Beyond the Epic

Beyond the Epic PDF Author: Gene D. Phillips
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813138205
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 592

Get Book

Book Description
Two-time Academy Award winner Sir David Lean (1908--1991) was one of the most prominent directors of the twentieth century, responsible for the classics The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965). British-born Lean asserted himself in Hollywood as a major filmmaker with his epic storytelling and panoramic visions of history, but he started out as a talented film editor and director in Great Britain. As a result, he brought an art-house mentality to blockbuster films. Combining elements of biography and film criticism, Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean uses screenplays and production histories to assess Lean's body of work. Author Gene D. Phillips interviews actors who worked with Lean and directors who knew him, and their comments reveal new details about the director's life and career. Phillips also explores Lean's lesser-studied films, such as The Passionate Friends (1949), Hobson's Choice (1954), and Summertime (1955). The result is an in-depth examination of the director in cultural, historical, and cinematic contexts. Lean's approach to filmmaking was far different than that of many of his contemporaries. He chose his films carefully and, as a result, directed only sixteen films in a period of more than forty years. Those films, however, have become some of the landmarks of motion-picture history. Lean is best known for his epics, but Phillips also focuses on Lean's successful adaptations of famous works of literature, including retellings of plays such as Brief Encounter (1945) and novels such as Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), and A Passage to India (1984). From expansive studies of war and strife to some of literature's greatest high comedies and domestic dramas, Lean imbued all of his films with his unique creative vision. Few directors can match Lean's ability to combine narrative sweep and psychological detail, and Phillips goes beyond Lean's epics to reveal this unifying characteristic in the director's body of work. Beyond the Epic is a vital assessment of a great director's artistic process and his place in the film industry.

Beyond the Epic

Beyond the Epic PDF Author: Gene D. Phillips
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813138205
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 592

Get Book

Book Description
Two-time Academy Award winner Sir David Lean (1908--1991) was one of the most prominent directors of the twentieth century, responsible for the classics The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965). British-born Lean asserted himself in Hollywood as a major filmmaker with his epic storytelling and panoramic visions of history, but he started out as a talented film editor and director in Great Britain. As a result, he brought an art-house mentality to blockbuster films. Combining elements of biography and film criticism, Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean uses screenplays and production histories to assess Lean's body of work. Author Gene D. Phillips interviews actors who worked with Lean and directors who knew him, and their comments reveal new details about the director's life and career. Phillips also explores Lean's lesser-studied films, such as The Passionate Friends (1949), Hobson's Choice (1954), and Summertime (1955). The result is an in-depth examination of the director in cultural, historical, and cinematic contexts. Lean's approach to filmmaking was far different than that of many of his contemporaries. He chose his films carefully and, as a result, directed only sixteen films in a period of more than forty years. Those films, however, have become some of the landmarks of motion-picture history. Lean is best known for his epics, but Phillips also focuses on Lean's successful adaptations of famous works of literature, including retellings of plays such as Brief Encounter (1945) and novels such as Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), and A Passage to India (1984). From expansive studies of war and strife to some of literature's greatest high comedies and domestic dramas, Lean imbued all of his films with his unique creative vision. Few directors can match Lean's ability to combine narrative sweep and psychological detail, and Phillips goes beyond Lean's epics to reveal this unifying characteristic in the director's body of work. Beyond the Epic is a vital assessment of a great director's artistic process and his place in the film industry.

The Epic Films of David Lean

The Epic Films of David Lean PDF Author: Constantine Santas
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810882108
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book

Book Description
In this volume, David Lean's now undervalued epics--The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter, and A Passage to India--are restored to the elevated esteem they once held.

David Lean

David Lean PDF Author: Kevin Brownlow
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0312145780
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 835

Get Book

Book Description
David Lean was one of a handful of movie-makers of international renown and, arguably, the most famous and successful of all British film directors. Emerging from a childhood of nearly Dickensian darkness, Lean found success as the director of the such classic films as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Doctor Zhivago.Learn about the making of movies a s realized by a master, but also of the highly personal costs of genius. in color.

David Lean

David Lean PDF Author: David Lean
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 9781604732351
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Get Book

Book Description
Interviews with the director of Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, A Passage to India, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and many other epic films

David Lean

David Lean PDF Author: Stephen M. Silverman
Publisher: New Word City
ISBN: 1640193537
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 430

