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 in British cinema, he is best remembered for adapting the works of Charles Dickens and Noël Coward, and for... Read full bio →
A Passage to India
Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.
Ryan's Daughter
Set in the wake of the 1916 Easter Rising, a married woman in a small Irish village has an affair with a troubled British officer.
Doctor Zhivago
Doctor Zhivago is the filmed adapation of the Russian novel by Boris Pasternak from director David Lean that was an international success and today deemed a classic. Omar Sharif and Julie Kristie play two protagonists who in fact love each other yet because of their current situation cannot find a way be together.
Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia is the classic film from David Lean starring Peter O’Toole and based on the autobiography from Thomas Edward Lawrence who during the first World War was on assignment by the British Empire in Arabia. The film would become a cult classic and is known today as a masterpiece.
The Bridge on the River Kwai
A classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson , the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.
Summertime
Middle-aged Ohio secretary Jane Hudson has never found love and has nearly resigned herself to spending the rest of her life alone. But before she does, she uses her savings to finance a summer in romantic Venice, where she finally meets the man of her dreams, the elegant Renato Di Rossi.
Hobson's Choice
Widower Henry Hobson refuses to let his three daughters get married because he doesn't want to pay settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.
The Sound Barrier
Fictionalized story of British aerospace engineers solving the problem of supersonic flight.
Madeleine
The middle-class family of a young woman cannot understand why she delays in marrying a respectable young man. They know nothing about her long-standing affair with a Frenchman.
The Passionate Friends
The passionate friends were in love when young, but separated, and she married an older man. Then Mary Justin meets Steven Stratton again and they have one last fling together in the Alps.
Oliver Twist
When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin.
Great Expectations
A humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.
Brief Encounter
Brief Encounter is a classic from British director David Lean about two people who fall in love yet face the fact that they are already married and can never be together.
Blithe Spirit
An English mystery novelist invites a medium over for dinner in the hopes of gathering enough material for his latest book, as well as exposing her as a charlatan. However, a series of incidents occur during the course of the evening, which result in a chain of supernatural events being set in motion which wreak havoc on his present marriage.
This Happy Breed
A middle-class family faces personal triumphs and tragedies when they move to a new home in the suburbs.
In Which We Serve
This "story of a ship", the British destroyer H.M.S. Torrin, is told in flashbacks by survivors as they cling to a life raft.