DAVID LEAN
A CAREER OVERVIEW
David Lean started his film career in 1928 as a tea-boy at the Gainsborough Studios in England. He worked his way up from clapper-boy to wardrobe assistant to third assistant director to assistant editor and finally to editor Gaumont-British Sound News. In 1934 he became the editor for Paramount’s british quota quickies (American B-movies made in Britain) and eventually worked on the editing of such major films as “Pygmalion”, “Major Barbara” and “One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing”. By 1942 he was generally considered Britain’s finest editor and had built up considerable expertise and technical knowledge on the business of film-making.
Noel Coward was asked by Alexander Korda to make a film for thw war effort and approached David Lean to co-direct. The result, “In Which We Serve”, was a major success in Britain. Lean along with cinematographer Ronald Neame and producer Anthony Havelock-Allan formed a production company, CINEGUILD, and filmed three more Coward screenplays. The first was “This Happy Breed’ a between war-time study of a typical middle class family. The second effort was “Blithe Spirit” a sophisticated comedy about spiritualism and the trio was concluded with “Brief Encounter” which won Lean his first international award at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 1946 the company tackled Charles Dicken’s “Great Expectations” and ”Oliver Twist” for J. Arthur Rank. The American censors thought Alec Guiness”s role as Fagin was anti-semitic and so the release of the film was delayed five years in the U.S. When finally released the film still had to have cuts made. Lean’s next three films featured his then wife Ann Todd; “The Passionate Friends”- a love triangle told through complex flashbacks, “Madeleine”- a turn of the century murder mystery based on a famous trial and finally “The Sound Barrier” released in 1952. Two years later he directed Charles Laughton in one of his best film roles “Hobson’s Choice”.
Lean’s “Summer Madness” (released as “Summertime” in the U.S.) starring Katherine Hepburn marks a major departure from his previous films, now in color instead of black and white, now filmed on location instead of in the studio. The film is as much a travelogue for Venice, Italy as it is a bittersweet romance. Moving even farther afield, Lean’s “The Bridge On The River” was filmed in Ceylon and fixed his reputation as a director of international standing.
“Lawrence Of Arabia” released in 1962 remains his masterpiece. Working for the first time with screenwriter Robert Bolt, cinematographer Freddie Young and composer Maurice Jarre, Lean spent 18 months on location in Jordan, Morocco and Spain. It made instant stars of Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif. At this time Lean directed Jose Ferrer and Claude rains in a couple of scenes in “The Greatest Story Ever Told” for George Stevens as a favour. In 1965 Lean filmed Boris Pasternak’s classic “Doctor Zhivago”, a novel banned in the author’s native Russia, and the film became his most successful to date. His next film “Ryan’s Daughter” was a critical and commercial flop however and it’s failure almost caused him to give up his career altogether. In the meantime he made three short films for a friend GC Leonard Cheshire who built homes for the dying in India.
Eventually he began work on another project prompted by “the best script I ever had”, A two-part retelling of the Bounty and it’s famous mutiny. After two years of pre-production and the building of an exact replica of the ship Dino De Laurentis pulled the financial plug on this, at the time, expensive project. He did however have time to make a short film on the finding of one of Captain Cook’s anchors “Lost And Found: The Story Of An Anchor. Lean finally returned to the screen triumphantly in 1984 with “A Passage To India”. The film’s Universal critical acclaim re-established Lean among thw world’s foremost directors.
Lean’s last project was the filming of Joseph Conrad’s “Nostromo”. As filming was about to begin Lean passed away. His funeral was held in St.Pauls cathedral in 1991.
