99-484: The Gongman (also known as the "man-with-the-gong") is a company trademark for the J. Arthur Rank Organisation . It was used as the introduction to all Rank films, many of which were shot at their Pinewood Studios , and included those Rank distributed. The Gongman logo first appeared on films distributed by General Film Distributors , which was established in 1935 by the British producer C. M. Woolf and J. Arthur Rank ; it
198-400: A clear idea of how his characters should be portrayed and would not accept much deviation. He had a reputation for being tough with his actors and for refusing to let them indulge in "their natural propensity for histrionics". Yet once the rules were laid down, Lean allowed his actors considerable space for interpretation and he showed a genuine understanding of their exposed position in front of
297-458: A combination ( In Which We Serve and, implicitly, Lawrence of Arabia ). In any narrative context, shots may be intercut to suggest the thoughts or sensations of a character, as in Oliver Twist and Brief Encounter , or characters, as in the sparking streetcar terminal when Zhivago and his still-unknown future love, Lara, brush against each other early in that film. Shots may become literally what
396-507: A dam, but we are soon invited to alight on individuals, and through the use of simple, visual clues, wonder about them and care about them. Alain Silver analyses Lean's technique as "one that elucidates story and characters through pictures." He states that Lean is able to subjectify a film's perspective through visuals regardless of whether the film has a "third-person" or "first-person" narrative: Since most of Lean's narratives are organised in
495-1128: A deal with the BBC to gain access to Rank's nineteen feature offerings. In 1987, the Rank Film Distributors group received a $ 100 million fund for film financing, and the Rank Film and Television division had invested in $ 32 million that they would take the budget against non-U.S. rights. In 1995, the Rank Group acquired all the outstanding shares of the Rank Organisation. In spring 1997, the Rank Group sold Rank Film Distributors, including its library of 749 films, to Carlton Communications for £65 million and immediately became known as Carlton/RFD Ltd. Pinewood Studios and Odeon Cinemas were both sold off in February 2000 for £62 million and £280 million respectively. The company finally severed its remaining connections with
594-477: A former lover. "Once more", writes film critic David Thomson "Lean settles on the pressing need for propriety, but not before the film has put its characters and the audience through a wringer of contradictory feelings." The last of the films with Todd, The Sound Barrier (1952), has a screenplay by the playwright Terence Rattigan and was the first of his three films for Sir Alexander Korda 's London Films . Hobson's Choice (1954), with Charles Laughton in
693-482: A group profit of over £6 million and stated 41% of its film production income came from overseas. In October 1964 Davis reported profits of £4.6 million. From 1959 to 1969, the company made over 500 weekly short cinema films in a series entitled Look At Life , each film depicting an area of British life. From 1971 to 1976, Rank only invested around £1.5 million a year in film production. According to executive Tony Williams "the two main streams that they were down to
792-412: A real gong —specifically a Chinese instrument called a tam tam that was much smaller than the prop. During the sequence, the text "General Film Distributors", " J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors", "J. Arthur Rank presents" or "'The Rank Organisation" appeared over the gong. The first "Gongman" was Carl Dane, a circus strong man who was paid a one-time fee by General Film Distributors. Athletes who played
891-706: A riot. It caused problems too in New York, and after private screenings, was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League and the American Board of Rabbis. "To our surprise it was accused of being anti-Semitic", Lean wrote. "We made Fagin an outsize and, we hoped, an amusing Jewish villain." The terms of the production code meant that the film's release in the United States was delayed until July 1951 after cuts amounting to eight minutes. The next film directed by Lean
990-575: A spokesman for Rank. The following year, Rank reported a record pre-tax profit of £102 million. According to Tony Williams: After a time Rank Film Distributors was in trouble because they hadn't got any new product. So Rank Film Distributors was then given chunks of money to go and buy into pictures because they made a blunder. And they carried on, on that basis, not directly making them and they had no direct control over what they made at all, no influence. They just bought into pictures. They did an output deal with Orion and that carried on until they sold
1089-462: A story's momentous events are not only framed against landscape settings but also integrated into the very texture of the image that his camera produces." He argues that "Lean could have given us kitsch, syrupy imitations of landscape photography, but his staging and cutting blend so fluently that his evocation of the romantic sublime is linked, inextricably, to his découpage and sense of place." In The Rough Guide to Film , Tom Charity argues: "It's in
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#17328521701431188-430: A way which is neither "first" nor "third" person, shots or sequences […] may suddenly shift the film into either mode without disrupting or overwhelming the basic structure. Subjectivity might be accomplished in several ways. The narrative itself may be literally bracketed by being presented as a flashback from either the central character ( Brief Encounter , The Passionate Friends ), a subordinate one ( Doctor Zhivago ), or
