VIDEO THE SWEEP OF ARABY.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

You can almost feel the hot desert wind blowing across your face. That's David Lean's Academy Award-winning film ``Lawrence of Arabia'' sweeping into stores as a deluxe DVD set. It includes four featurettes, a conversation with Steven Spielberg, a documentary on the making of the film and DVD-ROM extras giving you details into the real history of T.E. Lawrence, the British officer who helped unite the desert tribes of Arabia against the Turks during World War I.

A grand spectacle - and Lean was a genius at that - the 1962 ``Lawrence'' is a great film because the director's grand vision never overshadows its eccentric hero. As played splendidly by Peter O'Toole, Lawrence is part romantic, part egomaniac, with a crazed determination that belies logic. O'Toole, in his first starring role, captures all the shadings of this remarkable but complex man.

The screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson was based on Lawrence's book ``The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.'' They painted him as a man tormented by his own devils, with repressed homosexual urges and a touch of the sadomasochist. It was a daring portrait for 1962 that, even today, stands up well. And though the film took home seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director (Lean), Best Cinematography (Freddie Young), Best Score (Maurice Jarre), Best Editing and Best Art Direction, alas, O'Toole did not take home a statuette - an unfortunate oversight.

There are other outstanding performances as well, including Alec Guinness as Prince Feisal, the Arab leader who both admires and uses Lawrence, and Jack Hawkins as his superior General Allenby, who, too, knows how to use Lawrence. Omar Sharif as desert leader Sherif Ali, Arthur Kennedy as the fictional American journalist Jackson Bentley (probably inspired by Lowell Thomas), Anthony Quinn as Auda Abu Tayi (another Arab leader), Anthony Quayle as Col. Harry Brighton, another British officer, and Claude Rains as Dryden, a British diplomat - all are memorable.

But the biggest star of ``Lawrence'' is the desert itself, and this film, one of the last to be shot in 70mm (as opposed to being shot at 35mm and blown up to 70mm), ultimately cries out to be seen on a big screen. However, it's a pleasure to report that this DVD set is the next best thing. Lovingly remastered, it even plays the opening overture with no picture, the way Lean intended. And with the letterbox format and superior sound, it captures the scope of the nearly four-hour film so that those desert scenes are indeed unforgettable - that and O'Toole's piercing blue eyes.

Another Hollywood epic arrived in stores on DVD this week - a three-disc set of the 1963 blockbuster ``Cleopatra,'' starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The film cost $42 million back then, the equivalent of more than $200 million today, and it nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox, the studio making it. An AMC documentary ``Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood'' that ran earlier this week is included on the DVD set.

The documentary chronicles how, in 1962, ``Cleopatra'' was the only film in production at the studio, which was forced to sell some 300 acres of its back lot (which became Century City) to offset the movie's cost. Scandal also rocked the production, with the married Taylor openly having an affair with Burton on the set.

All of this overshadowed any chance the film had to be taken on its merits. The tagline for the film at the time was ``The motion picture the world has been waiting for!'' Apparently not, although the nearly four-hour film did gross $24 million at the time. Written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (an Oscar winner for ``All about Eve''), ``Cleopatra'' is not without its moments. It is a sumptuous spectacle, and Taylor reminds us that she wasn't a star for nothing. She possesses a dynamic screen presence and a captivating allure. She was indeed the best choice for Cleopatra, a woman who intoxicated two of the world's most power men - Marc Anthony (Burton) and Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) - so they couldn't see straight. The movie needed someone like that to be believable. It was a role Taylor was made for (just ask her ex-husbands).

``Lawrence of Arabia'' (Columbia TriStar) is $39.95 for the two-disc DVD set. ``Cleopatra'' (FOX) is $26.90 for the three-disc DVD set.

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Photo:

Peter O'Toole, left, shown with Omar Sharif, became a star with his performance in David Lean's ``Lawrence of Arabia,'' now on DVD.