0:00:17 > 0:00:22As a boy, the young David Lean wasn't allowed to go to the cinema.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27His Quaker parents considered motion pictures to be sinful.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Perhaps that early denial helped spur him on
0:00:30 > 0:00:32through his incredible career.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39He began at the bottom as tea boy at Gaumont Film Studios
0:00:39 > 0:00:43and steadily progressed to camera assistant, to editor,
0:00:43 > 0:00:48and then co-director of Noel Coward's 1942 film
0:00:48 > 0:00:50In Which We Serve,
0:00:50 > 0:00:51his directing big break.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58Over the next decade, Lean put out a run of British classics -
0:00:58 > 0:01:00Blithe Spirit, Brief Encounter,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Great Expectations, and Oliver Twist.
0:01:03 > 0:01:09And in 1955, he was invited to take part in the programme Film Profile.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25Do you remember Brief Encounter, In Which We Serve, Oliver Twist,
0:01:25 > 0:01:26The Sound Barrier, and Hobson's Choice
0:01:26 > 0:01:30because these are just some of the films made by David Lean.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33Sitting where an actor normally sits and feeling happy?
0:01:34 > 0:01:36No, I don't really like it at all.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39I feel that at any moment I'm going to get up
0:01:39 > 0:01:43and just go behind the camera there and leave you to it.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45Well, I tell you, before you do escape us,
0:01:45 > 0:01:48we would like, David, to make this quite personal.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50Some of the things you have liked making,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53some even that you may have not liked making.
0:01:53 > 0:01:54Some of the problems you've had,
0:01:54 > 0:01:58and get your view on this business of film-making.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02To start with, is a director's life as ulcer-making as people say?
0:02:03 > 0:02:07No, I must tell you I've never had an ulcer. I hope I never do.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11I enjoy this job more than anything I can imagine.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14I think I'm very lucky. In fact...
0:02:15 > 0:02:17..if I had the money in the bank I would pay the film people
0:02:17 > 0:02:19to engage me.
0:02:19 > 0:02:20You mentioned the money then,
0:02:20 > 0:02:24are you concerned with money as a director?
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Well, you always have the pressure of money behind you
0:02:28 > 0:02:32because making a film is a very expensive business,
0:02:32 > 0:02:37and if you've got an expensive cast it can go up to...
0:02:38 > 0:02:43I have worked on films that the running costs is £2,000 a day.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Now if, when you're making that film,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49you hear those pounds clicking into a till all the time,
0:02:49 > 0:02:50you can lose your head.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54Now, you, as the director, are really the coordinator, aren't you,
0:02:54 > 0:02:56of cameras and lights and artists and so on?
0:02:56 > 0:02:59Yes, as a coordinator.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Making a film concerns many hundreds of people
0:03:02 > 0:03:05and he is the man
0:03:05 > 0:03:09that gets them all together to put that final results onto the screen.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11I would like to take you back, David,
0:03:11 > 0:03:15to your own start as a cutter, because I've always understood
0:03:15 > 0:03:18that you place enormous emphasis on this question of cutting.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23Yes, well, I personally enjoy cutting...
0:03:24 > 0:03:28..almost as much as direction. I think I find it a fascinating job.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Most people, I think,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34they think cutting is a question of cutting out things.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36It's nothing to do with cutting out things at all.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40It's the juxtaposition of pictures and um...
0:03:41 > 0:03:44You can make or mar a film by cutting.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49You can't make a bad film good. You can make it tolerable sometimes.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52And you can certainly ruin a good film.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56As a member of the public sitting and watching your film go through,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59- would I recognise a piece of good cutting?- I hope not.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03Like all technique, one should be completely unconscious of it.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08And, in fact, one should imagine that a film was...
0:04:08 > 0:04:11started to be shot in the morning or whenever the film opens
0:04:11 > 0:04:14and it was a continuous process right up to the end.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16No, you shouldn't be conscious of it at all.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Now, I like to put you on the spot now
0:04:18 > 0:04:20and ask you to choose from one of your own films,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23the piece of cutting with which you were particularly pleased?
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Well, I think I would choose...
0:04:26 > 0:04:31..a bit out of Oliver Twist, which was the murder of Nancy
0:04:31 > 0:04:34by Bill Sikes.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38This hasn't got a word of dialogue in it and it is just cutting.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41Just going from one picture to another.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45So those numbers of pictures tell the story.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54I've been true to you, upon my soul I have!
0:05:03 > 0:05:05Small point, David,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08but however did you get a dog to behave as competently as that?
