Desert Travel, from "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), directed by David Lean

I miss wide-open spaces right now, so I'm watching this film on Blu-Ray for the first time. Has ever a landscape been so ravishingly and sensuously shot as the desert of southern Jordan, captured by cinematographer Freddie Young? Here, Lawrence (Peter O'Toole in his breakthrough role) rides his camel alongside his military liaison, Colonel Brighton (Anthony Quayle), and local guide Tafas (Zia Mohyeddin, a Pakistani actor). The iconic musical score by Maurice Jarre lends a further sweep to the proceedings. Seeing this movie in my youth made me hunger to visit the locations, which in this sequence are around Wadi Rum, not far from Petra. I've been there a couple of times now. I camped alone one night on a low hilltop, and the local Bedouins came by in their truck to check that I was okay. They offered me hospitality in their camp, but I was trying to do the manly Lawrence thing. So I stayed put and shivered underneath the epic night skies -- still the starriest I've seen, in the northern hemisphere anyway. ✨

---

Video and text excerpts posted on this blog are protected under the "fair use" provisions of sections 17 U.S.C. §106 and 17 U.S.C. §106A. This material is posted for educational, critical, and commentary purposes only. It is not monetized in any way, and no copyright is asserted over the posted material.