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AUSTRALIANS OF ARABIA - THE MOVIE An Original Screenplay By Peter Hogan

Peter Hogan PO Box 1 Potts Point NSW 2011 Note: Due to complex nature of project, script best viewed on the Net - just Google it - AOA on Facebook  kxol.pete@gmail.com  v2.0, 26xi08 (94Kb)

SCENE INDEX

[I] CIVILIZATION TIME • Fade in to huge swell rolling in to Byron Bay (The Cape '1902) dissolve to Egypt, Port of Alexandria - late '1918 end of WWI - Head Credits play over camp - preparations for return home on troop ships... • '1961 - On the Set of David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" • '1890s English Home - young illegitimate 'Ned' Lawrence • Introduce parallel development of key characters Lawrence & 'Billjim' (Australian Light Horse) • '1890s Outback Australia - Lawrence's Nemesis - The Billjim [Olden] and just as the real star of a LoA was the 'desert', in AoA it is the 'Waler', his horse [he names him "Walter" / "Wally" ??] - the close bond that builds between them from the first time they lie eyes on each other. Some of the critical scenes throughout the Movie will be from Wally's POV, particular the opening and closing. • The Present - Introduce Narrator / Beleaguered AOA Producer - scene of him living in Japan in '1990s and getting the idea of respecting deeds of ancestors from O-Bon festival. • 'World History 101' Montage: Cradle of Civilization - Damascus (oldest city and our destination), Egypt - Time reckoning, astronomy; Sumer (where would we be without critical inventions: the wheel, writing, Gilgamesh clay tablets; Indo-Arabic - numbers including 'zero'; China - paper, gunpowder; Japan - Pottery (even effect of Admiral Perry's U.S. Black Ships Pacific War Japan) ; [Relate 'knowledge = power' to modern times e.g. Jeff Bezos, Amazon visionary, with Kindle / eBooks]; Colonialism: MidEast Oil; Admiral Perry's U.S. Black Ships '1853 force Japan to open up... • We note the eerie 'Billjim' (William + James) link to Gilgamesh, the Babylonian / Akkadian name for the much older Sumerian 'Bilgames' = "The ancestor who was a hero"! • '1914 - Outbreak of War - including recruitment in Outback of Australian Light Horse • Billjim and their Walers on troop ships headed for Eqypt • Alexandria - separated from their horses and sent to Gallipoli quagmire • Enter Keith Murdoch - get our boys out • Turks attack Egypt • Billjim reunite with their Walers back in Egypt - start pushing Turks back across Suez Canal. • We see a spearheading force highly suited to the conditions, harking back to the earlier montage of the Outback. Lawrence clearly has a minor role, and certainly not unique. • Colonels Newcombe, Meinertzhagen, Dawnay just some of the officers involved in clandestine ops - dressed Arab costume - blowing up railway tracks (which the Turks quickly had rebuilt) • Ross Smith and the 'Australian Air Cav.' doing the air strikes. • Lawrence in the Kut fiasco - a go-between carrying a suitcase full of money to bribe the Turks into ending a siege of British troops in Mesopotamia (later made Iraq) - the British way to make progress against the enemy, not military manoeuvres, bribes. • '1917 - Battle of Beersheba - 2 days later Balfour Declaration - Promising Jewish homeland in Palestine • '2008 - Female lead [Davis??] introduced - accomplished actor playing herself - comes to aid of AOA Producer - kicks ass - gets things moving ...

[II] CREATION OF THE LAWRENCE MYTH [Comparative Mythology 101 - James Frazer, Joseph Campbell, et al] • Development of "Lawrence of Arabia" Myth by journalist Lowell Thomas to get 'Isolationist' America interested in the War - '1919 - Brought by impresario Percy Burton to England where they have never heard of Lawrence - His show uses film taken by Australian Capt Frank Hurley - sychophant biographers like, Liddel Hart... • '1955 - Dissenting Richard Aldington Exposé published in France - inadvertently has opposite effect - rekindles interest in Lawrence • '1961 - Making of Lawrence of Arabia movie - casting of tall Peter O'Toole for short Lawrence - Australians completely cut from script • Montage - Australian public happy with Gallipoli defeat, Billjim exploits suppressed, embrace LOA myth. Even Australian War Memorial promotes the Lawrence myth as fact over our own soldiers. Prominent public broadcasters like our own ABC, BBC, PBS, et al, put out documentaries and book on Lawrence. • Just when it looks like the AOA Movie might get off the ground, somebody is trying to kill it.