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Well, it was quite simple, really, when we found the answer.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14This dog was the most lethargic dog I've ever met
0:05:14 > 0:05:17and he was meant to be terribly fierce.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21Somebody had the bright idea of going into the property department
0:05:21 > 0:05:25and in the property department, they found a stuffed cat.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Now, we brought that onto the set, showed the dog the cat,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30and it went raving mad.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32So, all we had to do was to hold the dog,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35open that door he was trying to scrabble through
0:05:35 > 0:05:38and show the dog the cat,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42shut the door, shove the cat's tail under the door,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44waggle it, I said, "Action",
0:05:44 > 0:05:46we withdrew the cat's tail
0:05:46 > 0:05:50and the dog just went like a bomb after this cat.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53It's a very bad story I hate to tell, really, but...
0:05:53 > 0:05:55I still think he's a very competent performer
0:05:55 > 0:05:57and I hope you've got him slapped under contract.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01Now, you draw attention to the lack of dialogue.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04What are your views on this question of use of dialogue?
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Well, I must say I find dialogue
0:06:07 > 0:06:09a bore for the most part.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12I think if you look back on any film you've seen,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16you don't remember lines of dialogue, you remember pictures.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21And incidentally, I think people in the movie business
0:06:21 > 0:06:24are going to concentrate more on pictures than on dialogue
0:06:24 > 0:06:29because, fortunately, you boys have got to sit people down like me
0:06:29 > 0:06:31and have them talk and talk and talk.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34Well, I think we can beat you by showing pictures,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36at least I hope so. You're not the enemy.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Let's talk for a moment about the problem of directing artists.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Now, you, yourself, were never an actor, were you?
0:06:41 > 0:06:43No, I was never an actor.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46I always suspect that directors are frustrated actors,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49but this is my big moment, I think it will be my last.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53But don't you feel diffident telling an actor how to do his job?
0:06:53 > 0:06:58When I started directing actors, I expected any moment
0:06:58 > 0:07:01they would turn around and say, "What on earth do you know about it?"
0:07:01 > 0:07:04And I would've said, "Well, I don't."
0:07:04 > 0:07:05..really give them a mood to interpret
0:07:05 > 0:07:07and let them do it their own way?
0:07:07 > 0:07:09Well, it's several things with actors.
0:07:09 > 0:07:15First of all, I suppose that all of us are wonderful actors in our bath.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18But as soon as you have
0:07:18 > 0:07:21one of these horrible instruments pointing at you,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25or as soon as you are on a stage, you start to...
0:07:26 > 0:07:28..become paralysed.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31And it's half the director's job
0:07:31 > 0:07:34is taking the nerves out of actors
0:07:34 > 0:07:39because nearly all actors are very, very nervous
0:07:39 > 0:07:41when they start making a picture.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45The sweat will pour off them.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47You will see cigarettes in their hands,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50or if they have that papers to hold, you will see them start to shake.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52And it is a terrifying instrument.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Well now, the director has got to break that down
0:07:54 > 0:07:56and make them feel completely at ease.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Then the next job he's got to do is, um...
0:08:00 > 0:08:02..to ensure that they think right
0:08:02 > 0:08:09because acting for the cinema is purely a question of thought.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13If you see an amateur stage show, people pull faces.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18Acting is not pulling faces, it's thinking.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22On the screen, even on a great big long shot
0:08:22 > 0:08:25where the screen's that size and the actor's that size
0:08:25 > 0:08:26and he's walking away,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30if he's not thinking right, there'll be something wrong with his walk.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32I don't know how it happens, but it does.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34An actor has got to know what he's thinking
0:08:34 > 0:08:36every moment during a scene.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Now, I watched you direct once
0:08:38 > 0:08:40and there was none of this flamboyant shouting at actors.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43You talked very quietly, indeed. That, I take it, is deliberate.
0:08:43 > 0:08:44Yes, it is deliberate.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49What I'm really doing is I'm tickling a talent.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54I'm trying to draw their imagination out.
0:08:54 > 0:08:55They'll...
0:08:57 > 0:08:59..rehearse a scene and I'll say, "Yes, that's fine.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02"Now, try to give it a bit more edge."
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Try to do this, try to do that, and then gradually...
0:09:05 > 0:09:07Carol Reed uses a wonderful expression.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11He says that getting actors ready to do a scene
0:09:11 > 0:09:15is rather like lining up horses at a tape.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17And when they're keyed up to a certain point, boom,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20down goes the tape, up they go and off they go.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23If the camera's not ready or the sound breaks down,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26as it very often does, well, that's the end of the game
0:09:26 > 0:09:27because you have to start all over again.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Yes, that's right. Yes.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31I would imagine that a director
0:09:31 > 0:09:34can, obviously, make or break himself by the casting.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Is casting done largely by hunches?
0:09:38 > 0:09:42Yes, you do. I mean, you...
