Tuesday 26 January 2016

MY DVD COLLECTION 11

David Lean (1908 - 1991)
 
I was lucky enough to meet David Lean in the mid-60's thanks to his Indian step-son, Ranju, with whom I worked. He was polite and friendly and obviously pleased that I admired his films but I sensed he would rather be somewhere else. I am a great admirer of David Lean, preferring his earlier black and white films (with one exception) to the later colour epics. On the basis of those earlier films I regard Lean as one of the greatest British directors. His films in my collections are : 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) SOUND BARRIER (1952) HOBSON'S CHOICE (1954) BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957) LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965) RYAN'S DAUGHTER (1970) PASSAGE TO INDIA (1984).                  
 

1 comment:

Cerpts said...

I am definitely in agreement as to preferring his earlier, smaller films to his big colour epics; these have usually left me cold. However, as a filmmaker I admire him greatly.

The Lean films in my OWN DVD collection: IN WHICH WE SERVE, BLITHE SPIRIT, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, SUMMERTIME, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO.