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Poll

Your Favorite David Lean Films Are...

In Which We Serve
0 (0%)
This Happy Breed
0 (0%)
Blithe Spirit
1 (1.1%)
Brief Encounter
17 (18.1%)
Great Expectations
4 (4.3%)
Oliver Twist
3 (3.2%)
The Passionate Friends
1 (1.1%)
Madeleine
0 (0%)
The Sound Barrier
0 (0%)
Hobson's Choice
1 (1.1%)
Summertime
1 (1.1%)
The Bridge on the River Kwai
24 (25.5%)
Lawrence of Arabia
30 (31.9%)
Doctor Zhivago
7 (7.4%)
Ryan's Daughter
0 (0%)
A Passage to India
1 (1.1%)
haven't seen any
3 (3.2%)
don't like any
1 (1.1%)

Total Members Voted: 52

Author Topic: Lean, David  (Read 6237 times)

MartinTeller

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Lean
« Reply #20 on: November 09, 2011, 10:42:13 AM »
I must be the only person on this forum who isn't bothered by narration in a film.

You're not alone.  You can't be a noir fan (or a Malick fan) and have a blanket objection to voice-over.

Anyway, roujin made it clear that it was this particular implementation of narration that bothered him, and usually he doesn't object to it.

Antares

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Lean
« Reply #21 on: November 09, 2011, 10:44:27 AM »
Anyway, roujin made it clear that it was this particular implementation of narration that bothered him, and usually he doesn't object to it.

I know, but almost every review that I read here about a film with narration, seems to denigrate its usage.
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sdedalus

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Lean
« Reply #22 on: November 09, 2011, 01:52:47 PM »
It's a lame complaint.  I blame Matty Ballgame.
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MartinTeller

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Lean
« Reply #23 on: November 09, 2011, 02:05:57 PM »
It's a lame complaint.  I blame Matty Ballgame.

I blame the "show, don't tell" mantra that is the new lazy criticism (though not as lazy as "pretentious").  It's a fine guideline but shouldn't be taken as strict dogma.  There are times when it's appropriate to tell, or juxtaposition some show with some tell.

Totoro

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Lean
« Reply #24 on: November 09, 2011, 05:28:13 PM »
Lawrence of Arabia (B+)
Great Expectations (B+)
Brief Encounter (B)

The Bridge on the River Kwai will appear on my shame list.

Bondo

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Lean
« Reply #25 on: November 19, 2011, 03:55:21 PM »
Lawrence of Arabia is decent but Lean was in desperate need of a competent editor.

I've seen bits of Passage To India, River Kwai and Doctor Zivago and watched Brief Encounter as well. Meh.

1SO

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Lean, David
« Reply #26 on: March 18, 2013, 09:13:26 AM »
1. Lawrence of Arabia
2. The Bridge on the River Kwai
3. Doctor Zhivago

4. Blithe Spirit
5. In Which We Serve
6. Oliver Twist
7. The Sound Barrier
8. Hobson's Choice
9. Brief Encounter
10. The Passionate Friends
11. A Passage to India
12. Summertime

13. Great Expectations
« Last Edit: February 02, 2018, 09:16:03 AM by 1SO »

Totoro

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Lean
« Reply #27 on: March 19, 2013, 05:04:17 PM »
Lawrence of Arabia (B+)
Great Expectations (B+)
Brief Encounter (B)
Dr. Zhivago (B-)


Updated.

Antares

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Lean
« Reply #28 on: March 19, 2013, 05:14:18 PM »
Lawrence of Arabia is decent but Lean was in desperate need of a competent editor.

I just noticed this. You do realize that Anne Coates won an Oscar for editing this film, and she was nominated on four other separate occasions? Also, David Lean started off his career as a film editor and was nominated once for an Oscar as editor.
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Antares

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Lean
« Reply #29 on: April 20, 2014, 04:27:46 PM »
This Happy Breed (1944) 75/100 - One of David Lean's early efforts as a director. The story spans about twenty years, and chronicles the day to day life of a middle class British family between the two World Wars. A bit of tragedy, smidgens of comedy and a lot of family squabbles that don't make for a riveting drama, but more of a curiosity in regards to Lean's early work. Celia Johnson, as usual, is fantastic as the matriarch of the family. Every emotion her character is feeling is effortlessly shown across what appears to be a weathered face. I mention her appearance because throughout the film, she looks rather haggard. Which is surprising when one looks at her in Lean's next film, Brief Encounter, playing a woman who is exuberant in an extramarital dalliance, and she just radiates. I don't know if it was good make up work or the fact that Johnson was one of the all time great actresses. One last thing, towards the end of the film, Robert Newton's character makes a statement about what happens to a house, when a family who has lived there for many years, moves out. How it retains the memories of that family forever. And it got me wondering about the home I now live in. My wife and I built this home 13 years ago, so we are the first to inhabit it. When we're both dead and gone, what will the family that purchases my home, be like? Will they be a happy family or will domestic strife be commonplace in their lives? Very rarely does a line of dialog make me ponder my own life, or what will be after I'm gone, but that bit of dialog did.

Brief Encounter
Hobson's Choice    
Lawrence of Arabia
The Bridge on the River Kwai
   

Oliver Twist
Great Expectations
In Which We Serve
Dr. Zhivago
This Happy Breed

   
The Sound Barrier
« Last Edit: April 20, 2014, 04:29:18 PM by Antares »
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