David Lean

Comprehensive overview of the director’s body of work which yields new insights on the established classics of Lean’s career as well as its lesser-known treasures ' 'A rule of mine is this', said the screenwriter William Goldman in 1983, 'there are always three hot directors and one of them is always David Lean.' One of the best known and most widely admired of British filmmakers, David Lean enjoyed a directorial career that spanned five decades and encompassed everything from the intimate black-and-white romance of Brief Encounter (1945) and the celebrated adaptation Great Expectations (1946) to the spectacular Technicolor epic of Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and his successful return to the screen after a 14 year hiatus, A Passage to India (1984).Melanie Williams' comprehensive overview of the director's body of work yields new insights on the established classics of Lean's career as well as its lesser-known treasures. The book's approach combines archival investigation of the details of production, marketing and critical reception alongside nuanced close readings of Lean's films in terms of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and soundtrack, aiming to honour the director's belief that 'moments you remember in movies are not often dialogue. They are images - pictures with music and sound that move you.' David Lean also offers an original approach to its subject matter by prioritising questions of gender, emphasising the often-overlooked but highly significant recurrence of female-centred narratives throughout the director's career. In so doing, it offers a full analysis and appreciation of the director's manifold achievements, making the book essential reading for all students and scholars of British cinema and every admirer of this remarkable British filmmaker' --Back cover ‘A rule of mine is this', said William Goldman in 1983, ‘there are always three hot directors and one of them is always David Lean.'One of the best known and most admired of British film makers, David Lean had a directorial career that spanned five decades and encompassed everything from the intimate black-and-white romance of Brief Encounter (1945) to the spectacular Technicolor epic of Lawrence of Arabia (1962). This book offers comprehensive coverage of every feature film directed by Lean, yielding new insights on the established classics of his career as well as its lesser-known treasures. Its analysis prioritises questions of gender and emphasises the often-overlooked but highly significant recurrence of female-centred narratives throughout Lean's career. Drawing extensively on archival historical materials while also presenting nuanced close readings of individual films, David Lean offers a fascinating and original account of the work of a remarkable British film maker. Front matter Contents List of plates Series editors’ foreword Acknowledgements Introduction Cutting and Coward: David Lean’s early career and In Which We Serve (1942), This Happy Breed (1944) and Blithe Spirit (1945) Nineteenth-century blues: Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), Madeleine (1950) and Hobson’s Choice (1954) Women in love: Brief Encounter (1945), The Passionate Friends (1949) and Summer Madness (1955) Men of vision: The Sound Barrier (1952), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Feminising the epic: Doctor Zhivago (1965), Ryan’s Daughter (1970) and A Passage to India (1984) Filmography as director Bibliography Index A comprehensive overview of the director's work, including both established classics and lesser-known works, that combines archival investigation of production details, marketing, and critical reception as well as close readings in terms of mise en scène, cinematography, editing, and soundtrack