0:09:42 > 0:09:44write a script or work on a script
0:09:44 > 0:09:46and then you get a picture
0:09:46 > 0:09:49of a certain person in your mind, of course.
0:09:49 > 0:09:50And, um...
0:09:51 > 0:09:55..then you begin to think what actor could fit into that picture...
0:09:55 > 0:10:01..been some of the most successful long odd casting that you've done.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05Oh, well, I think it's a story against myself, really,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07because on Great Expectations,
0:10:07 > 0:10:11Alec Guinness played the part of a pale young gentlemen.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13I don't know if you remember, this is what he looked like.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Mr Pip.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Well, that's how Alec looked in Great Expectations.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23Now, after I had finished that film, I decided to make Oliver Twist,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25and in it was the part of Fagin.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31Alec came to me and said, "I would like to play Fagin."
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Now, this is what Fagin looks like in Cruikshank's drawings.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36Now as a result of this, I said to Alec,
0:10:36 > 0:10:38"You're out of your mind. You can't play that."
0:10:38 > 0:10:39And he said,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42"Well, look, just give me a screen test. Just give me a test.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47"I'll put a little make-up on and do various things.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50"And, um... I think I can do it."
0:10:50 > 0:10:53I said, "Well, I think you're mad but, all right, do it."
0:10:53 > 0:10:55'And this is what he did.'
0:10:55 > 0:10:56Clever dogs.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59Clever dogs.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Another long shot that came off brilliantly.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04Well, it came off through no fault of mine.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06That was just Alec and since then, as we all know,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09he's played many, many different parts,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11but at the time, of course, that was quite extraordinary.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13Mm-hmm.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15And now for the 64 question.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18What in your opinion is it that makes and distinguishes
0:11:18 > 0:11:21your great international style?
0:11:22 > 0:11:24Well, I...
0:11:24 > 0:11:26I think it's two things.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28One...
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Way out in front - personality.
0:11:32 > 0:11:33And two...
0:11:37 > 0:11:40I think I can compare a star with a star tennis player.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46A star will say his line, he'll wind it up in a ball
0:11:46 > 0:11:49and flick it at the other actor.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52The other actor will speak, the star will catch it, wind it up
0:11:52 > 0:11:54and flip it back.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57And a sort of tennis match takes place.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02With an ordinary actor, they can be very good,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05but they just haven't got that quality of throwing it back.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09They'll say their line and that's an end of it.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13The star will catch it and bong! Back it goes quickly.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16So really, to get the best out of a star you need another star
0:12:16 > 0:12:19- playing the other side of the net? - Of course. Every actor...
0:12:19 > 0:12:21It is a sort of duel.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23If you get two really good actors together,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26they'll fence with each other.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28And of course, the best comes out of them.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Lean brought out the best in his next two films -
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Bridge On The River Kwai and Lawrence Of Arabia.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40But he would often have a difficult relationships with actors
0:12:40 > 0:12:44which many put down to his perfectionism and hard work ethic.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48Omar Sharif considered Lean a brilliant man
0:12:48 > 0:12:54and once described himself as one of the few actors Lean actually liked.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58That's not how Sharif was feeling in this next programme
0:12:58 > 0:13:01which followed the making of another of Lean's epics,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04Doctor Zhivago, in 1965.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08How's that for you?
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Good. Now go to you sitting, Omar.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17'He's a man who is very easy to hate.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20'In other words, it is very easy to hate David
0:13:20 > 0:13:21'and very difficult to like him.'
0:13:21 > 0:13:24He is a very hard man,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28a very selfish man who has no pity for anyone
0:13:28 > 0:13:33and none for himself either, which is a very rare thing.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38He has no self pity and no self-indulgence.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Therefore, it's very difficult for him to pity anybody else
0:13:42 > 0:13:45or to feel sorry for anybody however tired they may be.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48He considers everybody on the set,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52everybody who's helping to make the film,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55as objects rather than as people.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58They are the things that are making his film.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02And, well, you can see how easy it is,
0:14:02 > 0:14:06if you think that he is considering you as an object,
0:14:06 > 0:14:10how easy it is to be terribly unhappy and rather hate him for it.
0:14:10 > 0:14:11I know that I have,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15at the end of many days shooting, felt terrible hate for him.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19And I know, for instance, most of the people who have worked with him
0:14:19 > 0:14:21and who work with him
0:14:21 > 0:14:23rather dislike him
0:14:23 > 0:14:26because he drives them too hard and he uses them.
0:14:26 > 0:14:32Now the 64,000 question, of course, was who played Zhivago.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Now, Zhivago is a very passive part
0:14:36 > 0:14:38and I think it would be... It needs a poet.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41And a doctor.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43But the fatal pitfall, I think,
0:14:43 > 0:14:47would have been to cast too much with the type.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51If I'd had a very studious young man,
0:14:51 > 0:14:53I think he'd tend to be a bore in the picture
0:14:53 > 0:14:59and so, I thought, "I will go for immense good looks."