[III] RACE TO DAMASCUS • '2008 - 'White Night(s) [/Aussie Filmmaking Elders / Mafia] come to aid of embattled AOA Producer and [Byrne] - We see parallels to the Billjim these people take shit from no one - they just get in get the job done, one way or another - overcome threshold guardians - against the odds, the AOA Movie is a miraculously going to be made. • '1918 - Intercutting race to Damascus - Lawrence has come up with a sneeky way to beat the Australians by coming around the Eastern flank, not noticeable in his Arab costume. • '2008 - Snag with going ahead with filming - after all the re-writes - the script still sucks - story pretentious, predictable, dialogue corny - not enough conflict, double-crosses - just not Top 5 Epic potential - would flop - go straight to DVD • '1918 September 30 - Morining - Lawrence runs into an Indian patrol that he's not expecting - they've just arrived on the Campaign - green, but do everything by the book - they're suspicious of his story - even with their poor English they can see he's a bullshit artist. • '2008 - One of the Elders - has finally been able to contact his favourite script doctor - now over 70 - but uncredited on famous epics - but he refuses • '1918 September 30 - Afternoon - Lawrence escapes the Indian patrol by conning a local Arab boy. • The 10 ALH are coming up the Western flank - arrive on the outskirts of the city - these guys go at there own speed - they've had enough for one day, it's been a long, and Great Ride - 2 and 1/2 years since they got over the Suez - they camp for the night and will attack Damascus in the morning. • Lawrence is close, and has just spotted a way to get to Damascus faster. • '1918 October 1 6:00am - Olden's Australians beat Lawrence to Damascus. 'Ned' arrives around 9:00 in a Rolls Royce, not on camel. He's livid with disgust at the Australians. Shows his disdain when he later has to deal with Gen. Chauvel, who has moved to control the City. • Shafted. It starts when the Billjim are ordered to kill their beloved horses rather than pay the money to get them back home - that guesture of total thanklessness after the indispensable part the Walers played in the victory bringing the spoils that the colonizing powers divvied up afterwards. • 'Moral Message Hammer' - Film ends with Premiere of 'Australians of Arabia - The Movie' - News conference, a summit of world leaders, promoting a whole new way to teach our children the history of civilization in our schools. The End

CAST OF CHARACTERS • Thomas Edward 'Ned' Lawrence (16 August '1888 – 19 May '1935, 47) ..... ideally to be played by [someone the factual height - 5' nothing!] Ironically, 'Lawrence' was a name he had little respect for, often using aliases. His father, Sir Thomas Chapman, a landlord in Ireland, was a bigamist, having run off with a servant. Later he took her family name - Lawrence, although she too was illegitimate, of Scottish ancestry, and gave birth to Thomas Edward, who was dubbed 'Ned', in a town in Wales while they were on the run. • Major Arthur Olden (1881 - 1949, 68) - 10 ALH - beat Lawrence to Damascus - 1 October, '1918 ..... ideally to be played by [Russel Crowe, Eric Bana...] Note Olden's memoir: "Westralian Cavalry" - 10th Light Horse Regiment in the Great War '1914-1918 ('1921). • 'The Composite Billjim' Either Olden or somebody else, perhaps given the name William 'Bill' James or eve more apt Bill Gamesh ('Bilgames'). • 'The Waler' ["Walter" / "Wally" ??] The Billjim's horse. [Walers were specially bred in New South Wales.] Just as the real star of a LoA was the 'desert', in AoA it is the 'Waler' • Col. Nowell de Lancey Forth - Fighting Colonel of the Camel Corps, Commander 3rd Camel Corps Battalion and uncle of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch ..... ideally to be played by [Russel Crowe, Eric Banner...] • Col. Newcombe • Col. Meinertzhagen • Col. Guy Dawnay Just some of the officers involved in clandestine ops - dressed Arab costume - blowing up railway tracks (which the Turks quickly had rebuilt). Col. Dawnay assisted Keith Murdoch in persuading Prime Minister Asquith to get our boys out of Gallipoli. • Ross Smith 'Australian Air Cav.' - officers of No. 1 Sqadron of the Australian Flying Corps (beginnings of the RAAF)) - did most of the air strikes, even Lawrence used them to puck up the tenuous support of the Arabs (in any event they weren't interested in putting their lives on the line for dubious British motives). • Gen Harry Chauvel - The