1287-432: A wider audience. The Rank Organisation was established, as a means for Rank to consolidate his filmmaking interests, in 1937. A loose collective of filmmakers was established by Rank under the banner of Independent Producers Ltd. including The Archers , consisting of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger , Cineguild Productions , consisting of David Lean , Ronald Neame , John Bryan , and Anthony Havelock-Allan ,
1386-420: Is so clear to everyone else." In Sragow's view, Lean has "depicted the need for constricted modern men and women either to act out their dreams or preserve the life they have by making a scene or putting on a show―indulging in the histrionic to renew their sense of self and purpose." Michael Newton of The Guardian , analysing Brief Encounter and Doctor Zhivago , says: Today, 50 years on, we can see how
1485-519: Is the portrayal of the colonel in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Here is a man using the military discipline that was the result of hundreds of years of British tradition to survive the hardships, torture and degradation of being a Japanese prisoner of war, yet whose addiction to that same discipline and tradition has turned him mad. The man is both a hero and a fool – a remarkable device to illustrate
1584-412: Is to see the complete spectrum of tools available to the filmmaker – and used to their fullest potential." According to David Ehrenstein , "What all [his] brilliant, seemingly disparate works have in common is the clarity and precision of Lean's filmmaking technique, as well as his steely resolve in using it to attain poetic grandeur." Michael Sragow calls Lean "a superb romantic moviemaker and one of
1683-578: The Bush Radio manufacturing facility and began to diversify its interests. In the early 1960s Rank took over Murphy Radio to form the Rank Bush Murphy Group (which was eventually sold to Great Universal Stores in 1978). In 1956 Rank began a partnership with the Haloid Corporation to form Rank Xerox , to manufacture and promote its range of plain paper photocopying equipment. In later years,
1782-522: The J. Arthur Rank Organisation ) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937, Rank also served as the company chairman. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribution, and exhibition facilities as well as manufacturing projection equipment and chairs. It also diversified into
1881-585: The Mutiny on the Bounty . It was originally to be released as a two-part film, one named The Lawbreakers that dealt with the voyage out to Tahiti and the subsequent mutiny, and the second named The Long Arm that studied the journey of the mutineers after the mutiny as well as the admiralty's response in sending out the frigate HMS Pandora , in which some of the mutineers were imprisoned. Lean could not find financial backing for both films after Warner Bros. withdrew from
1980-531: The Royal Ballet . In February 1956 Davis announced Rank would make 20 films at over £3 million. He said "great care will be taken to ensure that, while retaining essentially British characteristics the films will have the widest international appeal. This is part of an intensified drive to secure ever widening showing in overseas markets which already return more than half the revenue earned by Pinewood films." That year, Rank announced it would set up distribution in
2079-480: The 1946 Cannes film festival and garnered Lean his first Academy nominations for directing and screen adaptation, and Celia Johnson a nomination for Best Actress. It has since become a classic, one of the most highly regarded British films. Two celebrated Charles Dickens adaptations followed – Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948). David Shipman wrote in The Story of Cinema: Volume Two (1984): "Of
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#17328521701432178-517: The Arab leader, Prince Faisal, despite his misgivings from their conflicts on Bridge on the River Kwai . French composer Maurice Jarre , on his first Lean film, created a soaring film score with a famous theme and won his first Oscar for Best Original Score. The film turned actor Peter O'Toole , playing Lawrence, into an international star, and was nominated for ten Oscars, winning seven, including Best Picture and Lean's second win for Best Director. He remains
2277-562: The British character in the 20th century: Born in the Edwardian era, Lean experienced first-hand the decline of the British Empire. He lived through two world wars and matured as an artist during the 50s, when Britain was being forced to re-examine her new role. His natural taste was for a mixture of the nineteenth-century novel and landscape painting of the same period – something he never tried, nor wanted, to change. But having grown up during
2376-644: The British cultural figures of his lifetime that he most admires. In 1999, the British Film Institute compiled its list of the Top 100 British films . Seven of Lean's films appeared on the list: In addition, on the American Film Institute 's 1998 list of 100 Years...100 Movies , Lawrence of Arabia placed 5th, The Bridge on the River Kwai 13th, and Doctor Zhivago 39th. In the 2007 revised edition , Lawrence of Arabia placed 7th and The Bridge on
2475-605: The Cannes Film Festival in 1980, Ed Chilton of Rank announced a £12 million slate of projects. However, by June, they withdrew from production once again. "The decision was made to plunge on in and then it was pulled back", said Williams. The Rank films that had been announced for production – including an adaptation of HMS Ulysses , The Rocking Horse Winner and a film version of To the Manor Born – were cancelled. "It now takes too long to recoup money on films," said