Get Book

Book Description
Here is the story of Sir David Lean, one of the greatest moviemakers of all time, director of such epics as Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and A Passage to India. Stephen M. Silverman spent the better part of a year meeting with Lean to secure firsthand information for this book. An intensely private man, Lean opened up to Silverman and shared with him the story of his life - from his Quaker upbringing, through his decade as Britain's star film editor, to his work as a director, earning him through his intelligent, literate films a reputation for perfection. Lean's movies, which collected an unprecedented twenty-seven Academy Awards, are noted for their stunning pictorial content as well as their strong narrative flow, and many of Lean's colleagues have shared their personal recollections with the author, who has added a new afterword to the book. The memories and anecdotes from such film notables as Alec Guinness, Katharine Hepburn, Julie Christie, Maurice Jarre, John Mills, Omar Sharif, Judy Davis, and Sarah Miles serve to further enliven this already vivid biographical and critical study. Katharine Hepburn starred in Summertime, Lean's first film to be shot entirely on location. Her Introduction discusses Sir David as both an incomparable director and a great friend. Rolling Stone: "Stephen M. Silverman has guided the famously reclusive Lean into lively, witty, and informative recollections of his life and work on such hits as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, Brief Encounter, and A Passage to India, as well as Lawrence [of Arabia]. Here's that rare book on movies that can really be called indispensable." Los Angeles Times: "Perhaps most surprising to his friends, [Lean] allowed himself to be interviewed at length by critic Stephen Silverman. David Lean is interesting not least for the candor with which Lean admitted that the reviews of Ryan's Daughter devastated him and almost paralyzed him creatively." The Boston Globe: "Bright, chatty, cant-free . . . Without lapsing into critspeak, Silverman adroitly lays out the evidence for what's shaping up as an emergent reassessment of Lean's output and provides flavorful eyewitness testimony, pro and con." Chicago Tribune: "It's fitting that the most exquisitely crafted book on film should deal with one of the motion pictures' supreme craftsmen, David Lean . . . . Lean himself contributes many insights and anecdotes, and there are fascinating behind-the-camera tales of both his meticulous technique and his messy battles with producers and stars." Financial Times: "This portrait of the film director as old lion is well-researched and highly readable. We goggle at the account of Lean's Quaker upbringing and his parents' horror of the cinema. (They wanted him to become an accountant.) We follow Lean's early creative romances with Noël Coward (four films) and Charles Dickens (two). And we listen to Lean and Katharine Hepburn . . . quarreling via Silverman over who was responsible for her ill-fated jump into the Venice canal in Summertime." Variety: "As lavish as Lean's best films, Stephen M. Silverman's David Lean is an important addition to the collective library of film books."

David Lean and His Films

David Lean and His Films PDF Author: Alain Silver
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Motion picture producers and directors
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book

Book Description
Uncovers themes and concerns that have been held throughout Lean's career.

Beyond the Epic

Beyond the Epic PDF Author: Gene Phillips
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813171555
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 590

Get Book

Book Description
Two-time Academy Award winner Sir David Lean (1908–1991) was one of the most prominent directors of the twentieth century, responsible for the classics The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965). British-born Lean asserted himself in Hollywood as a major filmmaker with his epic storytelling and panoramic visions of history, but he started out as a talented film editor and director in Great Britain. As a result, he brought an art-house mentality to blockbuster films. Combining elements of biography and film criticism, Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean uses screenplays and production histories to assess Lean’s body of work. Author Gene D. Phillips interviews actors who worked with Lean and directors who knew him, and their comments reveal new details about the director’s life and career. Phillips also explores Lean’s lesser-studied films, such as The Passionate Friends (1949), Hobson’s Choice (1954), and Summertime (1955). The result is an in-depth examination of the director in cultural, historical, and cinematic contexts. Lean’s approach to filmmaking was far different than that of many of his contemporaries. He chose his films carefully and, as a result, directed only sixteen films in a period of more than forty years. Those films, however, have become some of the landmarks of motion-picture history. Lean is best known for his epics, but Phillips also focuses on Lean’s successful adaptations of famous works of literature, including retellings of plays such as Brief Encounter (1945) and novels such as Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), and A Passage to India (1984). From expansive studies of war and strife to some of literature’s greatest high comedies and domestic dramas, Lean imbued all of his films with his unique creative vision. Few directors can match Lean’s ability to combine narrative sweep and psychological detail, and Phillips goes beyond Lean’s epics to reveal this unifying characteristic in the director’s body of work. Beyond the Epic is a vital assessment of a great director’s artistic process and his place in the film industry.

David Lean

David Lean PDF Author: Kevin Brownlow
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1466832371
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 1253

Get Book

Book Description
The life and its biographer provide a landmark work on the cinema. Emerging from a childhood of nearly Dickensian darkness, David Lean found his great success as a director of the appropriately titled Great Expectations. There followed his legendary black-and-white films of the 1940s and his four-film movie collaboration with Noel Coward. Lean's 1955 film Summertime took him from England to the world of international moviemaking and the stunning series of spectacular color epics that would gain for his work twenty-seven Academy Awards and fifty-six Academy Award nominations. All are classics, including The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and A Passage to India. Kevin Brownlow, a film editor in his own right and author of the seminal silent film trilogy initiated with The Parade's Gone By. . ., brings to Lean's biography an exhaustive knowledge of the art and the industry. One learns about the making of movies as realized by a master, but also of the highly personal costs of genius. The troubled Quaker family from which Lean came influenced his relationship with his son, his brother, and his six wives. Yet he showed in his work a deep understanding of humanity. The vastness of this scholarly and entertaining enterprise is augmented by sixteen pages of scenes from Lean's color films, thirty-two pages from his black-and-white movies, and throughout the text a vast number of photographs from his life and location work.

The Making of David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia

The Making of David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia PDF Author: Adrian Turner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Lawrence of Arabia (Motion picture)
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Get Book

Book Description


David Lean - an Intimate Portrait

David Lean - an Intimate Portrait PDF Author: Sandra Lean
Publisher: Andr Deutsch
ISBN: 9780233002484
Category : Motion picture producers and directors
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book

Book Description
Perhaps the best known and most revered film director in the history of British cinema, a recent poll placed five Lean films in the 10 best films of all time. This book gives an illustrate insight into the life of the filmmaker, David Lean.