David Lean Totally Explained

Everything about David Lean totally explained

Sir David Lean KBE (March 25, 1908 – April 16, 1991) was an Academy Award-winning English film director and producer, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Brief Encounter, Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage to India. Widely acclaimed and winning the praise of directors such as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, and George Lucas, Lean was voted 9th greatest film director of all time in the BFI

"Directors Top Directors" poll 2002.

Early life

He was born in Croydon, Greater London to Francis William le Blount Lean and the former Helena Tangye. His parents were Quakers and he was a pupil at the Quaker-founded Leighton Park School in Reading.

Film career

Editing

Lean started at the bottom, as a clapperboard assistant. By 1930 he was working as an editor on newsreels, including Gaumont Pictures and Movietone. His career in feature films began with Escape Me Never in 1935.
He went on to edit Gabriel Pascal's film productions of two George Bernard Shaw plays, Pygmalion (1938) and Major Barbara (1941). He edited Powell & Pressburger's 49th Parallel (1941) and One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942). After this last film, Lean began his directing career. He had edited more than two dozen features by 1942. As Tony Sloman wrote in 1999, "As the varied likes of David Lean, Robert Wise, Terence Fisher and Dorothy Arzner have proved, the cutting rooms are easily the finest grounding for film direction."
For Lean's final film, A Passage to India (1984), he chose to both direct and edit, and the two roles were given precisely equal status in the film's credits. Lean was nominated for Academy Awards in directing, editing, and writing for the film.

Directing

His first work as a director was in partnership with Noel Coward on In Which We Serve (1942), and he went on to adapt several of Coward's plays into successful films. These included This Happy Breed (1944), Blithe Spirit (1945) and Brief Encounter (1945). These were followed by two celebrated Charles Dickens adaptations - Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948), as well as The Sound Barrier (1952) a collaboration with the playwright Terence Rattigan, and what many consider the definitive version of Hobson's Choice (1954), based on the play by Harold Brighouse. Summertime (1955), marked a new direction in for Lean. Filmed in colour, it was shot entirely on location in Venice. U.S.-financed, the film starred Katharine Hepburn as a middle-aged American woman who has a romance while on holiday in Venice.
In the following years, Lean went on to make the blockbusters for which he's best known: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won an Academy Award, followed by another for Lawrence of Arabia, (1962). Doctor Zhivago (1965) was another major hit. In addition, Lean directed some scenes of The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) while George Stevens was doing location work in Nevada. Most of his scenes involved Claude Rains and Jose Ferrer, both of whom had previously worked with Lean on Lawrence of Arabia. Following the moderately successful Ryan's Daughter in 1970, he didn't direct another film until A Passage to India (1984), which would be his last. He was knighted in 1984.
He was in the midst of planning an epic production of Joseph Conrad's Nostromo when he died from cancer, aged 83. Marlon Brando, Paul Scofield, Anthony Quinn, Christopher Lambert, Isabella Rossellini, and Dennis Quaid were among the ensemble cast set to star in the film. Nostromo would eventually be made as a BBC mini-series. Among other films he attempted to make, but was forced to abandon or pass on to others, are The Wind Cannot Read (1958), The Bounty (1984), Out of Africa (1985), and Empire of the Sun (1987).

Reputation

Although he's considered one of the greatest film directors of all time by many, Lean's critical reputation has shifted over the years. While his early British films have generally had near-universal acclaim, his epics have been the cause of much controversy and discussion.
   Some critics, including Pauline Kael, Bosley Crowther and Andrew Sarris, disliked Lean's epics as a whole, arguing that they were simply visual spectacles with no depth - a view which many of Lean's stringent critics still hold to this day. Director François Truffaut once referred to Lean's films dismissively as "Oscar packages," while critic Lindsay Anderson characterized Lean's epics as having a "chocolate-box view of history". Others felt that while Kwai and Lawrence were accomplished films, his later epics - Zhivago and Ryan's Daughter - were simply attempts to replicate his previous successes. In his review of Doctor Zhivago, Richard Schickel argued that the film, while flawed in many aspects, was a great film if regarded in a purely visual sense - an argument which plays into the hands of Lean's detractors; but many other critics also praised the scripts of Lean's epics (by Carl Foreman, Michael Wilson, and Robert Bolt), which were considered to be more intelligent, literate, and believable than most epic film scripts.
   Lean's films in general have always been extremely popular with the general public, with Kwai, Lawrence, and Zhivago all among the highest-grossing films of all-time. While Ryan and India were less successful on release, they've found wide and appreciative audiences since their release on DVD.
   As Lean himself pointed out (see Kevin Brownlow: David Lean, p. 483), Lean's films were (and are) perhaps admired most by fellow directors as a showcase of the film maker's art. Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese in particular were huge fans of Lean's epic films, and claimed him as one of their primary influences. (Both also helped in the 1989 restoration of Lawrence which, when released, greatly revived Lean's reputation.) George Lucas has referenced his films (Lawrence in particular) throughout his Star Wars film series. John Milius, Sergio Leone, Sam Peckinpah, Stanley Kubrick, and Sydney Pollack also claimed influence from Lean's films. Mel Brooks is also an admirer and parodied several of Lean's films in his sci-fi spoof Spaceballs. Roger Ebert, in writing of Doctor Zhivago, perhaps best sums up this view: (External Link

