The Directors: David Lean Trivia Quiz

Answer: Film editor

Those 25 films were are British. What better preparation would a person need than to edit miles of film and piecing it together logically so that it tells the story? Also, it must meet the vision of the director and, perhaps, improve upon it. Among them were two George Bernard Shaw films "Pygmalion" (1938) and "Major Barbara" (1941).

Lean was noted for his attention to detail. He had the patience to wait for the perfect sunrise, storm, or light. Personally, he was a noted womanizer and claimed to been intimate with a thousand women.

Answer: In Which We Serve

This was a Noel Coward project. He found the property, acted as producer, and cast himself as the star. Since he was mostly known for his sophisticated comedy roles, he was discouraged from taking on the role of captain of a military ship. But he allowed and trusted the set's crafts people to do their best. David Lean's selection as director of his first film was the breakthrough that Lean needed.

The narrator (Leslie Howard) tells us that the film is the story of a ship. After the HMS Torrin is sunk by the Germans, a few cling to wreckage and begin to tell their memories of the ship and its deeds while the enemy continues the attack. The film remains a classic example of British cinema for its patriotic imagery and social cohesion in the context of the war. It won a number of honors including an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. It obtained a 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Answer: Blithe Spirit

Coward was reluctant to have Hollywood involved in any of his works as previous attempts had been "vulgarized, distorted and ruined". But he trusted Lean as they had worked on three previous occasions. However, Coward was disappointed when Lean added scenes not in the original one-set play.

Rex Harrison as Charles Condomine is newly married to Ruth (Constance Cummings). Madame Arcatia (Margaret Rutherford), a spiritualist, brings back his dead wife Elvira (Kay Hammond) that makes for a trio of unhappy and conflicted people and sophisticated drawing room comedy.

Although not a box office success on either side of the Atlantic and receiving mild reviews, it has since gained stature in popularity. It was David Lean's first comedy. It was nominated for an Academy Award for special effects and obtained a 74% freshness rating from Rotten Tomatoes.

Answer: Ann Todd

Lean made the film as a "wedding present" to Todd, who had previously played the role onstage. Lean was never happy and regarded it as one of his weaker films.

Todd plays Madeleine Smith, a Scotish woman seemingly trapped from marrying because she can not shake off the advances of her persistent French lover. At last she must resort in poisoning him.

The Scotish law at that time allowed three choices - guilty, not guilty, and not proven. Smith is judged not proven and released.

Todd made 18 films between 1931 and 1955. None were great hits. She played Gregory Peck's wife in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Paradine Case" (1947). David Lean was her third husband and the marriage lasted eight years. Lean was married six times. The incorrect answers are three of his other wives.

Answer: "Oliver Twist" and "Great Expectations"

In "Great Expectations" (1946) we meet a young boy called Pip who through an act of kindness becomes the beneficiary of an unknown patron. And we also met Estelle and Mrs. Haversham, two of the most intriguing Dickens' characters. Lean earned two Academy Award nominations for both directing and screenplay. "Great Expectations" obtained a rare 100% freshness rating. John Mills plays the adult Pip and was a frequent actor in Lean's films.

The companion piece was "Oliver Twist" (1948). Oliver Twist is an orphan who runs away from the orphanage and eventually ends up in a gang of adolescent pickpockets and thieves until rescued from the life. Again, as with "Great Expectations" it also obtained a 100% freshness rating from Rotten Tomatoes.

The film was not without controversy. Lean chose to model the makeup of Fagin (Alec Guinness) after illustrations in early printings of the novel. It was perceived that the makeup created a stereotyped Jew. Lean did not agree as neither the book nor the screenplay referenced Fagin's religious heritage.

Answer: Pierre Boulle

At the Academy Awards the film had wins for Sam Spiegel for his vision of "The Bridge over the River Kwai" as Best Picture; Peter Taylor for his film editing; and Malcolm Arnold for his musical score that included "The Colonel Bogey March" that had people whistling or humming.

But Pierre Boulle, who wrote the original novel, did not speak, write, or read English. The screen play was written by Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, two screenwriters who were banned or blacklisted by Hollywood as they had communist affiliations or leanings. This injustice was not corrected until 1984 when the Academy awarded them posthumously with Oscars.

The Best Actor award went to Alec Guinness for his performance as Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson. Although abused by the Japanese early in the film, he sees helping the Japanese build a train trestle as a means of reducing violence toward the other prisoners and of creating a common goal to help the men survive the war. Meanwhile, William Holden and Jack Hawkins are on a task force to destroy the bridge at all costs.

Celebrating our wedding anniversary, we drove 40-some miles in doubtful weather to see this film and it was well worth the trip. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 94%.

