Two-time Academy Award winner Sir David Lean (1908-1991) was a prominent director in the world of twentieth-century cinema, responsible for such classics as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, and Lawrence of Arabia. British-born Lean asserted himself in Hollywood as a major artistic voice with his epic storytelling and panoramic depictions of history, but he was also a highly skilled film editor in Great Britain before he became a director who brought an art-house sensibility to big market films. Lean's approach to filmmaking was far different from that of his contemporaries. He carefully chose his projects and, as a result, directed only sixteen films in a span of more than forty years. Those films, however, are some of the landmarks of motion-picture history. In addition to his epics, Lean also made adaptations of well-known novels, including Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and A Passage to India, and plays, including Brief Encounter. Using elements of both biography and film criticism, author Gene D. Phillips examines the screenplays and production histories central to Lean's body of work and interviews actors and other directors who worked with Lean. Phillips also explores Lean's lesser-studied films, such as The Passionate Friends, unearthing new details. This in-depth examination of Lean in a cultural, historic, and cinematic context makes Beyond the Epic truly unique -- a vital assessment of a great director's artistic process and his place in an evolving film industry.
About the Author :
Gene D. Phillips is professor of film history and modern literature at Loyola University Chicago. He is the author of numerous books about film and film history, including Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir and Godfather: The Intimate Francis Ford Coppola.
Review :
An entertaining, in-depth look at Sir David's life and diverse career.
-- "Library Journal"
[Gives] its subject a thorough treatment.
-- "San Antonio Current, Armchair Cinephile"
[Phillips] offers an in-depth examination of prominent filmmaker David Lean.
-- "Partners"
For admirers of storytelling on a vast canvas, and of an old master, Phillip's study is an overdue pleasure.
-- "Hollywood Reporter"
Gene Phillips provides the final word
-- "Lester Keyser, author of Hollywood in the Seventies"
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"
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"
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"
Phillips brings out the person, the immense talent, and the consummate skills of the director.
-- "Midwest Book Review"