0:14:59 > 0:15:01And I thought of Omar
0:15:01 > 0:15:06because he played the sheikh in Lawrence who came out of the mirage.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09He's a very sensitive actor.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13And, uh, we happen to work very well together.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17He catches on and I think it works
0:15:17 > 0:15:20and I thought I could get...
0:15:21 > 0:15:24..this Russian poet out of him.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27And I backed that hunch. A lot of people thought I was mad.
0:15:27 > 0:15:28'He never loses his temper.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30'I've very rarely seen him lose his temper.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33'He just more or less seems to be at the same pitch sometimes.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37'Terribly worried, obviously, but more or less at the same pitch.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39'But he's certainly intimate.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43'Not a man, but I mean, a director, very intimate.'
0:15:43 > 0:15:46I don't know him socially.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48I only know him as a director.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52Because he's very quiet, retiring.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Leads a very retiring life, as far as I can see.
0:15:54 > 0:15:55I mean, I don't know him,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58he might be up every night boozing away, but I don't think so.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00'He takes you away and sort of quietly talks to you
0:16:00 > 0:16:03'about exactly what he wants and then he'll say to everybody,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05'"Now, shut up and go away and leave."'
0:16:05 > 0:16:09Thousands of coppers at the back... Get them all out.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17You know, all of the wanderers, all of them - out.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21Now, very quiet! Silencio!
0:16:33 > 0:16:36All right, Omar... Action.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38I suppose I don't have much contact with actors off the set
0:16:38 > 0:16:43because I have so much contact with them on the set.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45I'm, as it were...
0:16:45 > 0:16:48trying to get things out of them.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53I'm squeezing them a little, I'm encouraging them, I'm...
0:16:54 > 0:16:57..a general sort of wetness to actors.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01And I suppose when the day's finished,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04they are part of my job and I want to go off and relax without them.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15In a couple of weeks you'll be with your little girl.
0:17:15 > 0:17:16If I can get on a train.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22I want to be with Katya more than anything in the world.
0:17:23 > 0:17:24Yes, of course.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27Now that we're going, I feel sad.
0:17:29 > 0:17:30Sad.
0:17:32 > 0:17:33Really sad.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35- Well, we've been here some time. - Yes.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40This must have been a lovely house once.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44- Don't you think? - What are you going to do?
0:17:45 > 0:17:47- In Gradov?- Yes.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51- I'll be all right. - I wish I could think so.
0:17:57 > 0:17:58You could run a laundry.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03- What will you do?- I suppose I'll go back to the hospital.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07It's funny to think of you there.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12I used to pass it on my way to school.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17- You ever come to Moscow? - From Gradov?
0:18:18 > 0:18:21If only there was someone to look after you.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23But of course if there were, I'd be destroyed by jealousy.
0:18:24 > 0:18:25Zhivago, don't.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32My dear, don't, please.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40Now, look what you've made me do.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49Yuri, we've been together six months...
0:18:49 > 0:18:51On the road and here.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54And we've not done anything you'll have to lie about to Tonya.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58I don't want you to have to lie about me.
0:19:00 > 0:19:01Do you understand that, Yuri?
0:19:05 > 0:19:06You understand everything.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34MGM welcomed Lean's decision to film the bulk of Doctor Zhivago in Spain,
0:19:34 > 0:19:38a country that hasn't yet priced itself out of the epic market.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42Lean was able to hire local extras at nine shillings a day.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45A stunt horseman cost a tenth of what they would in Britain.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Lean needed snow, hundreds of tonnes of it,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52so the entire output of a local marble quarry was bought
0:19:52 > 0:19:54and crushed into white powder
0:19:54 > 0:19:57which was scattered over this Spanish plain in high summer
0:19:57 > 0:20:00to recreate Russia in midwinter.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09A forest of trees was sprayed with white plastic snow.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43He needed a cold winter mist,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46so 100 German smoke machines were brought in to do the job.
0:20:48 > 0:20:49It all looked expensive
0:20:49 > 0:20:53and would have been anywhere else in the world, but this was Spain.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56In all, this set cost just £2,000 to erect.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03INDISTINCT YELLING
0:21:05 > 0:21:08- Lean was hard at work. - Omar can do it.
0:21:11 > 0:21:18'Yesterday I was out on a country road with 400 soldiers and a cart.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22'Now, I had to make a scene out of 400 soldiers and a cart.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24'It's not all that easy. It takes time.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28'But once I've decided on the plan, we're off and we shoot fast.
