Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean [Hardcover]

Gene D. Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 24, 2006

Two-time Academy Award winner Sir David Lean (1908--1991) was one of the most prominent directors of the twentieth century, responsible for the classics The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965). British-born Lean asserted himself in Hollywood as a major filmmaker with his epic storytelling and panoramic visions of history, but he started out as a talented film editor and director in Great Britain. As a result, he brought an art-house mentality to blockbuster films. Combining elements of biography and film criticism, Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean uses screenplays and production histories to assess Lean's body of work. Author Gene D. Phillips interviews actors who worked with Lean and directors who knew him, and their comments reveal new details about the director's life and career. Phillips also explores Lean's lesser-studied films, such as The Passionate Friends (1949), Hobson's Choice (1954), and Summertime (1955). The result is an in-depth examination of the director in cultural, historical, and cinematic contexts. Lean's approach to filmmaking was far different than that of many of his contemporaries. He chose his films carefully and, as a result, directed only sixteen films in a period of more than forty years. Those films, however, have become some of the landmarks of motion-picture history. Lean is best known for his epics, but Phillips also focuses on Lean's successful adaptations of famous works of literature, including retellings of plays such as Brief Encounter (1945) and novels such as Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), and A Passage to India (1984). From expansive studies of war and strife to some of literature's greatest high comedies and domestic dramas, Lean imbued all of his films with his unique creative vision. Few directors can match Lean's ability to combine narrative sweep and psychological detail, and Phillips goes beyond Lean's epics to reveal this unifying characteristic in the director's body of work. Beyond the Epic is a vital assessment of a great director's artistic process and his place in the film industry.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For admirers of storytelling on a vast canvas, and of an old master, Phillip's study is an overdue pleasure." -- Hollywood Reporter

"I found it hard to stop reading. I was impressed that Gene Phillips had spoken to so many of the people in the Lean circle. His enthusiasm for the films comes through strongly." -- Kevin Brownlow, author of David Lean: A Biography

"Gene Phillips provides the final word" -- Lester Keyser, author of Hollywood in the Seventies

"An entertaining, in-depth look at Sir David's life and diverse career.... A welcome addition." -- Library Journal

"An entertaining, in-depth look at Sir David's life and diverse career." -- Library Journal

"Phillips brings out the person, the immense talent, and the consummate skills of the director." -- Midwest Book Review

"[Gives] its subject a thorough treatment." -- San Antonio Current, Armchair Cinephile

"It's a step forward... for the legacy of the man who created The Bridge on the River Kwai, A Passage to India, and Lawrence of Arabia, 'the greatest film ever made.'" -- The Week

"It takes a great author to write about a great film director. In Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean Gene Phillips matches the excellence and meticulous artistic care Lean brought to the cinema. Utilizing biography, analysis, criticism, historical background, journalistic reporting, and the inner-workings of the moviemake process, Phillips totally captures the total filmmaker. David Lean was a towering genius who demanded emotional and physical perfection as well as the freedom to make his human epics. Gene Phillips is a writer with wisdom, tenacity and the ability to write in the spirit of his subject. Reading Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean is like watching a David Lean film. Phillips takes us on a journey to a place beyond the formalities of filmmaking into the heart of the artistic process itself and into the soul of a true cinema artist. The result is beyond definitive and approaches the inner secrets of why movies are both magical and life altering." -- Vincent LoBrutto, author of Stanley Kubrick: A Biography and Becoming Film L

"[Phillips] offers an in-depth examination of prominent filmmaker David Lean." -- Partners

About the Author

Gene D. Phillips is a professor of film history and modern literature at Loyola University. He is the author of numerous books, including Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir and Godfather: The Intimate Francis Ford Coppola.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 592 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky; First Edition edition (November 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813124158
• ISBN-13: 978-0813124155
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #745,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars career of the masterful director of Lawrence of Arabia, Dr Zhivago, and other film classics, December 1, 2006

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Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean (Hardcover)

The film historian Phillips brings out the person, the immense talent, and the consummate skills of the director about whom one film critic wrote that David Lean's films were "too mammoth in scope and Olympian in style" for moviegoers, even students of the artistic genre, "to get an impression of the man behind the camera." Lean was an extraordinarily ambitious and skilled director who brought his particular, uncompromising touch to any movie he made. Among his movies are the panoramic classics "Dr. Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia"; "Great Expectations" and "Passage to India" adapted from major novels of different centuries; and the war movies "In Which We Serve" and "Bridge on the River Kwai." Lean worked with Alec Guiness, Katherine Hepburn, Omar Sharif, Charles Laughton, and Julie Andrews--all of whom acknowledged his indelible impact on their performances as well as the finished movie even though viewers were not distinctly aware of the director behind it, as they are in a Woody Allen or Alfred Hitchcock film for example. Phillips hones in on Lean's particular style and accomplishments by close readings of many of his 16 films. The author analyzes details of scenes from the films to cast light on Lean's techniques and masterful intentions; and he often notes commentary and critiques by critic, actors, and others for additional perspectives and appreciations of Lean's work. As his major, most memorable films show--"Lawrence of Arabia," for example--Lean was able to create and project romanticism, expansive emotions, genuine characters, and variously the sweep of history or the genius of literature without sensationalism or sentimentality. This is his characteristic, extraordinary, achievement in the world of film.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Monumental book on David Lean, September 27, 2007

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C. Santas "Constantine Santas/film buff" (St. Augustine, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean (Hardcover)

Gene D. Phillips's "Beyong the Epic: The Life & Films of David Lean" comes at a time of renewed interest in David Lean and his films, and puts perhaps the definitive stamp on this filmmaker's achievements. Though it often goes over the same ground as previous books have on Lean--especially the excellent biography by Kevin Brownlow (1996)--Phillips's book has assembled a mass of material from biographical, critical and other sources, including personal interviews with actors, colleagues and filmmakers who knew Lean, and has integrated these materials into an admirable whole, lucidly and painstaikingly evaluating the opus of Lean in its entirety. At last, Phillips offers the Lean devotees--and a broader audience--a remarkable book that places the cinematic achievemnts of David lean into proper perspective, balancing all the elements of a director whose directorial style and methods both attracted and repelled viewers and critics, some of whom still have not accorded Lean the high place he deserves among twentieth century filmmakers. Massive and minutely authenticated, tackling the knottiest problems head on, "Beyond the Epic" redresses critical lapses, and, without being maudlin or worshipful, presents an image of David Lean as, deservedly, one of the greatest narrative film directors of the twentieth century.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sucessful gift to a young cinematographer, August 20, 2011

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Peter C. Funch - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean (Hardcover)

This book was a gift to a young cinematographer. He very much enjoyed the book, and appreciated the gift. He recommends to anyone interested in making movies.