breathtaking cinematography, including prolonged shots showing both the beauty and isolation of the desert. From a sociological point of view, it is interesting to see how 50 years ago movie audiences could appreciate shots that lasted for minutes, compared to the quick jump-cut action of today's features. Peter O'Toole, in his first major film role looks alot like the real T.E. Lawrence (as shown on Wikipedia).
The movie was over 3.5 hours long and was shown with a brief intermission half way through, to provide a bathroom and refreshment break. This was good thinking, since the theatres at the Bell Lightbox are designed to maximize audience capacity, with unusually narrow seats and no centre aisle. Each row contained about 40-50 seats and it would have caused quite the disturbance to try to get out of the theatre if you were trapped in the middle of one of these rows.
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