Palestine Campaign was going nowhere, so they replaced Gen Murray with Allenby and the first thing he did was appoint an Australian to command the spearheading force. • Mustafa Kemal Atatürk - Commander of the Turks [in a bit more Jungian Synchronicity, now apparently Bruce Beresford's (shares Lawrence's 16 August birthday) has been planning a film on him.] • General Liman von Sanders - Brilliant German tactician - who had given the Australians a rough time in Gallipoli - the Turks had plenty of expertise at their disposal, and could easily have held out until the end of the War, if not for the formidable Australians. • George Reynolds - Discovery MidEast Oil '1908 - Anglo-Persian Oil Company - later British Petroleum (BP). • Winston Churchill ('1874 – '1965, 89) - Oil; Gallipoli Fiasco... • James "Jimmy" de Rothschild - Oil - son of Baron Edmond... • Herbert Samuel ('1870 - '1963) - Oil - son of Shell Oil founder Marcus Samuel, named High Commissioner of Palestine. He was the first Jewish ruler in the land of Israel since Herod Agrippa. Samuel's oil tankers were bringing Rothschild's oil through the Suez Canal to be delivered to Churchill's newly oil-fueled Royal Navy. • Chaim Weizmann • Arthur Balfour - Balfour Declaration 2 November '1917 - Jews to get Palestine (Battle of Beersheba - 31 October, '1917) originally it was going to be somewhere in Africa, even Australia. • Keith Murdoch - Ruperts father - gets the Billjims out of Gallipoli and back to their horses in Eqypt • Lowell Thomas - Journalist - Creator of Lawrence of Arabia - sent by U.S Government to work up stories to get 'Isolationist' Amercia interested in entering the War • Capt. Frank Hurley (15 October 1885 – 16 January 1962) - raised in Glebe, Sydney - Lowell Thomas used his film for his Lawrence of Arabia yarn. • U.S. Soldiers - '1917 U.S. finally enters War - brief montage of soldiers on troop ship to Europe carrying the deadly 'Spanish Flu' later traced to Fort Riley Kansas - kills more people than the war itself. • Richard Aldington ('1892-'1962) - attempt to expose Lawrence only creates more sychophants and interest in getting the movie made. • Sam Spiegel - LoA Producer • David Lean (25 March '1908 – 16 April '1991, 83) - LoA Director - Lawrence of Arabia movie ('1962) makes his career. • Peter O'Toole ('1932 - ) ..... ideally to be played by [someone 6' 2"!] • Beleaguered AOA Producer / Narrator / Time Traveller [Ideally to be played by ?? (Richard Gere - worked with Bruce Beresford in ill-fated "King David", ironically set in exact same part of the world!) More at Script Notes] • Japanese Characters Re scene of AOA producer first getting idea of respecting deeds of ancestors from O-Bon festival while living in Japan in '1990s. (Relates to earlier montage of Admiral Perry's U.S. Black Ships '1853 that force Japan to open, leading to Pacific War and Baz Luhrmann's emphasis on Darwin Bombing in his "Australia" movie.) • Indian Characters Re scene where an Indian brigade foils Lawrence's attempt to beat the Australians to Damascus. • Female Lead [Judy Davis?? - hails from lesser known Perth WA, just like Arthur Olden] - actor plays herself [a la Charlie Kaufman - Being John Malkovich] - kicks ass - comes to aid of AOA Producer / fellow time traveller ..... [Nicole Kidman or Naomi Watts, et al, ... (even make it a young fresh new generation role - like a Rose Byrne or Trilby Beresford)] • Main Female Supporting Actress [Rose Byrne ??] - meaty role - lover / wife of major Billjim character • Supporting Cast - other Billjims; Egyptian / Turk / Palestinian / Arab / Israeli / British / French Cast • Cameos: - Dame Elisabeth Murdoch (let's not miss the opportunity - 100, 8 Feb '09 - the perfect day to shoot her cameo!) - Rupert Murdoch - now almost 80 - in the scene about Karma, part of AOA Producer's recurring dream - Rupert's weird death, and in spite of his pre-occupation with 'life extension', (Grace and Chloe cf. Tara)... - Aussie Filmmaking Mafia; NIDA / Film School President and students - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd &/or NSW Premier Nathan Rees; &/or Malcolm Turnbull; Tourism Ministers - Bank CEO that provide supplemental backing - Westpac, Commonwealth, ANZ, NAB or Macquarie - Peter O'Toole - ironically, recently starred in "Venus", one of his best performances and funded by UK Film Council National Lottery - that's what we're trying to do with The AOA Movie National Lottery! - Omar Sharif [now flogging Al Zorah resort ??] - Joseph Campbell ("Power of Myth" footage) - Leaders of Middle East Countries - Jeff Bezos the Amazon.com visionary with Kindle / eBooks - Gilgamesh scene - Manager AOA's Preferred Real Estate Agent - provides offices [Ben Ramsay - Potts Point ??] - Owner Preferred Coffee Shop [Roys Famous ??] - Owner Preferred Nightclub [especially re TISM - Springfields - Kings Cross ??] - Owner Preferred Hair Salon [Michael Wolff ??] - Manager Preferred Clothing Store [Espirit, QVB ??] - Manager Preferred Mobile Phone / Internet Provider [3 Mobile ??] - Manager Preferred Car Rental [Avis ??] - Manager Preferred Hotel [Hilton ??] - Manager Preferred Airline [Qantas ??] - Owner Preferred Revitalization Spot [holiday cottage on Hogan's Bluff, Byron Bay ??] - Law Firm Partner - takes care of AOA legal matters - especially copycats / plagiarism - Hollywood Agent [ICM ??] - Associated Film Production Company President - Worldwide Distributor Company President

[I - Scene Index] FADE IN: EXT. BYRON BAY - DAY c.'1902 * Big ocean swells rolling to the shore fill the screen. Sweeping aerial PAN BACK back to Cape Byron, the Lighthouse, the township of Byron Bay - '1902. Pan still further back to a nearby farm on Coopers Shoot. A family is saying goodbye to 3 sons/brothers who are about to head north to Queensland on a pioneering expedition. The sound track starts. It's the sound of an impatient crowd at the start of a rock concert. Then an electric guitar solo starts, it's Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer" - can only be his '91 concert tour live version in protest of the Gulf Oil War. DISSOLVE TO: AERIAL PAN DOWN ON PORT OF ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT - LATE '1918 [HEAD CREDITS MONTAGE] CAMERA from aerial view pans down over Egypt, closer and closer to port of Alexandria, end of WWI late '1918 preparations to board troop ships to return home to Australia - head credits roll - CLOSE SHOT of face of 'Billjim' (horseman with 'thousand yard stare') sitting around camp fire with tin mug of tea in hand and 'rolly' smoke hanging from lips. Gets up and heads over to his beloved 'Waler' (specially bred horse). POV of his horse ["Wally" ??]... (Some of the critical scenes throughout the Movie will be from Wally's POV, particular the opening and closing.) [Music fades. ..."Directed by [Bruce Beresford ??]" - end of credits] FADE OUT INT. "LAWRENCE OF ARABIA" SET - DAY TITLE: ON THE SET OF "LAWRENCE OF ARABIA" - '1961 CLOSE UP of lower legs as someone is walking onto the set in WWI British uniform. Wearer is too tall for the standard issue pants. LEAN Cut! Peter there is something wrong. I'm not sure what it is. O'TOOLE It's this ridiculous hairstyle, how could it be matted down with hair cream all the time, in the bloody desert, with constant dust storms? SPIEGEL I tell you he's no good, I know it. LEAN Mmmm, I think it's... SPIEGEL It's the uniform. It doesn't fit. Baby, I told you he's too tall for Lawrence. Everyone knows he was 5 foot nothing. And O'Toole's an alcoholic. Let's try Brando again. I'll buy him that fucking island in Tahiti. Please David! LEAN And I told you, 'Whoever heard of a short hero?!' The American audience will laugh us out of the theatre. And we we'll be walking out of the Academy Awards holding our dicks. SPIEGEL From the get-go, you're drawing attention to the lack of authenticity. We haven't got one Australian left in the script. Not even Gen Harry Chauvel and he commanded the spearheading force. LEAN Ah huh. I know your tricks Sam, you old bugger. You don't give a shit about authenticity. You got one of your writers to ply you with some arguments because you want to get rid of Peter, because he's an unknown, he's not a bankable star at the box office. You couldn't even find bloody Australia on a world map if your life depended on it... Reverse psychology. I'm using the ill-fitting clothes. It symbolizes his anti-authority, Lawrence hates wearing the uniform. He has no respect for generals. Doesn't care how he looks. He's vain. He'd rather be in his Arab costume. Peter will do this picture. [And then the beleaguered scriptwriter's 5 yo daughter stopped painting and wanted to go swimming - "I only wanna go to Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre, I'm not going to Bondi Beach!"... No. The scribe gets assassinated (etym. 