A rule of mine is this´, said the screenwriter William Goldman in 1983, there are always three hot directors and one of them is always David Lean.´ One of the best known and most widely admired of British filmmakers, David Lean enjoyed a directorial career that spanned five decades and encompassed everything from the intimate black-and-white romance of Brief Encounter (1945) and the celebrated adaptation Great Expectations (1946) to the spectacular Technicolor epic of Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and his successful return to the screen after a 14 year hiatus, A Passage to India (1984).
Melanie Williams´ comprehensive overview of the director´s body of work yields new insights on the established classics of Lean´s career as well as its lesser-known treasures. The book´s approach combines archival investigation of the details of production, marketing and critical reception alongside nuanced close readings of Lean´s films in terms of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and soundtrack, aiming to honour the director´s belief that moments you remember in movies are not often dialogue. They are images - pictures with music and sound that move you.´
David Lean also offers an original approach to its subject matter by prioritising questions of gender, emphasising the often-overlooked but highly significant recurrence of female-centred narratives throughout the director´s career. In so doing, it offers a full analysis and appreciation of the director´s manifold achievements, making the book essential reading for all students and scholars of British cinema and every admirer of this remarkable British filmmaker.