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I agree that the plot of "Doctor Zhivago" lumbers noisily from nowhere to nowhere. That the characters undergo inexplicable changes of heart and personality. That it isn't easy to care much about Zhivago himself. . . That the life of the movie is in its corners. . . That "Lara's Theme," by Maurice Jarre, goes on the same shelf as "Waltzing Matilda" as tunes that threaten to drive me mad.
And yet the stage has running water, and the horses look real enough to ride. "Doctor Zhivago". . . is an example of superb old-style craftsmanship at the service of a soppy romantic vision, and although its portentous historical drama evaporates once you return to the fresh air, watching it can be seductive.

In answer to his critics, Lean has been quoted as saying "I wouldn't take the advice of a lot of so-called critics on how to shoot a close-up of a teapot."

Influences

Lean often cited John Ford as one of his favorite directors, and used that director's The Searchers (1956) in particular as a reference point while shooting his epic films (for example Lawrence and Zhivago). Another major influence was King Vidor's The Big Parade (1926), which he directly referenced in a scene in Zhivago. He was also a major fan of silent directors Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, and cited Rex Ingram as his "idol" on multiple occasions.

Casting

Lean worked with Alec Guinness on six of his films. The two frequently fought with each other; Lean had adapted Guinness's stage version of Great Expectations for the screen for his second film, and thus felt responsible for Guinness's screen career; Guinness resented this assertion immensely. This, along with Guinness's perfectionism and difficult personality and what he perceived as Lean's authoritarian attitude while shooting a film, caused the two to quarrel on virtually all of their films together. Despite their differences, the two men held each other in high regard and continued to work together throughout their careers.
   Other actors who worked on multiple Lean films include John Mills, Trevor Howard, Omar Sharif, Jack Hawkins, Celia Johnson, Ralph Richardson, Kay Walsh, Ann Todd, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Robert Newton, and Claude Rains.
   He frequently attempted to work with Marlon Brando, in such roles as Victor Komarovsky in Doctor Zhivago (which went to Rod Steiger) and the Major in Ryan's Daughter, and was also planning for him to be in his production of Nostromo which he'd planned before his death. He did not, however, want to give him the title role in Lawrence, as he preferred an English actor; Spiegel wanted Brando as T. E. Lawrence and not Peter O'Toole. Peter O'Toole's performance as an eccentric filmmaker in 1980's The Stunt Man was loosely based on Lean, who directed him in Lawrence of Arabia. While O'Toole held Lean in high regard, he declined opportunities to work with him again after Lawrence (O'Toole was offered parts in all of Lean's subsequent films). The two reportedly had a falling out after O'Toole turned down the lead in Zhivago.
   Lean said at various points that he considered Charles Laughton (star of Hobson's Choice), William Holden (Bridge on the River Kwai), and Claude Rains (of The Passionate Friends and Lawrence of Arabia) as his favorite actors to work with. He also remained close friends with his Summertime star, Katharine Hepburn.

Personal life

Lean was a long-term resident of Limehouse, East London. His home on Narrow Street is still owned by his family. He was married six times, and divorced five — his last wife survived him:

Isabel Lean (1930–1936) (David's first cousin) — one son Peter
Kay Walsh (1940–1949)
Ann Todd (1949–1957)
Leila Matkar (1960–1978)
Sandra Hotz (1981–1984)
Sandra Cooke (1990–1991)

Lean also had a number of other affairs, most notably with Barbara Cole, the "continuity girl" on Lawrence and Zhivago.