'hash smoker') - a sniper (perched on the same branch as that Yellow-Crested Cockatoo) from the tree near El Alamein Fountain, Kings Cross... IAExcuse leaving mostly more outlining: ] CUT TO: INT. ENGLISH HOME - DAY '1890s Flashback to the '1890s - a young TE Lawrence, 'Ned' as he was called, overhearing a conversation between his parents - devastated as he learns of the family's dirty secret - they eloped, they're not married, 'Lawrence' is not their real family name - lives are a sham. This incident is a 'game changer' - it has a profound effect on Ned - from then on he has to find a way to 'show' that he is 'above' everybody else, "to back into the limelight", but he also knows that if anyone looks closely he is "on thin ice". CUT TO to another young man half way around the world in a small outback town in Australia. Already an expert horsmen. Arthur Olden will grow up to beat Lawrence to Damascus. The ALH's own special nickname Billjim is introduced to the public - differentiates them from all other military groups and 'Diggers' - a primer for our merchandising operations. And just as the real star of a LoA was the 'desert', we are now introduced to the real star of our Movie, the 'Waler', the Billjim's horse [he names him "Walter" / "Wally" ??] We see the close bond that builds between them from the first time they lie eyes on each other to the tragic end. [Some of the critical scenes throughout the Movie will be from Wally's POV] CUT TO the present ('08) and the trials and tribulations of a modernday Billjim, AOA's Producer, trying to get anyone interested in making the AOA Movie - heavy debt - a greedy, unfeeling 'Big 4' Bank (Westpac) after him... and just when he looks like making a breakthrough, it is mysteriously hit on the head - someone wants the AOA project, indeed the producer himself, 'snuffed out'. Who is behind it? Big Hollywood competitor producers? Politics - Israel lobby? The Movie has lots of subplots, including, following the parallel lives of Ned and [Arthur??] a century ago, and the beleaguered AOA Producer / Protagonists of the film we are watching [a la John Malcovich / Charlie Kaufman]. The Producer has been trying all kinds of things to get support for the Movie, in vain. We see a montage of all the prominent Australians he has 'tapped on the shoulder' - the calling, the 'Cooee' to help out the Billjim. But just when things are going totally downhill - serendipity strikes. Unexpected help comes along. But that comes later. First we have some candidates our Producer is considering tapping on the shoulder. Most will pretend they were never tapped - they've never heard of "Australians of Arabia", haven't got a clue what it is - IAE support for the Billjim will not be forthcoming from them. In the pre-Internet days that wouldn't be a problem for their reputations, now it is. They will be shamed for posterity on our Un-Australian webpage. These scenes will be reduced down to the montage, depending on what works. Of course, the project has now taken on a life of its own (even if the Producer meets with sudden demise - his Trustee will take over). Like a meme it is propagating by itself - word of mouth advertising. It will look much nicer for some Australian reputations if they offer to help before having to be formally tapped - if they just hear about, Google it, see that it's fair dinkum, and offer to help in any way they can. Wouldn't it be just typical (re Australian Film Industry History / Fiasco and the loss of the early edge we had - we made "the world's first full-length feature, The Story of the Kelly Gang, '1906 and what is arguably the world's first screenplay, The Australian Cinematograph, was written by Henry Lawson", c.'1899 - p.57 Shooting Through - Australian Film and the Brain Drain, by Storry Walton, Platform Papers, July '2005) if the first help comes from an overseas entrepreneur (Indian, Egyptian, Arabian, Japanese, American...) who hears about AOA and goes, "Hell this storyline is International, Epic - along with the potential for lots of merchandising and spin-offs, it's gonna be bigger than Batman and the Titanic put together!" Anyway for now, the Australian the Producer formally taps next will depend on a number of factors. For instance, at some point have the tap on a 'Famous Australian Actress'; or the tap on the beleaguered Opposition Leader, Malcom Turnbull [because on 19x08, our Producer after dropping off his 5 yo daughter at school, walks past a newsagent poster, with Rudd at 71% approval rating - Turnbull has not made a dent]; [others to come include: Prime Minister Rudd, new NSW Premier Nathan Rees - his government is "finished" read another headline - all these