0:21:30 > 0:21:31'And that's it.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34'And of course, there's this awful pressure of money all the time
0:21:34 > 0:21:37'which if I thought about it too much, it would drive me insane.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41'I always imagine if I'm not careful, of some ghastly fruit machine
0:21:41 > 0:21:43'with dollars clicking through it
0:21:43 > 0:21:45'and spilling onto the floor every second.'
0:21:45 > 0:21:46Action!
0:21:49 > 0:21:51Try it again.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53With two thirds of the film shot,
0:21:53 > 0:21:56it became clear to MGM that Lean might present them
0:21:56 > 0:21:58not only with a box-office success,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01but with a film that could win an Academy Award.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04And an Oscar could be worth 5 million at the box office.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Open the doors, turn on the fans.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21Open the doors and turn the fans on, boys.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26TANNOY IN SPANISH
0:22:32 > 0:22:35The pace was stepped up to complete the picture
0:22:35 > 0:22:36before the end of the year
0:22:36 > 0:22:38and so qualify for the next awards.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46By this time, Lean himself was working 16 or 18 hours a day,
0:22:46 > 0:22:47seven days a week.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01You generally lose, oh, I don't know, about two stone during the picture.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03One's tummy goes.
0:23:03 > 0:23:04One's in great physical shape
0:23:04 > 0:23:09and after about a week of getting up at 11, one feels fine.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13But it's a pretty killing job.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16I haven't had a Sunday off, for instance,
0:23:16 > 0:23:17for as long as I can remember.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20I go into the cutting rooms...
0:23:20 > 0:23:23when the unit have a Sunday off.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27It's pretty tough but I get very excited by making a movie.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31I suppose it's kind of nervous energy.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35I'm tired now, as I said to you before,
0:23:35 > 0:23:40but I suppose the nerve of that infernal machine wakes me up.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46At the end of September, Lean's camera turned for the last time.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49The studio lights went out, the props were taken away,
0:23:49 > 0:23:54the actors went home to Hollywood, Cairo, Rome and London.
0:23:54 > 0:23:55The technicians cleared up
0:23:55 > 0:24:00and then they too went home Penge, Pinner, Braintree and Horsham.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04Everybody was happy. The deadline for the Oscars had been met.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15Shortly after everybody had left,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18the first advertisement for the film appeared.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20MGM had done what they said they would.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23David Lean was given the star billing.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29But there was still a lot of work for Lean.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32He was to fly to Hollywood to edit the picture there,
0:24:32 > 0:24:34but the most difficult phase was over.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42'I remember I used to go when I was young on a lot of cruises.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45'They lasted about two weeks, and at the end of them
0:24:45 > 0:24:48'it was rather sad because we made all sorts of friendships
0:24:48 > 0:24:52'and so forth and so on. There was a last farewell dinner, etc, etc.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54'Rather sad.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57'It's exactly the same with making a film.
0:24:57 > 0:25:03'But my cruise lasts a year and I work day in, day out
0:25:03 > 0:25:07'with these technicians who obviously I've become very fond of
0:25:07 > 0:25:09'we work very, very close together.
0:25:09 > 0:25:10'And at the end of it...
0:25:12 > 0:25:14'..the bottom falls out of everything in a way.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19'One's suddenly at a loose end. One thing is good, though.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22'It's glorious to be anonymous for a moment.'
0:25:22 > 0:25:26Perhaps this time it won't be so easy to be anonymous.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28Not so easy to slip away out of the limelight
0:25:28 > 0:25:31and become an ordinary, unrecognised tourist.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35MGM are creating an image. A box office draw.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39From now on, David Lean will have to live with that image all the time.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45After three consecutive epics and three big international hits,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48expectations were high for Lean's next film.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51Although it won two Oscars,
0:25:51 > 0:25:54the critics reaction to Ryan's Daughter
0:25:54 > 0:25:58was so negative that it was 14 years before Lean released another film.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02And that was his adaptation of the EM Forster novel,
0:26:02 > 0:26:04A Passage To India.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06And whilst on location,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10Lean spoke about the project to the BBC reporter, Mark Tully.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Forster mistrusted movie-makers.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17The film rights were only sold after his death.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Lean then spent 18 months writing his script
0:26:20 > 0:26:24and had to be vetted by the guardians of Forster's masterpiece,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26the fellows of King's College, Cambridge.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31I did the script and they were very polite
0:26:31 > 0:26:35and they asked me to come along, after having read it, for lunch.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42I was just about to start on the fish and they started in on me
0:26:42 > 0:26:47and I said, "I'd wish you had waited till the sweet."
0:26:47 > 0:26:48They...
