Setting The Desert On Fire - T.e. Lawrence And Britain'S Secret War In Arabia, 1916-1918

It's one of those scenes that show what the movies do supremely well. T. E. Lawrence -- in Lawrence of Arabia -- rides a camel through the blindingly gorgeous landscape of the Hijaz (in present-day Saudi Arabia), discovering his deep love of the desert. As he passes through a deep gorge, he begins to sing, and the high cliffs echo back the lines and "rum-te-tums" of the "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo." Lawrence's desert reverie is suddenly broken by the sound of reverberating applause. Colonel Harry Brighton, the British military liaison to the Arabs revolting against Turkish rule, has come to meet him and find out why he is at Prince Feisal's camp at Wadi Safra. Lawrence says he's there to "appreciate the situation," and Brighton orders him to "keep your mouth shut" when meeting Feisal. And so, in mid-1917, the events of the Arab Revolt are set in motion. In one fell swoop the filmmakers have shown the appeal of the desert, Lawrence's adventurousness of spirit, and the hidebound nature of the hero's superiors in the British Army.