Allenby Seduction scene. Yes, Sam, I'm all for going back after Dryden's "unscrupulous" line to later on in the scene. You suggested "the sixteenth." May very well be right. The more reasonably drastic the better as far as I'm concerned.

Allenby's Tent. I say this as a reserve length-trouble suggestion. We could go from the Arab army streaming away from camera at the end of the Assembly sequence direct to the marching feet which starts the road to Damascus--via a dissolve please. This would cut out Allenby's tent and the "They are Turks" scene. I like the pictorial side of the guns flashing scene, but if we are in trouble it's one of those cuts an audience wouldn't miss.

Tafas Rape scene. Length or no length I would make a cut of the first shot of the rape--after Allenby has said , "I wonder where they are now?" --which consists of a scarf blowing up between dead bodies. I would cut directly to the shot of the hanging man with the Turks in the distance because many people have been completely misled and think the massacred people are Turks! Yes. This is because the line, "I wonder where they are now" implies that the people one is shown immediately after are the Turks Allenby has referred to a moment ago. I see this now. I know, Robert, we were trying not to be obvious. But it really does confuse so do lets cut that one shot and be quite simple about it. It isn't that bad after all. "I wonder where they are now?" and there they are.

Hospital sequence. I have rather doubled back on my tracks about this one because of a long talk with Fred Zinnerman. He thinks I'm mad.

That's it as far as I'm concerned. As a P.S. I add that Sam Goldwyn, with whom I had a long talk, says we should have heard the screams and the arguments when Gone With The Wind came out. They prophesied the length would be box-office disaster.

[signed] David December 30th '62