Academy Awards

2 Wins and 9 Nominations

Best Director in The Bridge on the River Kwai and in Lawrence of Arabia

Nominated for Best Director in Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, Summertime, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage to India

Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay in Brief Encounter*, Great Expectations* and A Passage to India

Nominated for Best Film Editing in A Passage to India With Sir Anthony Havelock-Allan and Ronald Neame CBE*
Other Awards in his Films
In Which We Serve 2 Nominations

Academy Awards

Honorary Award (Sir Noel Coward)

Best Original Screenplay (Sir Noel Coward Nominated)

Best Picture (Sir Noel Coward Nominated)
Blithe Spirit 1 Win

Academy Awards

Best Effects (Tom Howard)
Brief Encounter 1 Nomination

Academy Awards

Best Actress (Dame Celia Johnson DBE Nominated)
Great Expectations 2 Wins and 1 Nomination

Academy Awards

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Black-and-White) (John Bryan and Wilfred Shingleton)

Best Cinematography (Black and White) (Guy Green OBE)

Best Picture (Ronald Neame CBE Nominated)
Oliver Twist

BAFTA Awards

Best British Film (Nominated)
The Sound Barrier 2 Nominations

Academy Awards

Best Sound (London Films Sound Department Nominated)

Best Original Screenplay (Sir Terence Rattigan Nominated)

BAFTA Awards

Best British Actor (Sir Ralph Richardson)

Best British Film

Best Film from any Source

Best British Actor (Nigel Patrick Nominated)

Best British Actress (Ann Todd Nominated)
Summertime 1 Nomination

Academy Awards

Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn Nominated)

BAFTA Awards

Best Film from any Source (Nominated)

Best British Actress (Katharine Hepburn Nominated)
The Bridge on the River Kwai 6 Wins and 1 Nomination

Academy Awards

Best Actor (Sir Alec Guinness CH, CBE)

Best Cinematography (Colour) (Jack Hildyard)

Best Picture (Sam Spiegel)

Best Film Editing (Peter Taylor)

Best Music (Sir Malcolm Arnold CBE)

Best Adapted Screenplay (Carl Foreman CBE*, Michael Wilson*, Pierre Boulle)

Best Supporting Actor (Sessue Hayakawa Nominated) Honored posthumously in 1984* Carl Foreman CBE and Michael Wilson posthumously awarded Oscars in 1984 because they received no screen credit

BAFTA Awards

Best British Actor (Sir Alec Guinness CH, CBE)

Best British Film

Best Film from any Source

Best British Screenplay (Pierre Boulle)
Lawrence of Arabia 6 Wins and 3 Nominations

Academy Awards

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Colour) (John Box OBE, John Stoll, Dario Simoni)

Best Cinematography (Colour) (Freddie Young OBE)

Best Picture (Sam Spiegel)

Best Film Editing (Anne V. Coates)

Best Music (Maurice Jarre)

Best Sound (John Cox)

Best Actor (Peter O'Toole Nominated)

Best Supporting Actor (Omar Sharif Nominated)

Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson Nominated) The nomination for Wilson was granted on 26 September 1995 by the Academy Board of Directors, after research at the WGA found that the then blacklisted writer shared the screenwriting credit with Bolt.
Doctor Zhivago 5 Wins and 4 Nominations

Academy Awards

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Colour) (John Box OBE, Terence Marsh, Dario Simoni)

Best Cinematography (Colour) (Freddie Young OBE)

Best Costume Design (Colour) (Phyllis Dalton MBE)

Best Music (Maurice Jarre)

Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Bolt)

Best Supporting Actor (Sir Tom Courtenay Nominated)

Best Film Editing (Norman Savage Nominated)

Best Picture (Carlo Ponti Nominated)

Best Sound (A.W. Watkins and Franklin Milton Nominated)
Ryan's Daughter 2 Wins and 2 Nominations

Academy Awards

Best Supporting Actor (Sir John Mills CBE)

Best Cinematography (Freddie Young OBE)

Best Actress (Sarah Miles Nominated)

Best Sound (Gordon K. McCallum and John Bramall Nominated)
A Passage to India 2 Wins and 6 Nominations

Academy Awards

Best Supporting Actress (Dame Peggy Ashcroft DBE)

Best Music (Maurice Jarre)

Best Actress (Judy Davis Nominated)

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (John Box OBE, Hugh Scaife Nominated)

Best Cinematography (Ernest Day Nominated)

Best Costume Design (Judy Moorcroft Nominated)

Best Picture (John Brabourne CBE, Richard B. Goodwin Nominated)

Best Sound (Graham V. Hartstone, Nicolas Le Messurier, Michael A. Carter, John W. Mitchell MBE Nominated)
Filmography

In Which We Serve (1942)

This Happy Breed (1944)

Blithe Spirit (1945)

Brief Encounter (1945)

Great Expectations (1946)

Oliver Twist (1948)

The Passionate Friends (1949)

Madeleine (1950)

The Sound Barrier (1952)

Hobson's Choice (1954)

Summertime (1955)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Ryan's Daughter (1970)

A Passage to India (1984)

Further Information
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