Lawrence of Arabia Arabia set a new standard for movie epics. David Lean's sweeping, magisterial direction, the gnomic complexity of the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson, and the awe-inspiring cinematography by Freddie Young combined to make this a thinking person's spectacular. Peter O'Toole's intense, charismatic performance in the title role vaulted him to stardom; he has never been better than as the British army officer who becomes a leader of Arab warriors. The film's searching analysis of T.E. Lawrence's tortured psyche, his ambivalent heroism, and his descent into the horrors of bloodlust