Lawrence Of Arabia: 50th Anniversary Edition (With UltraViolet) (2 Discs) (Blu-ray)

I have been waiting for this film since I first got an HD television. I remember seeing a brief clip from one of my first Blu-ray discs, so after almost five years, has it been worth the wait? Well I am very pleased to say that it has.

This is the story of T.E. Lawrence, a British Army Officer who helped unite all the Arab tribes during the First World War. Lawrence of Arabia has some of the most stunning landscapes I have ever seen on film, the desert is not as empty as one might think. There are great mountains and wide sweeping vistas to be discovered, and David Lean managed to include all he could find. The first part of the film is the best, you are discovering the desert along with Lawrence and it is visually stunning. That scene with Omar Sharif slowly appearing from the infinity of a hazy mirage is one of the most famous ever filmed and it is crystal clear in this presentation.

The restoration is excellent, there is barely a blemish on this 50 year old film and I praise those who worked on it. The overture, Intermission and exit music have all been restored. The picture is very sharp and the colour is superb, plus I could not find any evidence of grain throughout the entire 227 minutes. The sound is crystal clear and you get a full bodied soundstage presented in DTS 5.1. This is the way all such films should be restored. In a couple of scenes there is some evidence of roller lines up and down the picture, but this is very slight indeed and I only noticed it once or twice, hardly worth mentioning really.

This is the second time this film has been restored. Back in 1988, Robert A. Harris oversaw a restoration on a 222 minute version, but at that time the technology only allowed them to go so far, there was still damage to the film that has only been recently corrected. The film was scanned at 8k and reduced to a 4k image file revealing frames that were faded, warped, scratched and even chemically stained. But the results of all this work is a beautifully rendered work of art that still amazes and delights 50 years after it was shot.

The standard 50th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray comes with two discs, Disc One holding the special features and Disc Two, the movie. It should be the other way around of course as there is no way of identifying what is on each disc, they are named exactly the same. The extras are plentiful and worth watching, many of them are in high definition. There are some interesting and revealing facts to be discovered about the making of Lawrence of Arabia.

Without a doubt, this is one of the finest restorations I have seen so far, the film is a true epic and you will marvel at the picture and sound quality, very highly recommended.

Quite simply one of the greatest films ever made. Peter O'Toole at his peak and David Lean the master film maker that he was at his peak. If anyone wants to see and experience what it is like to behold cinematic perfection watch this film and look and realise all the movies since that have copied it style.

I hope that this BluRay release does it justice.

This has to be the godfather of all epic's. Even the mighty "Ben-Hur" cannot rival this for sheer epic scope and vision. I cannot imagine any film director today being allowed to even attempt a production as grandiose as this. This was a huge undertaking that took nearly a full year to shoot. The end result is nothing short of cinematic perfection.

David Lean will be remembered for his three most successful offerings "The Bridge On The River Kwai", "Doctor Zhivago" and this. All three are monster productions with sumptuous visuals and faultless storytelling, but "Lawrence Of Arabia" is top of the pile. Even if you have a 60 inch plus HD screen in your living room, it will not be big enough, only the grandness of a cinema screen can truly service Lean's vision.

CGI, if used for the right reasons, is a good thing. When you consider SFX from a mere 10 years ago, it's improving all the time, however if this film had a shot for shot remake done today, many moment's would be captured digitally in front of green screens. Now this may look fine to the human eye, but you would lose the very essence of epic scale and sheer enormity that this film delivers to jaw dropping effect.

The words that spring to mind for this movie: Sumptuous, bold, brave, epic, gorgeous, majestic.

A must see!

The transfer............

Columbia and Sony Pictures have granted this film with an MPEG-4 AVC encoded, 2.20:1 framed, 1080p transfer onto a 50GB Blu-ray disc as epic and perfect as the movie itself. BRAVO SONY!

Firstly it's worth mentioning that this was shot on 70mm film stock, which means we get four times the resolution of standard 35mm at source. Secondly we have to look to the restoration and remastering, the movie has been re-scanned at 8k resolution then transferred to 4k, this is quadruple the resolution of 1080.

The result of this painstakingly precise and delicately handled effort is as jaw-droppingly gorgeous as the movie itself. The image is UNBELIEVEABLE! This is 50 years old and yet it surpasses the picture quality of movies shot in the last few years. I cannot overestimate how amazing this looks, especially if you have owned previous standard def DVD versions.

