"By Jove, this Chris Saunders bloke is one perceptive fellow. I knew SOMEONE loved Ryan's Daughter..."Well, now that Lean Quest! is over, I shall appropriately enough post a retrospective of Lean films. I will of course come back and write/post reviews of those who are missing - well, the remaining epics at least - but this will suffice for now. (Originally posted on IMDB.)
In Which We Serve - Lean's first movie, and it really shows - though undoubtedly Noel Coward had a great degree of influence over the film as producer, writer, star and co-director. Decent for what it is - the most interesting aspect of the film is the cast, made up of virtually every up-and-coming British actor of the time - Coward, John Mills, Kay Walsh, James Donald, Celia Johnson, Richard Attenborough. A bit stiff and overwrought, but not bad.
This Happy Breed - As with
In Which We Serve, clearly a formative effort. Lean shows a great camera's eye, with some impressive set-pieces - the Armistice Day parade, and most notably the great scene where Celia Johnson learns what happened to her son. Still a bit stiff and oh-aren't-we-British, with a decidedly preachy and reactionary social attitude, but for the most part it's an entertaining work regardless.
Blithe Spirit - Lean's first great film. A witty drawing room comedy with excellent use of Technicolor (the spirit effects on Kay Hammond hold up remarkably well), a crackling good script, and an excellent trio of leads in Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings and Kay Hammond, with broader humor handled well by Margaret Rutherford.
Brief Encounter - A near-flawless masterpiece, with only a few minor flaws, most notably Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carrey's annoying doubles-act. Perhaps the best, most mature, intelligent and believable of its type, the adult melodrama, it succeeds due to its purity of form - aside from the comic relief, it tackles its story head on with remarkable clarity and simplicity, with an immensely sympathetic lead in Celia Johnson and a fine star turn by the great Trevor Howard. The cinematography is wonderful too, and the Rachmaninoff score adds immeasuribly to the film's sad, wistful tone. Fully deserving of its status as one of the best romances of all time.
Great Expectations - I've never been much for Dickens, and trying to scale down such a massive tome as
Great Expectations inevitably leads to problems. It has great technical aspects and some marvelous set-pieces, including the fabulous and justly-praised opening in the graveyard and the set-design for Miss Haversham's mansion is astonishing, but the story plods like molasses and the characters are drawn in only the broadest strokes, preventing much identification with them. John Mills is badly miscast (and gives his usual stiff performance), as is Valerie Hobson. Acting honors go to Finlay Currie, Martita Hunt and a radiant young Jean Simmons.
Oliver Twist - Lean's second attempt at Dickens is much better. The movie has a brisk pace which maintains the spirit of the novel without suffering from the same pitfalls of its predecessor. The movie has a genuinely dark, creepy atmosphere which enhances its power immeasuribly. Alec Guinness is utterly remarkable as Fagin - especially considering he was only 29 at the time. Robert Newton is a brilliant Sykes and Kay Walsh is a lovely Maggie.
The Passionate Friends - Basically
Brief Encounter with a bigger budget and more recognizable stars, but Lean manages to make the old concept work like new. The interesting concept here is focusing the movie on the relationship between husband and wife, with Trevor Howard's charming stranger on the outside looking in. Ann Todd is luminous and sympathetic, but Claude Rains steals the show with arguably his best performance (save perhaps
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington). Nice location photography too.
Madeleine - The first half is an interesting, atmospheric melodrama with creative, imaginative camera work (particularly use of deep-focus and intercutting - the visual motifs used to symbolize Madeleine's seduction are also quite striking) that make it seem almost noir like. After the murder, however, the movie devolves into a stiff and didactic courtroom drama, and the ending is extremely unsatisfying. Ann Todd seems much too old for her character, and none of the supporting cast gives a particularly memorable performance. Meh is the word I'm looking for, I think.
The Sound Barrier - Perhaps the only Lean film I outright disliked. Pretty tacky melodrama with lots of plane scenes equals boring. There's quite a bit of character and dramatic potential there that's kept below the surface in favor of lots and lots of plane scenes. There are admittedly some redeeming features - the final two confrontations between Ralph Richardson and Ann Todd are brilliantly done, and it's really ashamed that they didn't really address this conflict until the last fifteen minutes of the film. But such moments are only blips of life in a boring, repetitive movie, where even the technical aspects and cinematography is merely adequate - a phrase one would never think to say of a Lean film. Another such phrase would be, "This film is boring."
