by Chris Marshall:
Is it possible to acknowledge a film as great but not
particularly like it? To admire a movie for its craftsmanship and the technical
skill required to pull it off but not actually enjoy the time you spent doing
so? Because that’s the overarching feeling I have after watching Lawrence of Arabia.
As was the case with Mutiny on the Bounty, I have memories of this film from my childhood despite never
having watched it before. Specifically, I remember it coming on TV in “letterbox
format,” meaning it had big black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, and
I couldn’t imagine why anybody would want to watch a movie like that. I was
told that you could actually see more
of the picture in that format, which was totally baffling to me. How can you
get more with less?
Fast forward 18 years to a time when I can make sense of
this seeming paradox, and now I won’t watch a movie any other way; full screen
DVDs aren’t worth the discs they’re printed (is that the word I want?) on. Now
that I’ve watched Lawrence of Arabia,
I also understand why it is so critical to watch this film in particular in
widescreen format.
