David Lean: A Biography

David Lean: A Biography
by Kevin Brownlow

David Lean: A Biography
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Book Summary Information

Author: Kevin Brownlow
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1996-08-15
ISBN: 0312145780
Number of pages: 800
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Book Reviews of David Lean: A Biography

Book Review: One of the greatest filmmaker biographies ever....
Summary: 5 Stars

I adore this book. I have been reading it as of late, and I love the book (and David Lean) even more. I have always detested biographies of filmmakers that are far too academic in their tone; that professorial tone where they analyze the films ad nauseum, and are constantly talking about symbolism and other completely useless things. This book spares us of that. It is meticulously researched, with great antedotes and quotes from the master himself. It talks about Lean's childhood, and you realise what Lean had to overcome to become one of the greatest filmmakers ever. It's a shame this massive book is out of print. Like a reviewer said earlier, we're constantly given fluff pieces of talentless whores like Spears, Lohan, etc., but here is a real artist whose films still inspire people today. Thank you, Kevin, for writing such a great book, and, of course, to David Lean himself...

Summary of David Lean: A Biography

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.

David Lean directed a number of grand films, among them "The Bridge Over the River Kwai", "Lawrence of Arabia," "Dr. Zhivago," "Ryan's Daughter," and "A Passage to India." Despite the length and breadth of these movies, he meticulously arranged virtually every shot. The results, of course, are some of the most enduring works ever put on film. This tribute to Lean, who died in 1991, is told in Lean's own words and in the words of those who knew him best. It is a comprehensive look at the director and his often combative relationships.

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