MOVIES - Dec. 15, 1988

With directors Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese and Columbia Pictures’ executive Dawn Steel trumpeting the occasion, the American Film Institute and Columbia Pictures announced in New York that they have completed restoring Sir David Lean’s original 1962 cut of “Lawrence of Arabia,” which won eight Oscars including best picture. According to Jean Firstenberg, AFI director, there was no print of the 222-minute version that had not already been cut to 187 minutes for a 1971 re-release, so they had to do “detective work.” The search and restoration took two years, said Bob Harris of Davnor Productions Ltd., the company in charge of the project. Finally, missing negatives were discovered in cans of trims and outtakes, he said. The newer “Lawrence” will be seen in premieres in New York (Feb. 4), Washington (Feb. 5) and Los Angeles (Feb. 12), and will benefit AFI’s Preservation Fund ’89.