2574-482: The Christmas Term of 1926, at the age of 18, and entered his father's chartered accountancy firm as an apprentice. A more formative event for his career than his formal education was an uncle's gift, when Lean was aged ten, of a Brownie box camera . "You usually didn't give a boy a camera until he was 16 or 17 in those days. It was a huge compliment and I succeeded at it." Lean printed and developed his films, and it
2673-481: The Gongman in the film sequence over the years included boxer Bombardier Billy Wells , the second "Gongman", who was actually the first contracted by J.A. Rank – a subtle but important difference. In later years this position was filled by wrestler Ken Richmond . Also, George Francis Moss Snr played the Gongman. In 2012, to celebrate the Gongman's 75th anniversary, The Rank Group , the gambling company that in 1996 acquired
2772-574: The River Kwai placed 36th. With five wins out of six nominations, Lean directed more films that won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography at the Oscars than any other director, for Great Expectations , The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia , Doctor Zhivago and Ryan's Daughter —the last nomination being for A Passage to India . Lean died in Limehouse, London on 16 April 1991, at
2871-510: The Russian aristocracy, and a father, falls in love with a beautiful abandoned young mother named Lara ( Julie Christie ) and struggles to be with her in the chaos of the Bolshevik revolution and subsequent Russian Civil War . Initially, reviews for Doctor Zhivago were lukewarm, but critics have since come to see it as one of Lean's best films, with film director Paul Greengrass calling it "one of
2970-464: The Sands and Silver Dream Racer . Many of these stories were set in the past. "You have to go back in time to tell a story that doesn't have to face seventies problems", said Williams in 1978. "What people are nostalgic for isn't necessarily any particular period, but the happier values that are missing today." Few of these new Rank films performed well at the box office, losing £1.6 million overall. At
3069-603: The Stingers , Wilbert Harrison , Skip & Flip , Andy Stewart , Craig Douglas and John Leyton . A US branch operated from 1959 to 1961; its artists included Jack Scott , Dorothy Collins , and The Fireballs . Rank Audio Visual was created in 1960, bringing together Rank's acquisitions in multimedia, including Bell & Howell (acquired with Gaumont British in 1941), Andrew Smith Harkness Ltd (1952) and Wharfedale Ltd (1958). Subsequent acquisitions included Strand Electric Holdings (1968) and H.J. Leak & Co. (1969). In
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3168-827: The UK, opening its first services at Farthing Corner on the M2 in Kent in 1963. Top Rank operated a portfolio of 10 service areas until the takeover of Mecca Leisure Group by the Rank Group in 1991, when they were spun off to ex-Mecca CEO Michael Guthrie under the name Pavilion (later acquired by Granada and now forming part of Moto Hospitality ). There were other small specialised groups, including Rank Taylor Hobson who made inspection equipment, Rank Cintel who made telecine (television film scanners) machines, and Gaumont Kalee who made audio analysis equipment. During this period, Rank started focussing on primarily solidly commercial ventures, largely aimed at
3267-569: The US. In October Davis listed the Rank actors he thought could become international stars: Dirk Bogarde , Peter Finch , Kay Kendall , Jeannie Carson , Virginia McKenna , Belinda Lee , Michael Craig , Tony Wright , Maureen Swanson and Kenneth More . In October 1957, at the 21st birthday for Pinewood Studios, Davis said Rank would make 18 films this year and 20 the next, with the latter costing £5 million. However cinema attendances fell. In September 1958
3366-579: The age of 83. He was interred at Putney Vale Cemetery . As Lean himself pointed out, his films are often admired by fellow directors as a showcase of the filmmaker's art. According to Katharyn Crabbe, "[t]he rewards of watching a David Lean film are most often described in terms of his skillful use of cinematic conventions, his editing, his alertness to the ability of film to create effects." In his introduction to David Lean: Interviews , Steven Organ claims that Lean "often straddl[ed] that fine line between commercialism and artistry. To view one of Lean's films
3465-467: The aging Hollywood 'bad boy' Robert Mitchum in an uncharacteristic role as a long-suffering Irish husband and British actress Sarah Miles as his faithless young wife, the film received far fewer positive reviews than the director's previous work, being particularly savaged by the New York critics. Some critics felt the film's massive visual scale on gorgeous Irish beaches and extended running time did not suit its small-scale romantic narrative. Nonetheless,
3564-409: The bar high for heavily populated, location-shot period sagas from literary sources, but it would be shortsighted to see Lean's greatest achievements as the filmic equivalent of skyscraping architectural edifices: good because they're there. The people may look like ants when first glimpsed against the vast sand dunes of an exacting Lean composition, or the icy Russian mountains, or the concrete façade of
3663-401: The big Hollywood studios, beginning with Summertime in 1955. The critical failure of his film Ryan's Daughter led him to take a fourteen-year break from filmmaking, during which he planned a number of film projects which never came to fruition. In 1984, he had a career revival with A Passage to India adapted from E. M. Forster 's novel . This was a hit with critics, but it proved to be