0:26:49 > 0:26:53They were very, very nice indeed.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58After about two hours, they were very kind and just gave it their blessing.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01How much difference is there between Lean's Passage To India
0:27:01 > 0:27:03and Forster's Passage To India?
0:27:04 > 0:27:08He's a writer, I'm a film-maker. I like movies.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11I've tried to make it a movie that I would like to see.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14The end is different, certainly.
0:27:14 > 0:27:20But I think I wouldn't be ashamed for Forster to read the script.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24I think I stuck with his characters and, on the whole,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27given the limitations of time, I mean, what's one doing?
0:27:27 > 0:27:31One's doing something in two hours with a book that thick.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35It's a sort of sketch of it and I'm extracting a movie from it.
0:27:35 > 0:27:36Those who...
0:27:37 > 0:27:40..want to read Forster, read the book.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45Those that want to go to a movie and don't read, come see our film.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Poor old English, they've had a rough time in the films lately.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51And, uh...
0:27:52 > 0:27:55It's because, of course, colonialism has gone out of fashion,
0:27:55 > 0:27:59so it's quite easy to take pot shots of a lot of idiots,
0:27:59 > 0:28:00- stuffy idiots, you know?- Yes.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02And, uh...
0:28:03 > 0:28:06..quite honestly, I think Forster did that too.
0:28:06 > 0:28:07And I think he felt a bit guilty about it.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11I mean, he certainly had a blast with it when the book came out.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14And I'm trying to keep a balance. I don't know.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17I'm trying to tell a good story. That's really what I'm trying to do.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25Helping to tell the story is an army from England.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27They even imported much of their own food,
0:28:27 > 0:28:29including kippers for breakfast.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35But meals aren't the production's only administrative problem.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Perhaps the worst is India's notorious red tape.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43I took my first baptism of...
0:28:43 > 0:28:45I was going through the customs, you know,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48it takes about two and half hours to get through the customs
0:28:48 > 0:28:52if you've got any apparatus as you no doubt know with that thing.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54They look at every lens...
0:28:54 > 0:28:59- "Are you going to sell this?"- Yes. - "How much film have you got?
0:28:59 > 0:29:03"Are you going to sell it?" "No, I wouldn't have bought it to sell it."
0:29:03 > 0:29:06And so forth and so on, and after two hours, one hates the country.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08Then of course, it's wonderful.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11You have certain problems still with the government.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13For instance, you still have to have someone here checking
0:29:13 > 0:29:16that you're shooting according to the script. Does that annoy you?
0:29:19 > 0:29:20They've been very good to me.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Indians have been so kind, they've even allowed the production
0:29:28 > 0:29:31to monopolise the branch line from Kannur to Ooty.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36At 75, Lean's as demanding as ever,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39taking and retaking scenes until he gets what he wants.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42That's good, that hat.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45That costs, but then producers can't argue with a man
0:29:45 > 0:29:50whose last four films grossed £120 million, not to mention the Oscars.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54But not everyone appreciates the Lean style.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00It's often said that as a director you are, in a way,
0:30:00 > 0:30:04more concerned with visual than with the performance of the actors.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07Balls.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09I like spectacle.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13When I say spectacle, I don't think you can just put on
0:30:13 > 0:30:18a load of spectacle and expect it to be successful with the public.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Of course you've got to have a foreground action.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23It's often easy for critics to say,
0:30:23 > 0:30:27"Oh, the action...the background swamped the foreground."
0:30:28 > 0:30:31But I don't think I've done that.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33And you found the public react...
0:30:33 > 0:30:36the people who go see your films, react to the spectacular?
0:30:37 > 0:30:39Well, I haven't done badly, no.
0:30:39 > 0:30:44Passage To India was an international sensation.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48Described as one of the cinema's greatest ever screen adaptations.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51In 1984, the year of its release,
0:30:51 > 0:30:55Lean was knighted by the Queen for his services to the cinema.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59Four years later, the great man's 80th birthday
0:30:59 > 0:31:03was marked by Barry Norman with a special edition of Film 88.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07How important was it to have been an editor
0:31:07 > 0:31:09when you finally became a director?
0:31:10 > 0:31:11It's everything.
0:31:12 > 0:31:17You know, I often wonder at directors who've never been editors.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21- Because...- Me too. - Oh, really? Well, it's right.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25I just don't understand how they go to work because I'm sitting there
0:31:25 > 0:31:29and if I'm directing you, I'm saying, "Good, good, good," to myself.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31"I can cut the two shot there.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34"I have to retake that in the close up.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37"Mm-hm. Mm-hm. That'll be good on him."
0:31:37 > 0:31:40And so forth. "Right, cut! Now let's go again.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44"One more take," and that sort of thing, you know?
