DVD Release Date: September 9, 2003
Ive always admired David Lean as a director, and hes made many films Ive enjoyed, including Summertime (1955), Brief Encounter (1945), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), Ryan's Daughter (1970), and Blithe Spirit (1945). The David Lean Collection is a box set of three DVDs that includes three of my other favorite movies directed by Lean: Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and A Passage to India (1984).
This boxed set deepened my appreciation of Leans ability to create movies of epic grandeur. All three films are absorbing stories set against spectacular backdrops, but they are more than mere spectacleall three are thematically rich, exploring character, politics, society, and history. The three movies in The David Lean Collection scored big at the Academy Awards, being nominated for a total of 29, of which they won 15.
Lawrence of Arabia, which ranks fifth on the American Film Institutes list of great films, chronicles the adventures of eccentric Englishman T.E.
The Bridge on the River Kwai, which ranks thirteenth on AFIs great movie list, tells the curious tale of a British army officer who commands a group of POWs building a bridge for the Japanese in World War II Burma. Ive always admired Alec Guinness Oscar-winning performance as the brave Col. Nicholson who ends up going a little mad. To me, Nicholson personifies a good man who gets so wrapped up in his own world that he loses sight of the moral implications of his actions. The movie has a truly exciting finale when William Holdens character leads a commando squad in an attempt to destroy the strategic bridge that Nicholsons men have worked so hard to build.
A Passage to India, adapted from E.M. Forsters famous novel, involves beautiful cinematography and exotic locations, but its not an adventure film. I would describe it as a sociopolitical drama set in 1920s India. Judy Davis plays Miss Quested, a young Englishwoman who goes to India. She does not fit in well with the Brits who are there to administer the colony, and her repressed sexuality is challenged by the foreignness of the environment. Miss Questeds association with an Indian physician (Victor Banerjee) leads to a trial that brings the underlying tensions between Indians and colonial Brits to the surface. A Passage to India is a good film rather than a great one, but I think it is well worth seeing. In addition to being lushly cinematic, the movie explores difficult issues. Both the acting and the well-drawn characters helped pull me into the films story.
Ive listed the special features for each of the three discs in The David Lean Collection below.
Special features on the DVDs:
Lawrence of Arabia- Anamorphic Widescreen (2.20:1)
- English 5.
- Anamorphic Widescreen (2.55:1)
- English 5.1 Dolby Digital
- English 2-Channel Dolby Surround
- French Language Track
- Spanish Language Track
- Portuguese Language Track
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai
- Talent Files
- Theatrical Trailers
- Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
- English 2-Channel Dolby Surround
- French Language Track
- Spanish Language Track
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
- Reflections of David Lean (8 min.)
- Talent Files
- Theatrical Trailers




