The 'Lawrence of Arabia' Match-to-Sun Cut

rguably the most famous cut in cinema history, this transition in David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" bridges a massive gap in time and space with a single, audacious edit. The cut moves from a close-up of T.E. Lawrence blowing out a match to an extreme long shot of the desert sun rising, symbolizing the beginning of his epic journey. The source material reveals this was discovered as a straight cut during editing, having originally been conceived as a dissolve, making it a legendary example of a 'happy accident'.