3762-411: The camera … Lean would set his actors in the landscape by giving them the feeling of being in that time and at that place. This is where the talent of a great director comes in—setting a scene (mise-en-scène), creating a climate, painting a picture within the story and at the same time never losing the telling of that story. Steven Ross has written that Lean's films "reveal a consistently tragic vision of
3861-623: The character sees; or shots of the character may be manipulated to focus on an interior state. Simple instances would be the hanging in Great Expectations (1946) or the Cossack charge in Doctor Zhivago , where there is no point-of-view shot of the terrible event but merely a slow move in to reveal the horror on the actors' faces. Lean was notorious for his perfectionist approach to filmmaking; director Claude Chabrol stated that he and Lean were
3960-404: The company had lost £1,264,000 on films causing the group's profit to drop from £5 million to £1.8 million. John Davis wound up several long term contracts Rank had with talent. "The trouble with some of them is they won't work," he said. "They lose their sense of proportion." To recoup some of their losses, Rank sold Ealing Studios and its library to Associated British Picture Corporation . In
4059-516: The cutting that you feel both the romantic ardour and the repression that create the central tension in [Lean's] work." Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese in particular are fans of Lean's epic films and claim him as one of their primary influences. Spielberg and Scorsese also helped in the 1989 restoration of Lawrence of Arabia , which had been substantially altered both by the studio in theatrical release and in particular in its televised versions;
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4158-441: The demise of British influence in the world, he also had an acutely critical view of British society. So Lean's work contains an interesting paradox: the strong visual and literary legacy of British culture, which he loved and understood so well, combined with biting insights into the ludicrous aspects of a nation being forced to accept a less important role in the world. A perfect example of this ability to illustrate Britain's dilemma
4257-577: The family market. These include the popular Norman Wisdom comedies, the Doctor films series and, later, Rank took on the Carry On film series from Anglo-Amalgamated . Films of note were produced during this era including Carve Her Name with Pride , Sapphire , A Night to Remember and Victim , as well as a clutch of prestige topics such as the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and filmed performances by
4356-407: The film adaptations of Charles Dickens novels Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948), as well as the romantic drama Brief Encounter (1945). Originally a film editor in the early 1930s, Lean made his directorial debut with 1942's In Which We Serve , which was the first of four collaborations with Noël Coward . Lean began to make internationally co-produced films financed by
4455-552: The film industry in 2005 when it sold its DVD distribution business and Deluxe technical support unit. David Lean Sir David Lean CBE (25 March 1908 – 16 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor, widely considered one of the most important figures of British cinema . He directed the large-scale epics The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Ryan's Daughter (1970), and A Passage to India (1984). He also directed
4554-467: The film to bits", said Lean in a later television interview. "It really had such an awful effect on me for several years ... you begin to think that maybe they're right. Why on earth am I making films if I don't have to? It shakes one's confidence terribly." From 1977 until 1980, Lean and Robert Bolt worked on a film adaptation of Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian , a dramatized account by Richard Hough of
4653-632: The film was a box office success, earning $ 31 million and making it the 8th highest-grossing film of that year. It won two Academy Awards the following year, another for cinematographer Freddie Young and for supporting actor John Mills in his role as a village halfwit. The poor critical reception of the film prompted Lean to meet with the National Society of Film Critics , gathered at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, including The New Yorker 's Pauline Kael , and ask them why they objected to
4752-490: The film." Similarly, Lean biographer Gene D. Phillips writes that the director "saw in his style an attraction to characters who refuse to accept defeat, even when their most cherished hopes go unfulfilled. His protagonists seek to transform their lives, but often fail to do so. Pip in Great Expectations , Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai , and T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia , among others, struggle against
4851-424: The filmmaking duo of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat , and the directors Ken Annakin and Muriel Box . The Company of Youth , the Rank Organisation's associated acting school often referred to as "The Charm School", was founded in 1945. It launched several careers including those of Donald Sinden , Dirk Bogarde , Diana Dors and Christopher Lee . Although she was not a member of the school, Petula Clark
