Lean, David

[roujin]

1. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Brief Encounter (1945)

[Sam the Cinema Snob]

Yea, Lean is pretty terrible.

[Totoro]

Brief Encounter (B+)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (B+)
Lawrence of Arabia (B+)
Great Expectations (B+)
Oliver Twist (B)
Dr. Zhivago (B-)
Updated.

It's been a long time since I've seen Lawrence of Arabia. At least 10 years.

[1SO]

There's a built-in apprehension towards David Lean. A sense that everything is gong to be too proper, too repressed. As dry as a cracker. However, My Ranked List is quite favorable, boosted by two recent first time viewings.

Hobson's Choice is billed as a comedy and my initial apprehension carried over into the opening of the film. I feared this was going to be one of those highbrow, witty stories where clever is often mistaken for humorous. As I warmed up to the story and the characters who must outwit the tyrannical father used to getting his own way for much too long, I realized I was actually enjoying myself. Even in my unnecessarily tense condition, I found the film is genuinely funny in places. Especially during a late-game con job disguised as a masterful bit of negotiation. I like Charles Laughton, but John Mills stills the film as an unappreciated bootmaker who must learn to stand on his own (or wife's) feet.


Summertime was much easier to relax into. It stars Katharine Hepburn, in one of her most invisible performances. Through her character David Lean does something better than I've ever seen any other film do. He makes the location seem like a magical place that I want to visit. Never mind Rossano Brazzi. The real romance here is in watching Kate visit these marvelous locations I only know from artificial recreations, like in Vegas and Epcot. She takes them in like it's her first visit and the camera doesn't gloss it up with sparkling photography. Venice here looks tangible AND it looks gorgeous. (This film beats any travelogue/city symphony film I've seen.) Too bad the romance plot takes over for the last 20 minutes. It hits a lot of cliches in a short amount of time. Still, the views of Kate viewing the city are something to see, and for that I have to recommend the film.

BOTH FILMS: * * *

[Sam the Cinema Snob]

Summertime
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Lawrence of Arabia
Doctor Zhivago
Great Expectations
Brief Encounter

[Corndog]

1. Lawrence of Arabia (4)
2. The Bridge on the River Kwai (3.5)
3. A Passage to India (3.5)
4. Doctor Zhivago (3)
5. Hobson's Choice (2.5)
6. Oliver Twist (2.5)

[1SO]

The Passionate Friends (1949)
* * * - Okay
It's hard not to think of Brief Encounter while watching this love triangle. While it takes a very different track, there are moments that also seem to be aiming to recall the earlier film. When Ann Todd takes coffee in a train station, wondering if Trevor Howard might show up, I thought Lean was perhaps going to reshoot dialogue from Encounter.

This is quite different, and like a lot of Lean, it starts out dry and grows to boil over with hot blood and (well) passion. I have to credit Claude Rains with that. Holy Hell is this guy a legend for a reason. He had my attention from the beginning and he commands it by the end.