0:31:44 > 0:31:49I kind of piece it together as we're making it.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52And editing is one of the...
0:31:54 > 0:31:59..if not THE chief of the tools of my trade.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02An immensely successful film and another Oscar for you.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04How important do you think Oscars are?
0:32:06 > 0:32:09Well, if you have no hope of getting one, they are despised.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12But if you have, they're very important.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16- That's very honest, I must say. It's easy to...- It's very nice.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Yes, it's easy to despise them if you're not in the running, isn't it?
0:32:19 > 0:32:20That's right.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22Of course with your next film, Doctor Zhivago,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25you very nearly did the hat trick. You were nominated yet again.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27But on that one, you lost out the best picture
0:32:27 > 0:32:30to Sound Of Music, I believe. Was that a little galling?
0:32:33 > 0:32:34Oh, terribly, you know.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38Yes, but, you know, I'll tell you what killed us...
0:32:38 > 0:32:43Doctor Zhivago got the most terrible notices. Worldwide.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47I remember the premiere in New York.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50They gave a dinner at the top of one of the big hotels there and...
0:32:52 > 0:32:54I said, "Why are they all reading newspapers?"
0:32:54 > 0:32:56They said, "Well, the criticism are coming."
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Everyone was sitting around the table reading the newspapers.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02At the end of the dinner, they all came and sort of shook my hand
0:33:02 > 0:33:06and said, "Well, David, I liked it." That sort of thing.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11That did nothing to help the film.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15It was disaster and MGM then had a marvellous chap
0:33:15 > 0:33:19called Bob O'Brien who was the boss.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21And he said, "David..."
0:33:21 > 0:33:24He said, "I think this film's great. I'm going to back it."
0:33:26 > 0:33:28And he said, "I'm going to spend another million."
0:33:28 > 0:33:32And he spent a million on publicity,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35and partly on keeping it on at the theatre
0:33:35 > 0:33:38where you can throw rocks around without loss of life.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41And it...
0:33:41 > 0:33:46First week empty, second week empty, third week started...
0:33:46 > 0:33:48to increase. And the fourth week it was packed.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52And we took off, and that film earned me more money
0:33:52 > 0:33:55than all of my other films put together to date.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59Well, it's had an enduring popularity, that film, hasn't it?
0:33:59 > 0:34:02What do you think it was that gave it that?
0:34:02 > 0:34:05Well, it was your old thing I was listening to a couple of weeks ago.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08Story. It's a wonderful story, isn't it?
0:34:08 > 0:34:10- Yes, it is, yes.- Ah, wonderful.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12And you don't... You want to know what happens next.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14And wonderful characters, you know?
0:34:16 > 0:34:17And Julie.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19Which was quite a face.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22I was amazed that, what, for 14 years after Ryan's Daughter,
0:34:22 > 0:34:25you never made another film. Why? Why not?
0:34:25 > 0:34:29Was it because it got such a bad review, or bad reviews?
0:34:29 > 0:34:32Well, I was very stupid as a matter of fact.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35I thought why... They were universal...
0:34:35 > 0:34:39I don't think there was one good notice for Ryan's Daughter.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41Really, not one.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43And I thought, "Why am I doing this?"
0:34:43 > 0:34:47You know, rather stupidly, and I went off and I started travelling.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50In the end, it was EM Forster's novel about the British Raj,
0:34:50 > 0:34:54A Passage To India, that brought Lean back to work at the age of 76.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Although in the intervening years,
0:34:56 > 0:34:58he had spent a great deal of time trying and failing
0:34:58 > 0:35:01to set-up productions of both The Bounty and Gandhi.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10Were you pleased with A Passage To India in the end?
0:35:13 > 0:35:14Sort of.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17A lot of people criticised your choice of Alec Guinness
0:35:17 > 0:35:18to play an Indian.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21Would you... With hindsight, would you do that again?
0:35:23 > 0:35:25I don't think really it's the...
0:35:25 > 0:35:29I think Alec could perfectly well have played an Indian.
0:35:29 > 0:35:30I think he got scared of it.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35And I remember him saying to me once,
0:35:35 > 0:35:40"I think you're asking me to play... give an imitation of Peter Sellers."
0:35:40 > 0:35:42Which, in fact, I wasn't.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45- It would have been disastrous, wouldn't it?- It would rather.
0:35:45 > 0:35:46And, um...
0:35:48 > 0:35:51So I don't think that was one of his best performances, no.
0:35:52 > 0:35:57In simple terms, Miss Quested, life is a wheel with many spokes.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02A continuous cycle of life, birth, death, and rebirth,
0:36:02 > 0:36:04until we obtain nirvana.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09I have contrived a dance based on this philosophy.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11- Do you dance, professor?- Oh, yes.