guys because the world is careering towards a long-term Recession and the public is looking for fair dinkum leaders who can think outside the box - vision - introducing original projects that are Recession Proof - AOA is something the whole country can share in, with multi-benefits, lasting value, release year will be 50th Anniversary of LOA - '2012 - 3 to 4 years of development and production - jobs, Tourism - a leg up on the Baz Luhrmann Australia Campaign...]; [another tap might be on an executive of a local Film School, NIDA even - their students to be used to shoot a 'pre-production' AOA Trailer to help drum up support]; ... At some point, the Producer will tap a Famous Australian Actress [Judy Davis ??] in a desperate attempt to get the movie to 1st base. He knows if he can just land that first one, it will be a heck of a lot easier to find the next supporter, like a domino effect. EXT. SYDNEY STREET - DAY '2008 AOA PRODUCER Ms Davis can I take just 60 seconds of your time? I know you must get this line all the time. JUDY DAVIS You're right, and I'm really in a hurry. PRODUCER It's a chance to get back at David Lean. You know he was a misogynist. He gave you a rough time in 'A Passage to India'. But you stood up to him. He didn't have any female part in Lawrence of Arabia, which left out the Australian Light Horse, completely. They beat Lawrence to Damascus, they kicked the Turks out of the Middle East. The Lawrence myth was created an American journalist... DAVIS OK. You've got 30 seconds left to make your pitch. PRODUCER Jungian Synchronicity. This year is the Centenary of Lean's birth. The 50th anniversary of the movie is coming up. Karma - what goes around, comes around. History is full of dead white males. We make a movie exposing the myth: "Australians of Arabia". I need to make my first connection with someone in the business, to get to first base. You know everybody. And we need a strong female lead, but there are no female characters in the historical accounts. So you just play yourself. Have you seen "Being John Malcovich" written by Charlie Kaufman - a movie with a movie? We flash back and forwards, a hundred years ago, and the present - the beleagured producer talks accomplished Australian actress, that was one the few female actors, post Lawrence, to be in a Lean picture - into helping to get the Movie made. DAVIS I play myself in a movie within a movie about exposing David Lean's... Even if I wanted to hear more, everbody has a great idea for a movie, but they can't get the money to make it. PRODUCER I know that, I read Bruce Beresford's "Josh Harnett definitely wants to do this". A National Lottery! Instead of trying to get 60% tax breaks like Baz Luhrmann got - $160 million still flops. Plus the taxpayer funded $40 million Tourism Campaign which is also a dog. Why keep wasting taxpayer money that way? Remember the Opera House Lottery when we were kids? We talk Prime Minister Kevin Rudd or even Premier Nathan Rees into setting up the "Australians of Arabia Lottery" The people fund it. A national mission, every fair dinkum Australian can be part of it. The government supports savvy thinking outside the box at a time when the world is facing a long-term Recession. Our AOA Movie is Recession Proof, it will create jobs, more bang for the buck after the Baz's Australia Tourism Campaign disaster. We do what Joel and Ethan Coen did with their first movie, 'Blood Simple' - we shoot a pre-production Trailer to drum up support. A simple scene, the one in Prime Minister Rudd's office, we use a Film School to shoot it, NIDA actors even, you started there. Heck, more synchronicity, you were even in the Coen Brothers 'Barton Fink' movie after they became successful. At the same time we promote Australian Filmmaking. It will be a role model for our children... "We don't want to grow up watching American DVDs, we want to produce them!" Everything is on the Net. Just Google it. DAVIS A Natianal Lottery to fund Australian films like they do in the UK... I wonder why we are not already doing that? CUT TO: More intercutting the parallel lives of Lawrence and [Olden??]