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David Lean
Despite directing only 16 films over his long career, David Lean is regarded as one of the greats of British cinema, and his films have come to exemplify a certain type of ‘Britishness’.
While best known for his sweeping, Oscar-winning epics (he received two Academy Awards for best director), the intimate character dramas he made in the UK at the start of his career rank among his very best works.
Brief Encounter Brief Encounter
Romance 1946 86 mins Director: David Lean
Noël Coward’s tale of a love affair, thrillingly played out with tight British reserve.
Blithe Spirit Blithe Spirit
Comedy 1945 96 mins Director: David Lean
A séance results in a man’s first wife returning from the dead in Noël Coward’s wonderful comedy.
In Which We Serve In Which We Serve
War 1942 114 mins Director: David Lean and Noël Coward
Noel Coward and David Lean direct this affecting drama of a Royal Navy crew recalling their lives in flashback, as their ship sinks.
Madeleine Madeleine
Crime 1950 115 mins Director: David Lean
David Lean’s film of an infamous 19th-century crime of passion stars his then-wife Ann Todd as the society lady on trial for murdering her lover.
The Passionate Friends The Passionate Friends
Romance 1949 91 mins Director: David Lean
David Lean’s other, lesser known film about a love triangle spent too long in Brief Encounter’s shadow, but is now regarded as a fine, gripping drama.
Great Expectations Great Expectations
Period drama 1947 118 mins Director: David Lean
The first of David Lean’s two Dickens adaptations is one of the finest British literary interpretations and one of the most acclaimed of all British films.
Oliver Twist Oliver Twist
Period drama 1948 116 mins Director: David Lean
Arguably the essential Dickens adaptation, David Lean’s evocative portrayal of Victorian London in sooty black and white features Alec Guinness as a memorably sinister Fagin.