0:36:11 > 0:36:13Adela.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16Oh, Ronny, you're early. Let me introduce to you, Professor Godbole.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18- And this...and that's... - What's happened to Fielding?
0:36:18 > 0:36:20Where's my mother?
0:36:20 > 0:36:22And what on earth are you doing?
0:36:22 > 0:36:24Well, they're seeing college and we're eating water chestnuts.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27- Have one.- No, thank you. We're leaving at once.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31You have been criticised by people who say that your films
0:36:31 > 0:36:34don't actually say a lot, by which I imagine
0:36:34 > 0:36:38that they have no message for mankind.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41Is this a criticism that irks you at all?
0:36:41 > 0:36:42No, not at all.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45What are you looking for when you make a film? What do you want to do?
0:36:48 > 0:36:51I want to make something that if I went to the cinema,
0:36:51 > 0:36:53and wasn't me, I would enjoy watching.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58I just, as I told you, I just love movies,
0:36:58 > 0:37:01and I would like to make good movies.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04I think part of making a good movie,
0:37:04 > 0:37:05or the greater part of it,
0:37:05 > 0:37:07is a good story which I know is out of fashion.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11And good characters.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15I mean, in the old days when one went to the movies,
0:37:15 > 0:37:20one used to feel one had been out and met some fascinating people.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23I saw the other day The Untouchables on an aeroplane
0:37:23 > 0:37:25and to be quite honest...
0:37:26 > 0:37:28And...
0:37:28 > 0:37:30I didn't really like it at all.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35You know, for somebody who says, and indeed I believe you,
0:37:35 > 0:37:37that you love making movies, you've made very few.
0:37:37 > 0:37:4116 films and 46 years, I think. Why is that?
0:37:42 > 0:37:46Oh, it scares me stiff. You know, I suppose...
0:37:46 > 0:37:47Mm...
0:37:49 > 0:37:51If I take on a movie,
0:37:51 > 0:37:55I want, terribly, to do it frightfully well.
0:37:55 > 0:38:01So therefore, one's got to have a very, very good script.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05So I spend an inordinate amount of time choosing the subject
0:38:05 > 0:38:07and then working on the script.
0:38:08 > 0:38:13And... I suppose it's fear, really, to put your foot in the water.
0:38:14 > 0:38:19After all this time and a couple of Oscars and several nominations,
0:38:19 > 0:38:21I would've thought you could've done without the fear.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23You could've got rid of that by now.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26It doesn't work like that, does it? Do you ever get...
0:38:26 > 0:38:28- Do you ever get nervous when... - All the time.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30..when you're doing this job?
0:38:30 > 0:38:33You do, yes. Well, there you are, that's the answer.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36It's a sort of... It's a difficult job.
0:38:36 > 0:38:37I mean...
0:38:37 > 0:38:39I feel fairly at home with you here
0:38:39 > 0:38:42because I sort of feel in my element too.
0:38:42 > 0:38:48I know you write movies but when you see that eye boring into you,
0:38:48 > 0:38:49it is difficult.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53And in this minute my lips are rather dry.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57- Very difficult.- Yes, it's hard to reconcile with another criticism.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00I've been looking into your critics.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03One of them said that you have a dictatorial urge to control
0:39:03 > 0:39:07every aspect of the film when you're making it.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Would you disagree, you might possibly disagree with dictatorial,
0:39:10 > 0:39:12but would you disagree with any of the rest of it?
0:39:12 > 0:39:14Or would you disagree with none of it?
0:39:16 > 0:39:22I do like to keep a close hold on everything.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26I think that's what being a director is.
0:39:26 > 0:39:27He's...
0:39:28 > 0:39:30..encouraging a talent,
0:39:30 > 0:39:35encouraging things that he saw in the negative, in his mind,
0:39:35 > 0:39:38when he was doing the script,
0:39:38 > 0:39:42and suppressing things that seem to go against it.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46And so, in that sort of way, I'm a kind of gentle dictator.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49As things turned out,
0:39:49 > 0:39:52A Passage To India would be Lean's last picture,
0:39:52 > 0:39:55which was not how he wanted things.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59He spent his final years trying hard to put together
0:39:59 > 0:40:03an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novel, Nostromo.
0:40:03 > 0:40:04But it was not to be,
0:40:04 > 0:40:09and in 1991 when he died, aged 83.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12Eulogy spoke of his towering visual imagination
0:40:12 > 0:40:14and incredible ambition.
0:40:16 > 0:40:17At the turn of the millennium,
0:40:17 > 0:40:22the BFI's list of the 100 best British movies ever made
0:40:22 > 0:40:26had three of his in the top five.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30Proof, if it were needed, that just like his films,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33the man's talent was truly epic.