. Lawrence the latent homosexual. [Olden??] the macho Australian and later family man. Outbreak of the War. Recruitment. '1915: Arriving in Egypt - diverted to Gallipoli fiasco - Keith Murdoch gets our boys out with his famous letter to the PM - frantically running around in London to get something done. [II - Scene Index] Impresario Percy Burton brought his show to England in August '1919 - until then the public there had never heard of Lawrence. *"It is the most astonishing cavalry achievement in the whole history of war, ancient or modern." Thomas' fairy tale story about Lawrence fascinated the public and forced a title change for later shows, adding "...And Lawrence in Arabia" Before the British public latches onto Lawrence, Lowell Thomas was promoting the Light Horse, his poster states at the very bottom: "It is the most astonishing cavalry achievement in the whole history of war, ancient or modern" So even for Lowell Thomas, Lawrence was a secondary character to the Billjim. But, when Lowell Thomas comes along the British public are desperate for a hero. Myth perpetuated through the years. Richard Aldington's exposé inadvertently renews interest in Lawrence. (Terrence Rattigan's play "Ross", film version quashed by Spiegel...) Leading to David Lean film. Lean casting tall Peter O'Toole for short Lawrence. Script leaves out Australians. History is rewritten by Hollywood. The achievements of the Billjim are totally displaced - they even get shafted by their own country. Lawrence blows up a few railway tracks which are quickly repaired. But he's not the only one. The Camel Corps also ride Camels (including the Uncle of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, mother of Rupert) other special forces blow up the railway too. Clearly, take out Lawrence, no change to the result. Main battle scenes emphasize indispensable unique skills of the ALH - nobody else could have done what they did in such a short time. In clear and present danger our AOA Producer continues to hawk around the script and try to get interest in the Movie. [III - Scene Index] Double Climaxes 1. Just when it looks like the end for our besieged AOA producer, a White Night (a powerful, rich influential benefactor) comes to his rescue, forcing a complete turnaround by mainstream media, as if they were always onside, the AOA Movie is going to get made. 2. Suspense of the race to Damascus - which Lawrence is supposed to have won - triumphantly entering one of civilization's oldest cities on a camel. But the truth is, he was upstaged by the uncouth Australians - Major Arthur Olden and the 10th ALH brigade. Lawrence arrives in a Rolls Royce! Above map is from Official War Records shows the ALH (Australian Light Horse) all over Damascus on the eve of their liberation of the city on October 1, '1918. (Note: 4th and 5th Cav. Divisions were made up mostly of Indians, who were rather green, having arrived only in the last couple of months of the campaign.) 30 September '1918 - The Final Assault in pushing the Turks out of the Middle East... Major Arthur Olden of the 10th Australian Light Horse takes the surrender at Damscus Town Hall the following morning at 6 o'clock... Dénouement - includes one of the most powerful scenes in our movie, the Billjim is sitting there, knows what he has been ordered to do by some General, some clerk back at HQ, who's never been near a horse - to kill the, now dispensable, half of the partnership that got the powers that be the spoils. The ultimate double-cross and the beginning of the shafting, "And thanks for delivering Middle East land and oil guys, and by the way, nobody's even gonna know you were even here, all the credit is going to a lone Pommy poseur, you will be written out of history!". Thousands of 'mates', they're not just dumb animals without... are about to be... and they know... the blood, the horror... EXT. ALEXANDRIA - DAY (Late '1918) Soon to board troop ships home, but there just one last hitch. Bill sitting in camp - the thousand yard stare. Puts down his tin mug. He gets up, flicks his smoke, picks up his rifle and heads over to Wally... BILLJIM Well ol' fella we'd thought we made it... But it seems after all you've done... we wouldn't have made it all the way to Damascus without ya... Some "errand boy sent by grocery clerks" says it's too much trouble, too much money to take ya home. They wouldn't even be sitting in their fancy Cairo office, cocktails at 5 o'clock... if it wasn't for us, it would've been taken over by the Turks... Good bye old mate. WALLY (Wally's POV staring into tearing eyes of Bill, he knows...) (DISSOLVE TO montage flashback of Bill and Wally together all these years, all they've been through...   BANG a shot rings out...) CUT TO: EXT. Later we see the Billjim... FADE OUT The End

Based on "Australians of Arabia ...& Lawrence"
Copyright © '1997 - '2008 by Peter Hogan