It would of been a complete travesty if a film with visuals as gorgeous as this had been given a shoddy transfer. I must also commend Sony for not jumping on the digital enhancement buttons, we do not get any digital scrubbing by way of DNR or Edge enhancement. This looks very natural and extremely filmic.

Thanks to the 70mm film stock grain is practically non existent and is only detectable in wide shots which feature plenty of sky, even then it's extremely fine and provides a wonderfully filmic look to the proceedings.

Contrast and colour timing are spot-on, the vibrancy of the colouring is a wonder, and never appears unnatural. Skin tones are strikingly accurate. Detail, clarity and image depth are remarkable when considering its age. Fabrics, facial features and objects all look incredible.

The blacks and darks are again faultless, rich, inky and vibrant with fantastic delineation and no crushing.

The movie is a wonder and so too is this Blu-ray.

I've waited 5 years for this and my god was it worth it. I don't believe this film could possibly look any better, well maybe when 4k OLED TV's arrive.

A must own.

THIS DISC IS REFERENCE QUALITY.

Film 5/5 Transfer 5/5

This has to be the godfather of all epic's. Even the mighty "Ben-Hur" cannot rival this for sheer epic scope and vision. I cannot imagine any film director today being allowed to even attempt a production as grandiose as this. This was a huge undertaking that took nearly a full year to shoot. The end result is nothing short of cinematic perfection.

David Lean will be remembered for his three most successful offerings "The Bridge On The River Kwai", "Doctor Zhivago" and this. All three are monster productions with sumptuous visuals and faultless storytelling, but "Lawrence Of Arabia" is top of the pile. Even if you have a 60 inch plus HD screen in your living room, it will not be big enough, only the grandness of a cinema screen can truly service Lean's vision.

CGI, if used for the right reasons, is a good thing. When you consider SFX from a mere 10 years ago, it's improving all the time, however if this film had a shot for shot remake done today, many moment's would be captured digitally in front of green screens. Now this may look fine to the human eye, but you would lose the very essence of epic scale and sheer enormity that this film delivers to jaw dropping effect.

The words that spring to mind for this movie: Sumptuous, bold, brave, epic, gorgeous, majestic.

A must see!

The transfer............

Columbia and Sony Pictures have granted this film with an MPEG-4 AVC encoded, 2.20:1 framed, 1080p transfer onto a 50GB Blu-ray disc as epic and perfect as the movie itself. BRAVO SONY!

Firstly it's worth mentioning that this was shot on 70mm film stock, which means we get four times the resolution of standard 35mm at source. Secondly we have to look to the restoration and remastering, the movie has been re-scanned at 8k resolution then transferred to 4k, this is quadruple the resolution of 1080.

The result of this painstakingly precise and delicately handled effort is as jaw-droppingly gorgeous as the movie itself. The image is UNBELIEVEABLE! This is 50 years old and yet it surpasses the picture quality of movies shot in the last few years. I cannot overestimate how amazing this looks, especially if you have owned previous standard def DVD versions.

It would of been a complete travesty if a film with visuals as gorgeous as this had been given a shoddy transfer. I must also commend Sony for not jumping on the digital enhancement buttons, we do not get any digital scrubbing by way of DNR or Edge enhancement. This looks very natural and extremely filmic.

Thanks to the 70mm film stock grain is practically non existent and is only detectable in wide shots which feature plenty of sky, even then it's extremely fine and provides a wonderfully filmic look to the proceedings.

Contrast and colour timing are spot-on, the vibrancy of the colouring is a wonder, and never appears unnatural. Skin tones are strikingly accurate. Detail, clarity and image depth are remarkable when considering its age. Fabrics, facial features and objects all look incredible.

The blacks and darks are again faultless, rich, inky and vibrant with fantastic delineation and no crushing.

The movie is a wonder and so too is this Blu-ray.

I've waited 5 years for this and my god was it worth it. I don't believe this film could possibly look any better, well maybe when 4k OLED TV's arrive.

A must own.

THIS DISC IS REFERENCE QUALITY.

Film 5/5 Transfer 5/5

Buy it because you love the story.Be amazed by the picture quality ,remasted to 4k absolutely stunning.10/10