Sir David Lean A Life in Film A South Bank Show Special 1985

[@veritas6335]

Truly the best filmmaker ever, due of course to his mastery of the medium, meaning unstinting perfectionism, dedication to mastering his craft through laser focus, tireless hard work and attention to every detail of the script, the photography and the editing. He overlooks nothing, which is why he damn well earned his accolades. Bridge On the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia are among the top ten films of all time - never equaled.

[@ronwatson7006]

Alongside Carol Reed, Lean was probably Britain's greatest Film Director .... in my opinion.

[@christiandusina2087]

Well they are some the best filmmakers don’t forget about Alfred Hitchcock which from England or Charlie Chaplin or Stanley Kubrick made a lot of his best work in England or many others

[@michaelbruns449]

Intimate and vast scale cinema both created with equal allure and mastery.

[@stevenvoorhees3107]

Agreed. Kurosawa was equally as adept at both intimate and large scale film-making, IMO.

[@ams1406S]

Simply the best of the best.

[@MYRIAMLATEUR]

Lean was the greatest director ever! My favourite movies : Lawrence of Arabia, A passage to India!

[@AntPDC]

Lovely copy of this extraordinarily good documentary about the great man. Thank you very much.

[@stevenvoorhees3107]

I enjoyed this documentary about one of my Cinematic Gods, Sir David Lean. For me the program being wrapped around his making A PASSAGE TO INDIA and topped off with discussions of his oeuvre was pure fascination! Although I will point out that it seemed, toward the doc's end, there'd be no mention of RYAN's DAUGHTER. It was -- but only briefly. It seems Lean was genuinely troubled by critics' reception to it -- esp. that of American critics. It may have really spooked him and thus could explain why he went nearly 15 years w/o directing. On a much more positive note, the comments gleaned regarding Lean's two Dickens adaptations have inspired me to revisit them.

[@edcampion3998]

Awful shame the critics tore him apart cause of ryans daughter.I personally enjoyed it and if they had been kinder maybe he would have made more movies and that would have been a gift to the world.

[@jimnewcombe7584]

I loved Ryan's Daughter. It's strange to think of it being contemporaneous with Easy Rider though.

[@mark-shane]

Sad he vnever made another film for 14 years partly because of US critics.. I mean these days nobody gives a flying F*** what reviewers say.. Who the hell cares or reads and even if you do its taken with a large barrel of salt

[@voraciousreader3341]

Lean is an admirable artist, but not an honorable man. He was married 6 times and had affairs with at least10000 women, according to one of his friends and associates. That’s the sign of an inability to form close relationships with people, which indicates strong psychological pathology. Why take the vow of fidelity 6 times, with no intention of keeping it?? Worse still, he had a son with “wife #1,” and refused to have anything to do with them or his grandchildren later on. A “functional” man couldn’t do that. Sick!

[@AntPDC]

We are all imperfect. But some are blessed with indisputable genius. Indeed, most geniuses are deeply flawed, but where would we be without them?

[@stephensharp3033]

Summertime must be one of the worst films ever made.

[@talcumpowder1000]

Why was it that bad?