4950-479: The first ITV television contract holder for the south of England . In the late 1950s, The Rank Organization set up Rank Records Ltd. , the record label division was named Top Rank Records and Jaro Records (a US subsidiary). In 1960, Top Rank Records was taken over by EMI , and in 1962 they replaced it with Stateside Records . Top Rank Records artists included Gary U.S. Bonds , the Shirelles , B. Bumble and
5049-554: The former Helena Tangye (niece of Sir Richard Trevithick Tangye ). His parents were Quakers and he was a pupil at the Quaker-founded Leighton Park School in Reading . His younger brother, Edward Tangye Lean (1911–1974), founded the original Inklings literary club when a student at Oxford University . Lean was a half-hearted schoolboy with a dreamy nature who was labelled a "dud" of a student; he left school in
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#17328521701435148-481: The great masterpieces of cinema". As of 2020 , it is the 9th highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation. Producer Carlo Ponti used Maurice Jarre's lush romantic score to create a pop tune called " Lara's Theme ", which became an international hit song with lyrics under the title "Somewhere My Love", one of cinema's most successful theme songs. The British director of photography, Freddie Young , won an Academy Award for his colour cinematography. Around
5247-577: The highest-grossing film of 1957 in the United States. It won seven Academy Awards , including Best Picture , Best Director , and Best Actor for Alec Guinness , who had battled with Lean to give more depth to his role as an obsessively correct British commander who is determined to build the best possible bridge for his Japanese captors in Burma. After extensive location work in the Middle East, North Africa , Spain , and elsewhere, Lean's Lawrence of Arabia
5346-409: The industry; in particular they led film director David Lean , responsible for some of Rank's most critically and financially successful films, to look elsewhere for backing. J. Arthur Rank stepped down as managing director of the Rank Organisation in 1952, but remained as chairman until 1962. In October 1955 the company reported its film production was "satisfactory". In 1945, the company bought
5445-538: The last film that Lean directed. Lean is described by film critic Michael Sragow as "a director's director, whose total mastery of filmcraft commands nothing less than awe among his peers". He has been lauded by directors such as Steven Spielberg , Stanley Kubrick , Martin Scorsese , and Ridley Scott . He was voted 9th greatest film director of all time in the British Film Institute Sight & Sound "Directors' Top Directors" poll in 2002. He
5544-439: The late 1950s Sydney Box became head of production although he retired from the industry in 1959. In January 1960, John Davis announced that Rank would concentrate on bigger budgeted, internationally focused productions. In 1961 they announced a production slate of a dozen films worth £7 million. In October 1962 Lord Rank resigned as chairman of the company and was replaced by managing director Davis. That year to company made
5643-491: The lead, was based on the play by Harold Brighouse . Summertime (1955) marked a new departure for Lean. It was partly American financed, although again made for Korda's London Films. The film features Katharine Hepburn in the lead role as a middle-aged American woman who has a romance while on holiday in Venice . It was shot entirely on location there. Although best known for his epics, Lean's personal favourite of all his films
5742-459: The limitations of their own personalities to achieve a level of existence that they deem higher or nobler." According to Silver, "Lean's signature characters are ordinary dreamers and epic visionaries, people who want to transform the world according to their expectations... The tragic flaw in Lean's characters is a self-centeredness which can lead to misimpression, which can prevent them from seeing what
5841-516: The manufacture of radios, TVs and photocopiers (as one of the owners of Rank Xerox ). The company name lasted until February 1996, when the name and some of the remaining assets were absorbed into the newly structured Rank Group plc . The company itself became a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox and was renamed XRO Limited in 1997. The company logo, the Gongman , first used in 1935 by the group's distribution company General Film Distributors and seen in
5940-490: The mid and late 1970s, Rank Audio Visual made a 3-in-1 stereo music centre, as well as TV sets in conjunction with NEC of Japan. The production of the "classic" Rank TV ran in the mid to late 70s, some interim models appeared and the "modern" Rank TV appeared in the early 1980s. The NEC badge did not appear in the PAL /220/240 volt countries until the mid-1980s. Top Rank was one of the early operators of motorway service areas in
6039-418: The most ruthless documentation with the most elaborate myth-making." He further highlights Lean's use of "highly charged staging and editing and a lucid, fluid realism to depict the contrast between ongoing life and life at its extremes." On the occasion of Lean's centenary in 2008, writer and broadcaster Andrew Collins praised him as "more than just cinema's great choreographer of scale": Certainly, he set
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#17328521701436138-418: The movie. "I sensed trouble from the moment I sat down", Lean says of the now famous luncheon. Time critic Richard Schickel asked Lean point blank how he, the director of Brief Encounter , could have made "a piece of bullshit" like Ryan's Daughter . These critics so lacerated the film for two hours to David Lean's face that the devastated Lean was put off from making films for a long time. "They just took
