10 Greatest Films Directed by David Lean

David Lean was born just outside of London, in 1908. He began his career in film industry, at the bottom, as a teaboy. He worked his way up to being an editor, editing his first feature films in 1934. He began directing in the early 1940s, directing adaptations of works by Noël Coward.

David Lean received eleven Oscar nominations (one for editing, three for writing, and seven for directing). He won in 1958 for directing The Bridge on the River Kwai, and again in 1963 for directing Lawrence of Arabia.

Lean was known as unwilling to compromise for his art. He would wait months for a sunset to provide the lighting he required.

10. Blithe Spirit (1945) — This collaboration between Lean and Coward is an adaptation of a Coward play. Rex Harrison plays a recently married man whose visit to a medium results in the ghost of his first wife moving in.

“If you’re trying to compile an inventory of my sex life, I feel it only fair to warn you that you’ve omitted several episodes. I shall consult my diary and give you a complete list after lunch.” — Charles Condomine

9. Hobson’s Choice (1954) — Charles Laughton stars as a successful bootmaker that mistreats a daughter and later comes to depend on her.

“I’ve been watching you for a long time and everything I’ve seen I’ve liked. I think you’ll do for me.” — Maggie Hobson

8. Brief Encounter (1945) — a well crafted and authentic look at a woman’s flirtation with infidelity.

“It’s awfully easy to lie when you know that you’re trusted implicitly. So very easy, and so very degrading.” — Laura Jesson

7. Summertime (1955) — Hepburn plays an uptight American teacher on the vacation of a lifetime in beautiful Venice, where she meets a handsome Italian and married man. Venice is a scene-stealing co-star.

“You are like a hungry child who is given ravioli to eat. ‘No’ you say, ‘I want beefsteak!’ My dear girl, you are hungry. Eat the ravioli.” — Renato de Rossi

6. Doctor Zhivago (1965) — a bit of a sappy romance, but it has Julie Christie and is beautifully shot.

“A nameless number on a list that was lost, or mislaid. That was common in those days.” — Zhivago

5. Oliver Twist (1948) — David Lean directed, without a doubt, the best screen telling of the Dickens classic. Obi Wan Kenobi brings the loathsome Fagin to life. All of the characters come to life: Oliver, the Artful Dodger, Bill Sikes, and Nancy. Oliver Twist shows a very different side of 19th century England than most of these other films — a side of workhouses, poverty, and desperation.

“Cry your hardest now, it opens the lungs, washes the countenance, exercises the eyes and softens down the temper. So cry away.” — Mr. Bumble

4. A Passage to India (1984) — E.M. Forster’s novel about a visit to India by two British women was adapted by Lean after more than a decade away from directing.

“My dear, life rarely gives us what we want at the moment we consider appropriate. Adventures do occur, but not punctually.” — Mrs. Moore

3. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) — This David Lean epic won seven Academy Awards. It’s a story about prisoners of war, forced by their captors to build a bridge.

“One day the war will be over. And I hope that the people that use this bridge in years to come will remember how it was built and who built it. Not a gang of slaves, but soldiers, British soldiers, Clipton, even in captivity.” — Nicholson

2. Great Expectations (1946) — This is the story of Pip, Estella (played by Jean Simmons at the beginning of her long career), and the tragic Miss Havisham.

“Come nearer. Let me look at you. Come close. Look at me. You aren’t afraid of a woman who has never seen the sun since before you were born?” — Miss Haversham

1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) — If you’re looking for a film to show off your big screen TV, this is it. It was beautifully shot in 70mm film, on location in the desert. The casting is great with Omar Sharif and O’Toole as the eccentric Lawrence.

“I killed two people. One was… yesterday? He was just a boy and I led him into quicksand. The other was… well, before Aqaba. I had to execute him with my pistol, and there was something about it that I didn’t like.” — T.E. Lawrence