David Lean at the Cinematheque Ontario

When I think of British director David Lean, I recall the epics he made during my impressionable years at the cinema.  It was the 60’s and 70’s when his greatest and most lavish productions “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Doctor Zhivago”, “The Bridge on the River Kwai”, and even the less successful “Ryan’s Daughter” stunned and astounded audiences around the world.  To me, I always looked upon a new Lean film as an event – and one that I would look forward to. 

After gaining experience as an apprentice in film editing, Lean made many films from the Noel Coward plays, Charles Dickens books to literary adaptations, the best of which were with collaborators cinematographer Freddie Young and writer Robert Bolt.  My favourite Lean film and to me the best war film ever made is “The Bridge on the River Kwai”.  That film boasts the best of Lean’s irony – personified in the film by the pompousness of the Alec Guinness British character, who felt it right to show the true British spirit by rallying fellow POWs to build the bridge, discovering only later that its construction would put the allies steps behind in their fight for victory during WWII.

For the first time, Cinematheque Ontario presents a retro on Lean’s films.  See all or as many as you can.  For the complete schedule and ticket pricing, check the Cinematheque website at:

http://www.cinemathequeontario.ca

Please note that a few of the films are listed in the classics Sundays section including “The Bridge on the River Kwai”.  Films have never been so cinematic since.

BLITHE SPIRIT (UK 1945) ****
Directed by David Lean
David Lean’s adaptation Noel Coward’s highly successful stage play BLITHE SPIRIT is an absolute delight from its political incorrectness (the Indians described as sometimes of the lazy sort and tending to transcend into their own native languages when explained by the medium why they are not used as intermediary) to the playwright’s wit (husband’s answer to wife’s loaded question whether his former wife was prettier than herself).  The film is the funniest when it parodies clichés on how one looks at the spirit world.  The fireworks start when author Charles Condomin (Rex Harrison) summons to his country house, a medium, Madam Arcati (the always excellent Margaret Rutherford, stealing every scene she is in) to perform a séance.  Charles’ first wife, Elvira (Kay Hammond) is summed up by accident with complications ensuing in the best tradition of the British bedroom farce.  Light, hilarious and punctuated by many, many laugh-out loud moments. 

Screening: Oct 31st Friday at 9 pm

BRIEF ENCOUNTER (UK 1945) ****
Directed by David Lean
BRIEF ENCOUNTER, based on the Noel Coward play STILL LIFE, is one of the most moving, realistic romances of all time – aided by its simplicity and ordinariness of the couple involved.  A married woman (Celia Johnson) and married doctor (Trevor Howard) meet at the refreshment house by a train station and begin an elicit affair.  But such behaviour is just not proper and the couple part in the final scene. Lean’s use of close ups (the mouth of the nagging friend), music (the Rachmaninoff score), excessive but effective voiceover and sensitivity elevate this film into a memorable classic.  No sex or nude scenes are present yet the sexual attraction of the leads is phenomenal.  The main romance is complemented by a secondary one between the station master (Stanley Holloway) and the shopkeeper.

Screening: November 2nd – Sunday 5.30 pm

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (USA 1965) *****
Directed by David Lean
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO though based on Boris Pasternak’s Nobel Prize winning literary novel is pure cinematic escapist drama centering on the romance between the physician (Omar Sharif) and violent, passionate yet sensitive Lara (Julie Christie).  The backdrop is the Bolshevik Revolution which drives Zhivago, a man of peace into fighting desperately for the survival of his family and loved one.  The film also stars Geraldine Chaplin as Zhivago’s fragile wife, Ralph Richardson as his adopted father and Tom Courtenay as Lara’s husband, Pacha the man of the revolution who ends up shooting his brains out (off screen).  DOCTOR ZHIVAGO is filmmaking at its best, Lean working with his best collaborators cinematographer Freddie Young and scriptwriter Robert Bolt.

Lean’s images are arresting from the beginning of his film with the young Zhivago looking out into the vast snowy wastelands of the Russian Urals through the frosted window with a branch tapping on it as if beckoning the boy.  The scene later on in the film, of the little figures in the distance filling up the big cinemascope screen as the marching protestors turn around a corner is reminiscent of Peter O’Toole first appearing as a speck on the screen in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.  The film’s story moves briskly efficiently capturing a vast portion of Russian history.  Lean loves playing with mirrors (Lara and the beaten up husband in front of one; Lara’s gown), ambiguities (the interpretation of the death of Pacha from the fallen spectacles), ironies (the timing of the announcement of Zhivago’s engagement with Lara’s shooting) and wry humour (Zhivago throwing his enemy’s cigar into the toilet bowl with a flick).  But it is Lean’s genius for sheer spectacle (the train chugging along in the wintry Urals; the massacre of the protestors) that makes DOCTOR ZHIVAGO such a magnificent classic.

This is one film (over 3 hours) that has made my fourth complete viewing.  Winner of 5 Oscars including one for Bolt’s script, one for Young’s cinematography and one for Maurice Jarre’s original musical score which includes the haunting and unforgettable Lara’s theme.

Trailer:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=wAWrXTn5Www

Screening: October 24th – Friday.  7 pm

A PASSAGE TO INDIA (UK/USA 1984) ****
Directed by David Lean

David Lean’s last film and the only one that he also wrote proves him to be once again in top form.  A PASSAGE TO INDIA, based on the E.M. Forster’s (HOWARD’S END, A ROOM WITH A VIEW) novel shows that Lean can do a better job in terms of splendour, grandeur and cinematic period pieces than the Merchant Ivory filmmaking team.  The story takes place during the last days of colonial India.  Adela Quested (Judy Davis) takes A PASSGE TO INDIA to wed her fiancé who holds the position of a local magistrate.  Her companion on the trip is his mother, Mrs. Moore (Dame Peggy Ashcroft who won an Oscar for this role).  An excursion to the Marabar caves proves fatal to the relationships of all present with Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee) accused of the attempted rape of Miss Quested.  Lean’s film contains lots of symbolism and metaphors with hidden subtexts aplenty.  His frequent framing of Dr. Aziz and one of the main characters, the unmarried Richard Fielding (James Fox) as if they were the perfect couple is intriguing in its gay subtext.  And as in most stories by gay authors like Forster, the institution of marriage is ridiculed.  Lean combines expert storytelling, hidden agenda and a mystery with the cinematic spectacle of a very colourful India.  Those familiar with Lean’s films will be pleased to observe his signature like a train crossing the barren plains (cf: train across the wintry Urals in DOCTOR ZHIVAGO) or a lone solitary figure in the Indian landscape (cf: O’Toole appearing as a speck in the desert in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA).  At nearly 3 hours, A PASSAGE TO INDIA is so compelling that time flies as quickly as the Marabar Express to the caves.

Screening: November 23rd – Sunday 5 pm