On the obvious level the story, adapted loosely from The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, concerns T.E. Lawrence's accomplishments in leading the Arab revolt against the Turks, Germany's allies, in the First World War. But equally it's a study of the enigmatic Lawrence himself, a man both socially and sexually unconventional, a hero unlike any other. It's this that makes Lawrence by far the best and least patronising of all modern epics because in the end what Lean and Bolt give us is an intimate, personal story told on a vast scale - an enormous canvas dominated by one man.

Lean's choice of an unknown O'Toole to play that man was, like the shot of Sharif approaching acoss the desert, a case of courage rewarded. For O'Toole, who won the role only after Albert Finney declined it, gave a most impressive performance.