6237-525: The only British director to win more than one Oscar for directing. Lean had his greatest box-office success with Doctor Zhivago (1965), a romance set during the Russian Revolution . The film, based on the Soviet suppressed novel by Nobel Prize-winning Russian poet Boris Pasternak , tells the story of a brilliant and warm-hearted physician and poet ( Omar Sharif ) who, while seemingly happily married into
6336-452: The only directors working at the time who were prepared to wait "forever" for the perfect sunset, but whereas Chabrol measured "forever" in terms of days, Lean did so in terms of months. Similarly, Hugh Hudson , writing shortly after Lean's death in 1991, called him "[a] man driven to achieve the perfect realisation of his ideas and ruthless in that pursuit." He goes on to describe the filmmaker's method of working with actors: Lean always had
6435-507: The opening titles of the films, became a celebrated and enduring film emblem. The company founder J. Arthur Rank, born in Kingston upon Hull , UK, was already a wealthy industrialist through his father's flour milling business, Joseph Rank Ltd , before making his start in filmmaking by financing short religious subjects in line with his Methodist beliefs. As Rank was a Methodist Sunday School Teacher, he wished to introduce these beliefs to
6534-480: The other Dickens films, only Cukor's David Copperfield approaches the excellence of this pair, partly because his casting, too, was near perfect". These two films were the first directed by Lean to star Alec Guinness , whom Lean considered his "good luck charm". The actor's portrayal of Fagin was controversial at the time. The first screening in Berlin during February 1949 offended the surviving Jewish community and led to
6633-693: The position of third assistant director . By 1930 he was working as an editor on newsreels , including those of Gaumont Pictures and Movietone , while his move to feature films began with Freedom of the Seas (1934) and Escape Me Never (1935). He edited Gabriel Pascal 's film productions of two George Bernard Shaw plays, Pygmalion (1938) and Major Barbara (1941). He edited Powell & Pressburger 's 49th Parallel (1941) and One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942). After this last film, Lean began his directing career, after editing more than two dozen features by 1942. As Tony Sloman wrote in 1999, "As
6732-506: The production designer for Dr. Zhivago . Reversing the critical response to Ryan's Daughter , the film opened to universally enthusiastic reviews; the film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and Lean himself nominated for three Academy Awards in directing , editing , and writing . His female star, in the complex role of a confused young British woman who falsely accuses an Indian man of attempted rape, gained Australian actress Judy Davis her first Academy nomination. Peggy Ashcroft , as
6831-405: The project; he decided to combine it into one and looked at a seven-part TV series before getting backing from Italian mogul Dino De Laurentiis . The project then suffered a further setback when Bolt suffered a serious stroke and was unable to continue writing; the director felt that Bolt's involvement would be crucial to the film's success. Melvyn Bragg ended up writing a considerable portion of
6930-402: The remaining business interests of the Rank Organisation as well as the rights to its logo and name, announced a nationwide competition to find a new Gongman for the 21st century, Chris Rowley from Stoke-on-Trent won the competition and is the new official Rank Gongman. The Gongman's recognisability meant it was often parodied. The Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation (founded as
7029-421: The romantic sensibility attempting to reach beyond the constraints and restrictions of everyday life", and that they tend to feature "intimate stories of a closely-knit group of characters [whose] fates are indirectly but powerfully shaped by history-shaking events going on around them." He further observes that, in his work, "setting [is used] as a presence with as much dramatic and thematic form as any character in
7128-513: The same time, Lean also directed some scenes of The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) while George Stevens was committed to location work in Nevada. Lean's Ryan's Daughter (1970) was released after an extended period on location in Ireland. A doomed romance set against the backdrop of 1916 Ireland's struggles against the British, it is loosely based on Gustave Flaubert 's Madame Bovary . Starring
7227-428: The scale of Zhivago forms the measure of its appeal, and its gorgeousness seems intrinsic to one of cinema's virtues. With Charlie Chaplin , Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Powell, Lean is one of the greatest film directors this country has produced. Like all of them, he is a romantic, and romanticism was his subject matter: the flourishing and the breaking of inordinate desires, the dangerous lure of beauty, of adventure and
7326-416: The script himself. In addition, Lean also edited the film with the result that his three roles in the production (writer, editor, director) were given equal status in the credits. Lean recruited long-time collaborators for the cast and crew, including Maurice Jarre (who won another Academy Award for the score), Alec Guinness in his sixth and final role for Lean, as an eccentric Hindu Brahmin, and John Box ,
7425-427: The script, he left the project and was replaced by Serge Silberman , a respected producer at Greenwich Film Productions. The Nostromo project involved several writers, including Christopher Hampton and Robert Bolt , but their work was abandoned. In the end, Lean decided to write the film himself with the assistance of Maggie Unsworth (wife of renowned cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth ), with whom he had worked on