Answer: Lawrence of Arabia

Academy Award winners included Best Picture, Best Director (David Lean), Best Original Score (Maurice Jarre), Best Cinematography (F.A. Young), Best Art Direction (John Box, John Stoll, Dario Simon), Best Film Editing (Anne Coates) and Best Sound Mixing (John Cox). Peter O'Toole as Lawrence and Omar Sharif as Sherif Ali were nominated for acting awards and Michael Wilson for screenplay.

In so far as possible many characters were based on real people, some a combination of people, but were often played out in fictional and real situations. T.E. Lawrence was a combination of spy, negotiator, and warrior. In the film Lawrence is portrayed as ego driven but the real Lawrence was an enigma. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 98% freshness rating. The American Film Institute ranks it high among dramas.

Anyone who has seen the film will remember Omar Sharif rising out of the desert sun. Such scenes caused a psychological thrust.

During the intermission I went to the lobby for something cold and wet. The line was seven deep at the concession counter but a vending machine line was shorter. I lined up and was surprised to be just behind John W. Reynolds, then governor of Wisconsin. Democracy and politics come to the movies.

Answer: Julie Christie

Zhivago is a physician/poet caught up in the revolution. Although he believes in the revolt on intellectual level, he is often appalled by the restrictions it places on people. Lara is having an affair with an older man Komarovsky (Rod Steiger) but is not happy and shoots and wounds him. During the war, Zhivago reunites with Lara, a nurse, and they work field hospitals. They separate again and Zhivago has a heart attack and dies. Lara is found looking for their daughter.

Doctor Zhivago was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning five. It won for Best Art Direction (John Box, Terence Marsh; set decoration: Dario Simonim), Cinematography (Freddie Young), Screenplay (Robert Bolt), Best Original Score (Maurice Jarre), and Costume Design (Phyllis Dalton) but not for best picture, acting performance or direction. Rotten Tomatoes awarded 84%.

Critics opined that the film needed more on the revolution and less on an unconvincing romance and inconvenient incidents. However, the magnificent Russian winters with a house frozen in ice and deep with snow are its most remembered images.

Answer: Robert Mitchum

Surprisingly, at least to me, were the reactions of reviewers at the film's release. Rotten Tomatoes, based on 17 reviews, yielded a score of 47%. Did they see the same film I saw as this is among my favorites of not just David Lean films but a lifetime of watching cinema. Robert Ebert, a film critic that I used to depend upon, said that "Lean's characters, well written and well acted, are finally dwarfed by his excessive scale".

Rosy (Sarah Mills), married to a steady but boring school teacher sees a British officer in the midst of a post traumatic syndrome attack and her comforting results in a sexual encounter. Her rather open relationship with the officer (Christopher Jones) causes the village people to believe she is collaborating with the British but it is revealed early on that the collaborator is her father (Leo McKern).

John Mills gives an Oscar wining performance as Michael, the village idiot, who seems to pop up in many key scenes. Freddie Young won for Cinematography. Sarah Miles was nominated for Best Actress. The haunting music was called "Rosy's Theme".

Answer: A Passage to India

The intervening years of David Lean were filled with ambitious projects that never came to fruition. He always thought on an epic scale and at times investors feared cost overruns. Nonetheless, "A Passage to India" was a perfect vehicle with scope, conflict, and an exotic location.

E. M. Forster, author of the novel "A Passage to India" (1924), resisted letting his novel be filmed and made that a part of his will. Executors of his estate maintained this pledge until a new executor finally acquiesced.

Adela Quested (Judy Davis) is a travelling companion to Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft) who is sailing to India for her son's wedding. The film's focus is on the conflict between the British presence in India and the beliefs and traditions of the Indian culture. They meet an elderly Hindu Brahmin scholar Professor Narayan Godbole (Alec Guinness), local school superintendent Richard Fielding (James Fox), and Dr. Aziz Ahmed (Victor Banerjee), a doctor trying to bridge the gape between cultures.

Trying to please, Dr. Aziz offers to escort the ladies to the Marabar Caves. Under a good deal of stress, Aziz plans the excursion. While in the caves, Adela panics and accuses Aziz of attempted rape. The trial becomes a symbol of British/Indian separate interests.

The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards but only two were cited - Actress in a Supporting Role: Peggy Ashcroft and Original Score: Maurice Jarre (his third for a David Lean film). However although not winning outright David Lean had three personal nominations - Director, Screenwriter, and Film Editor - all of which he labored on this film. Rotten Tomatoes found its freshness rating at 85%.

Aside: A widower of my acquaintance was interested in two women. He took both of them, separately, to see "A Passage to India". When asked about the scene at the Marabar Caves, one simply thought that Adela panicked and had a vivid imagination. The other relayed that it was classic Freudian symbolism. He married the second woman four months later.