DAVID LEAN
FILMOGRAPHY
AS EDITOR
1930 The Night Porter
1931 Those Charming People
1932 Insult
1933 Money For Speed
1933 Matinee Idol
1933 The Ghost Camera
1933 Tiger Bay
1933 Song Of The Plough
1934 Dangerous Ground
1934 Secret Of The Loch
1934 Java Head
1935 Escape Me Never
1935 Turn Of The Tide
1936 Ball At The Savoy
1936 As You Like It
1937 Dreaming Lips
1937 The Last Adventurers
1938 Pygmalion
1939 Spies In The Air
1939 French Without Tears
1940 Spy For A Day
1941 Major Barbara
1941 49th Parallel
1942 One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing
AS DIRECTOR
1942 In Which We Serve
1944 This Happy Breed
1945 Blithe Spirit
1945 Brief Encounter
1946 Great Expectations
1948 Oliver Twist
1949 The Passionate Friends (in the U.S. One Woman’s Story)
1950 Madeleine
1952 The Sound Barrier (in the U.S. Breaking The Sound Barrier)
1954 Hobson’s Choice
1955 Summertime (in the U.K. Summer Madness)
1957 The Bridge On The River Kwai
1962 Lawrence Of Arabia
1965 Doctor Zhivago
1970 Ryan’s Daughter
1984 A Passage To India
SMALLER PROJECTS
1965 The Greatest Story Ever Told (one or two small scenes)
1971 Leonard Cheshire films
1979 Lost And Found: The Story Of An Anchor
UNREALISED FILMS
1945 The Gay Galliard
1949 The Snow Goose
1956 The Wind Cannot Read
1956 Gandhi
1977 The Bounty
1986 Nostromo
DAVID LEAN
UNREALISED PROJECTS
THE GAY GALLIARD, a novel by Margaret Irwin
1945,1949
“I wanted to do something else after Blithe Spirit,” recalled David Lean. “Tony Havelock-Allan, Ronnie Neame and I were all very keen on a book called The Gay Galliard which was about Mary Queen of Scots. And I said To Noel, I’d rather like to try something like that”
Noel said “My dear, what do you know about costumes? You know nothing. You don’t even know how people walk. Stick to the contemporary scene. Stick to what you know. Don’t be foolish”.
Noel Coward produced a script of Still life which they eventually turned in Brief Encounter.
David Lean revived the project after filming Madeleine as a vehicle for Ann Todd but studio budgets scrapped the idea.
Quoted from David Lean by Kevin Brownlow
THE SNOW GOOSE, a short story by Paul Gallico
1947
“Paul Gallico, author of The Snow Goose, soon to be filmed at Pinewood, with his wife, talking to David lean, who will make the film, during an interval between scenes at Pinewood, for Oliver Twist”.
THE WIND CANNOT READ, a novel by Richard Mason
1956
David Lean loved the book and met with Richard Mason in India to write the script and to scout locations. Alexander Korda however did not like the script. Korda died not long after and Rank Pictures dropped the project. Not long after the film was made by another studio still using Lean’s original script (uncredited) and was a success.
GANDHI
1958
Having read The Life Of Mahatma Gandhi by Louis Fischer David Lean was keen to make a film over him. He contacted the screenwriter Emeric Pressburger and they travelled to India to work on the script. They met with Nehru and Indira Gandhi. However after a time the two fell out with each other and the project faltered. Lean was now approached to film The Bridge On The River Kwai so that was that. Two successful films were later made by others: Nine Hours To Rama directed by Mark Robson in 1963 and Gandhi directed by Richard Attenborough in 1982.
THE BOUNTY
David Lean became excited after reading Captain Bligh And Mr. Christian by Richard Hough and so in 1977 Paramount announced that David Lean will direct two films based on the famous Bounty mutiny: THE LAWBREAKERS and THE LONG ARM Dino De Laurentis was to produce. Lean was very keen to tell what happened after the mutiny with the British searching for the mutineers in the Pandora and it’s eventual sinking. In the following year lean received from Robert Bolt “the best screenplay I’ve ever had in my hands”. A new Bounty is meticulously built in New Zealand. While scouting locations one of captain Cook’s anchors is found and a short film is made, Lost And Found, about it’s discovery. Unfortunately in 1979 Dino De Laurentis found the budget far too high and pulled out. Worse still, Robert Bolt was rushed to Los Angeles for heart surgery and the Bounty was eventually put up for sale. A New Zealand T.V. production, A Fated Ship, documented the collapse. Using a much watered-down script Roger Donaldson eventually made the film in 1984 with Mel Gibson.
NOSTROMO
1985
David Lean had been urged to read Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo. It’s a difficult read but he got through it and contacted Christopher Hampton to work on the script. As they sweated away on the screenplay Stephen Spielberg was to become producer. Spielberg wrote Lean making suggestions on how to improve the script. Lean was furious and Spielberg stepped out of the picture. He was replaced by Serge Silberman. Christopher Hampton also stepped out and Robert Bolt came back into David Lean’s life. By this time Lean’s health was in decline and Guy Hamilton was asked to take over if Lean was no longer able to direct. Lean’s passing in 1991 put an end to it. A BBC mini-series was made in 1996. In 2017 a documentary was made for the Spanish TLC network about Lean’s attempt to make the film.
Over the years Lean also briefly considered: The Cruise Of The Breadwinner by H.E. Bates, Stanley And Livingstone, The Taj Mahal, an autobiography of Galileo, The Slave with Julie Christie, The Battle Of Berlin, Out Of Africa and Empire Of The Sun among many others.