7524-429: The script. Lean was forced to abandon the project after overseeing casting and the construction of the $ 4 million Bounty replica; at the last possible moment, actor Mel Gibson brought in his friend Roger Donaldson to direct the film, as producer De Laurentiis did not want to lose the millions he had already put into the project over what he thought was as insignificant a person as the director dropping out. The film
7623-533: The scripts for Brief Encounter , Great Expectations , Oliver Twist , and The Passionate Friends . Originally Lean considered filming in Mexico but later decided to film in London and Madrid , partly to secure O'Toole, who had insisted he would take part only if the film was shot close to home. Nostromo had a total budget of $ 46 million and was six weeks away from filming at the time of Lean's death from throat cancer . It
7722-508: The sensitive Mrs. Moore, won the Oscar for best supporting actress, making her, at 77, the oldest actress to win that award. According to Roger Ebert, it is "one of the greatest screen adaptations I have ever seen". He was signed on to direct a Warner Bros. -backed adaptation of J. G. Ballard 's autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun after director Harold Becker left the project. Steven Spielberg
7821-414: The shooting match. Then the decision was made to get out of (the) film (industry), so RFD was closed down, Rank Film Advertising was sold off, eventually, the laboratories went. Cinemas was the last one to go. In 1982, the company partnered with Andre Blay Corporation to license its British title library to home video. In 1986, Rank Film Distributors, and archrival Cannon Screen Entertainment had signed
7920-482: The slow but steady innovators of the cinema … Though Lean is usually praised for his 'film sense', as though it were divorced from his other faculties, he's done as much as men of the theater like Visconti to merge the illusions and grand passions of the stage with the verisimilitude and immediacy of the screen. His ability to combine factual filigree and larger-than-life characters in a sometimes hallucinatory atmosphere has inspired generations of filmmakers to try to fuse
8019-516: The state of Britain as she clung to meaningless tradition in a futile attempt to save her identity in the face of declining power. Several critics have found a close relationship between style and theme in Lean's work. John Orr, author of Romantics and Modernists in British Cinema , examines Lean in terms of "the stylised oscillation of romance and restraint that shapes so much of his work", as well as of "the intersection of culture and nature, where
8118-412: The title character. Lean also wanted Alec Guinness to play Dr. Monygham, but the aged actor turned him down in a letter from 1989: "I believe I would be disastrous casting. The only thing in the part I might have done well is the crippled crab-like walk." As with Empire of the Sun , Steven Spielberg came on board as producer with the backing of Warner Bros., but after several rewrites and disagreements on
8217-401: The untrammelled life. Both films demonstrate the impossibility of an illicit love finding a place in the world. In Brief Encounter , social convention and decency prevent it; romance flourishes only to be worn out by the talk of casual acquaintances. In Doctor Zhivago , it is history and the political realm that prove to be love's enemy. Hudson considers the director an important chronicler of
8316-864: The varied likes of David Lean, Robert Wise , Terence Fisher and Dorothy Arzner have proved, the cutting rooms are easily the finest grounding for film direction." David Lean was given honorary membership of the Guild of British Film Editors in 1968. His first work as a director was in collaboration with Noël Coward on In Which We Serve (1942), and he later adapted several of Coward's plays into successful films. These films are This Happy Breed (1944), Blithe Spirit (1945) and Brief Encounter (1945) with Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard as quietly understated clandestine lovers, torn between their unpredictable passion and their respective orderly middle-class marriages in suburban England. The film shared Grand Prix honors at
8415-446: The waning film company assets were hastily converted and pressed into 'Rank Xerox' service. This venture was a huge gamble but ultimately the company's saving grace, until, once more in financial difficulties, it signed off increasing percentages of its holdings, to the parent company, finally becoming fully integrated into Xerox in the late 1990s. Rank was also a significant shareholder in the consortium which became Southern Television ,
8514-533: Was The Passionate Friends (1949), an atypical Lean film, but one which marked his first occasion to work with Claude Rains , who played the husband of a woman ( Ann Todd ) torn between him and an old flame (Howard). The Passionate Friends was the first of three films to feature the actress Ann Todd, who became his third wife. Madeleine (1950), set in Victorian-era Glasgow is about an 1857 cause célèbre with Todd's lead character accused of murdering
8613-509: Was Summertime , and Hepburn his favourite actress. Lean's films now began to become infrequent but much larger in scale and more extensively released internationally. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) was based on a novel by Pierre Boulle recounting the story of British and American prisoners of war trying to survive in a Japanese prison camp during the Second World War . The film stars William Holden and Alec Guinness and became