Hobson's Choice - Lean's only straight comedy except for Blithe Spirit. The movie is pretty dull, with an over-obvious sense of humor - mixing rather straightforward and tiresome slapstick with overdone, poorly written sub-Coward satire. Charles Laughton gives a schizophrenic performance; in some scenes he's completely hilarious, but in other scenes he's given too much of a free reign and engages in some truly hideous clowning. And I'm sorry, I don't get John Mills - I find him stiff and dull in everything, save his excellent against-type performance in
Tunes of Glory. And I find Malcolm Arnold's score to be atrociously annoying. Not much to recommend this one, I fear, although it has some nice individual scenes - the opening shot parodying
Great Expectations, Hobson knocking a stack of leaflets into a windy street, and the inexplicably hilarious giant rat winking at the drunk Hobson.
Summertime - Lean's first "big film", clearly a trial run for his epics with its gorgeous Technicolor and great use of Venice locations. The most remarkable aspect of the film is Katharine Hepburn. I find Kate annoying in 95% of her films, but here she is a completely sympathetic and even loveable character, keeping her mannerisms and persona in check and creating a character with depth, sympathy and pathos. It falls back on a few cliches and the cast is pretty bland aside from Hepburn, but for the most part is engrossingly beautiful and extremely entertaining. It just edges out
Brief Encounter as my favorite of Lean's pre-epic films.
Bridge on the River Kwai - A great achievement, if only for its ability to balance out intelligent, ironic allegory with a more conventional adventure film. The second half focusing on the commandos lacks the dramatic power of the Nicholson-Saito showdown in the beginning, but the movie remains entertaining throughout, the extraordinary ending making its essential irony presentable without spelling it out for the audience. Alec Guinness is extraordinary, giving one of THE great performances in cinema history, but the other three leads - William Holden, Jack Hawkins, and especially Sessue Hayakawa - are all brilliant as well. The cinematography is a bit murky, some of the details seem odd or out of place (the revue performance at the prison camp? Come on), and the music is mediocre, but these are minor flaws in the context of the whole.
Lawrence of Arabia - Just read the damned essay.
Doctor Zhivago - Same.
Ryan's Daughter - I don't quite understand the hatred and invective directed at this film. The movie's big scale does seem odd given the relatively simple story, but I'd say the material on the whole justifies the length. The cinematography and locations are gorgeous, the characters well-drawn (if rather broad archetypes), and the set-pieces are extraordinary - Rosy and Doryan's first meeting in the pub, Charles' hallucination on the beach, and of course the storm sequence. Sarah Miles is amazing as Rosy - she makes her character convincing through all of her evolution, being sympathetic throughout even when she's engaging in illicit activity. Robert Mitchum is similarly excellent, doing a fabulous job playing as much against type as humanly possible. Trevor Howard really steals the show as the righteous priest, Leo McKern, Barry Foster and Gerald Sim are quite good too. Perhaps a bit overlong, the music is rather grating and out-of-place at times, Christopher Jones is a bit stiff, and John Mills gets tiresome at times, but on the whole it's a great film.
A Passage to India - Probably my favorite Lean next to
Lawrence, a grossly underrated movie that never fails to fascinate me. It has a few missteps (Alec Guinness's bizarre casting as an Indian, the ending is a bit rushed and somewhat uneven) but they're very slight. The story moves at a brisk clip, keeping the general outlines, plot and characters of Forster's novel while adding a few new flourishes to it. Cinematography is gorgeous throughout, as one would expect from a Lean film. Maurice Jarre's score isn't up to his work on
Lawrence and
Zhivago, but its economic nature is perhaps a blessing after the excess of
Ryan's Daughter. The cast is mostly excellent, with Judy Davis, James Fox and Peggy Ashcroft walking away with acting honors. Victor Bannerjee is an excellent Aziz too.
Rough order of preference:
Lawrence of Arabia
A Passage to India
Bridge on the River Kwai
Ryan's Daughter
Summertime
Brief Encounter
Blithe Spirit
The Passionate Friends
Doctor Zhivago
Oliver Twist
Madeleine
This Happy Breed
Great Expectations
Hobson's Choice
In Which We Serve
The Sound Barrier So, that's done. And now onto other things - perhaps a rewatch of
Spartacus tonight? Stay tuned.
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