movie world

Few filmmakers in the history of cinema can rival the artistry and vision of David Lean, and few dramatists in the history of comedy can claim more cutting quips per capita than Noel Coward. Yet when the two teamed up in the early 1940s for a quartet of pictures, 'Lawrence of Arabia' was still two decades away, and the young Lean, a well-regarded editor, had yet to direct his first feature film. Coward, long established as a popular playwright and icon of sophistication and wit, gave Lean that opportunity, sharing the directorial reins with him on a rousing British wartime propaganda film, 'In Which We Serve.' The movie launched Lean's distinguished career and spawned a fruitful - albeit brief - partnership with Coward that allowed the fledgling director to hone his skills and develop his distinctive style.

The Criterion collection has brought together his first four films, and they were all adaptations of Noel Coward’s work. The included films - 'In Which We Serve' (1942), 'This Happy Breed' (1944), 'Blithe Spirit' (1945), and 'Brief Encounter' (1945) - run the gamut of genre and emotion, encompassing war, devotion, family, romance, comedy, and tragedy. Yet the common thread they share is a vital sense of humanity, thanks to vivid, dimensional characters who express universal feelings in a literate, forthright manner.
↓ Download movie...