David Lean Movies
Director, writer, and producer David Lean grew up in a strict religious background in which movies were forbidden to become one of the world's most celebrated filmmakers. Beginning as a tea boy in the mid-'20s, he was lucky enough to move into editing just as sound films -- with their special requirements -- were coming on the scene. By the mid-'30s, he was regarded as one of the top in his field.Lean turned down several chances to make low-budget films, and got his first directing opportunity (unofficially) on Major Barbara (1941), one of the most celebrated movies of the early '40s. Noel Coward hired Lean as his directorial collaborator on his war classic In Which We Serve (1943), and, after that, Lean's career was made. For the next 15 years, he became known throughout the world for his close, intimate, serious film dramas. Some (This Happy Breed [1944], Blithe Spirit [1945], and Brief Encounter [1945]) were based upon Coward's plays, which the author had given Lean virtual carte blanche to film. Others ranged from Charles Dickens adaptations (Great Expectations, [1946], Oliver Twist [1948]) to stories about aviation (The Sound Barrier [1952]). In 1957, in association with producer Sam Spiegel, Lean moved out of England and into international production with his epic adaptation of Pierre Boulle's Japanese prisoner-of-war story The Bridge on the River Kwai, a superb drama starring Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and William Holden that expanded the dimensions of serious filmmaking.
Lean's next film, Lawrence of Arabia (1962), based on the life and military career of World War I British hero T.E. Lawrence, became the definitive dramatic film epic of its generation. Doctor Zhivago (1965), a complex romance about life in Russia before and during the revolution, opened to mixed reviews but went on to become one of the top-grossing movies of the '60s, despite a three-hour running time. With an armload of Oscars behind him from his three most recent pictures -- with combined box-office earnings of as much as 300 million dollars -- Lean was established as one of the top "money" directors of the decade. But his next movie, the multimillion-dollar, 200-minute Ryan's Daughter (1970), fared far less well, especially before the critics, who almost universally condemned the slowness and seeming self-indulgence of its drama and scale. Disheartened by its reception, Lean took more than ten years to release his next film, the critical and box-office success A Passage to India (1984). He was working on Nostromo, based upon Joseph Conrad's book, at the time of his death in 1991. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Margaret Kennedy, whose novel The Constant Nymph dealt with a musician's love for a pretty young gamin, penned a variation of the same concept in Escape Me Never. Elizabeth Bergner stars as an unwed mother, who is befriended by impoverished composer Hugh Sinclair. He marries her out of pity, but his heart belongs to Penelope Dudley Ward, the wife of his brother. Sinclair is shaken out of his infidelity when his own wife's baby dies. This popular British version of Escape Me Never was remade by Warner Bros. in 1946, which though not as well cast (Ida Lupino is not a fair exchange for Elizabeth Bergner) boasts a superb musical score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold--who'd also scored Warners' filmization of Margaret Kennedy's Constant Nymph. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elisabeth Bergner, Hugh Sinclair, (more)
- 1933
Big Bill Summers (Cyril McLaglen) is the undisputed king of the dirt-track motorcyclists. He also fancies himself quite the ladies' man, and has set his sights on pretty young Jane (Ida Lupino). When rival racer Mitch (John Loder) moves in on Jane, Big Bill seeks revenge on the track, resulting in a serious accident and extensive injuries for Mitch. Barred from racing, Big Bill becomes a stunt rider, and in this capacity redeems himself. Sixteen-year-old Ida Lupino made her second film appearance in this British quota quickie (original title: Money for Speed), which managed to earn an American release in 1936, after Lupino had firmly established herself in Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Lupino, Cyril McLaglen, (more)
- 1932
Dreaming Lips was lovingly assembled by filmmaker Paul Czinner as an "ideal" vehicle for his popular actress wife Elizabeth Bergner. The star plays Gabrielle, the glamorous, spoiled wife of world-famous orchestra leader Peter (Romney Brent). Left alone by her constantly touring husband, she inaugurates a romance with brilliant but reclusive violinist Miguel de Vaye (Raymond Massey). Booked for an American tour, De Vaye insists that Gabrielle accompany him -- and that she tell her husband about their affair. But when Peter falls seriously ill, Gabrielle dutifully remains by his side, never telling him of her indiscretion. Torn between two lovers, Gabrielle eventually decides to kill herself -- leaving a nonplused Peter to wonder just why his wife was so distraught. Overlength is the only significant flaw of this luxuriously produced three-hanky picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anton Edthofer, Elisabeth Bergner, (more)
