David Lean David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor, responsible for large-scale epics such as "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957), "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "Doctor Zhivago" (1965) and "A Passage to India" (1984). He also directed adaptations of Charles Dickens novels "Great Expectations" (1946) and "Oliver Twist" (1948), and the romantic drama "Brief Encounter" (1945). Originally a film editor in the early 1930s, Lean made his directorial debut with 1942's "In Which We Serve", which was the first of four collaborations with Noël Coward. Beginning with "Summertime" in
David Lean Cinema David Lean Cinema The David Lean Cinema is a small cinema built in Croydon, London, in the 1990s, to honour the director David Lean, who was born in the town. It is located within the Croydon Clocktower arts complex on Katharine Street. The David Lean Cinema is described as a small, intimate, art house-style cinema which showcases the best of British film and World cinema as well as classic re-releases and recent favourites. The cinema closed for three years between 2011 and 2014, during which time films continued to be shown under the David Lean banner at the Fairfield Halls