8712-450: Was C.M. Woolf's secretary who thought of the man-with-a-gong trademark. When the Rank Organisation was established in 1937, with General Film Distributors as one of its cornerstones, the logo was adopted for the whole organisation. The Gongman film logo sequence depicts a man striking a huge gong with a deep resonant sound. The gongs used in the sequence were props made of plaster or papier-mâché . The sound came from James Blades striking
8811-515: Was Carry On pictures and horror films made by Kevin Francis". However, in 1976, Rank enjoyed much success with Bugsy Malone (which they co-produced with Paramount Pictures , who held its American rights). This encouraged them to re-enter film production. In 1977, Rank appointed Tony Williams head of production and over two years Rank made eight films worth £10 million, including Eagle's Wing , The Shout , The Thirty Nine Steps , Riddle of
8910-449: Was a "huge womaniser," and that "to my knowledge, he had almost 1,000 women". He was married six times, had one son, and at least two grandchildren—from all of whom he was completely estranged —and was divorced five times. He was survived by his last wife Sandra Cooke, art dealer and co-author (with Barry Chattington) of David Lean: An Intimate Portrait (2001), and by Peter Lean, his son from his first marriage. His six wives were: Lean
9009-644: Was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1953, and was knighted for his contributions and services to the arts in 1984. Lean received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1990. In 2012, Lean was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork— the Beatles ' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover—celebrating
9108-591: Was brought on board as a producer for Lean, but later assumed the role of director when Lean dropped out of the project; Spielberg was drawn to the idea of making the film due to his long-time admiration for Lean and his films. Empire of the Sun was released in 1987. During the last years of his life, Lean was in pre-production of a film version of Joseph Conrad 's Nostromo . He assembled an all-star cast, including Marlon Brando , Paul Scofield , Anthony Quinn , Peter O'Toole , Christopher Lambert , Isabella Rossellini and Dennis Quaid , with Georges Corraface as
9207-517: Was eventually released as The Bounty . Lean then embarked on a project he had pursued since 1960, a film adaptation of A Passage to India (1984), from E. M. Forster 's 1924 novel of colonial conflicts in British-occupied India. Entirely shot on location in the sub-continent, this became his last completed film. He rejected a draft by Santha Rama Rau , responsible for the stage adaptation and Forster's preferred screenwriter, and wrote
9306-445: Was his "great hobby". In 1923, his father deserted the family. Lean would later follow a similar path after his own first marriage and child. Bored by his work, Lean spent every evening in the cinema, and in 1927, after an aunt had advised him to find a job he enjoyed, he visited Gaumont Studios where his obvious enthusiasm earned him a month's trial without pay. He was taken on as a teaboy, promoted to clapperboy , and soon rose to
9405-551: Was nominated seven times for the Academy Award for Best Director , which he won twice for The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia , and he has seven films in the British Film Institute's Top 100 British Films (with three of them being in the top five) and was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1990. David Lean was born on 25 March 1908 at 38 Blenheim Crescent, South Croydon, Surrey (now part of Greater London ), to Francis William le Blount Lean and
9504-563: Was now called), owned: Despite funding films which were both popular and critically acclaimed, Rank was in crisis by 1949, having built up a debt of £16 million, and reported an annual loss of £3.5 million. Managing Director John Davis cut staff, reduced budgets and concentrated film production at Pinewood. Other studio facilities (in Islington ) were closed, sold (Lime Grove Studios) or leased (Denham). The Rank Organisation closed Independent Producers Ltd. The policies of Davis alienated many in
9603-582: Was released in 1962. This was the first project of Lean's with a screenplay by playwright Robert Bolt , rewriting an original script by Michael Wilson (one of the two blacklisted writers of Bridge on the River Kwai ). It recounts the life of T. E. Lawrence , the British officer who is depicted in the film as uniting the squabbling Bedouin peoples of the Arab peninsula to fight in World War I and then push on for independence. After some hesitation, Alec Guinness once again appeared, in his fourth David Lean film, as
9702-404: Was rumoured that fellow film director John Boorman would take over direction, but the production collapsed. Nostromo was finally adapted for the small screen with an unrelated BBC television mini-series in 1997. Lean was a long-term resident of Limehouse , East London . His home on Narrow Street is still owned by his family . His co-writer and producer, Norman Spencer , has said Lean
9801-469: Was under contract to Rank for a period of time and starred in a number of films released by the studio, including London Town (1946), one of the costliest flops in British film history. Also under contract to Rank was the Canadian actor Philip Gilbert . The company grew quickly, largely through acquisition. Significant developments included: By the late 1940s J. Arthur Rank (or the Rank Organisation as it
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