A scene from David Lean’s A Passage To India, of the fateful expedition to the Marabar caves
BERNARD WINCHESTER on the special event staged at the David Lean Cinema on Saturday, which provided previously unheard secrets of the director’s final film
Saturday’s screening and special Q&A at the arthouse cinema in the Croydon Clocktower was introduced by the Save the David Lean Campaign official as “the greatest event in the cinema’s history”.
And with good reason.
Every year, in homage to the great, Oscar-winning director after whom it is named, the cinema shows one of Lean’s films. This year it was his last, and one of his finest: A Passage To India.
To mark the occasion, the Community Interest Company which now runs the cinema had invited guests associated with the film, and trustees of the David Lean Foundation – which has supported the cinema with grants for improvements – to attend.
The audience included Sir Sydney Samuelson, the founder of BAFTA, and who, although he is 93 years old, promised to come back to the David Lean to introduce some films.
One of the film’s stars, James Fox, and Lean’s assistant director on the movie, Patrick Cadell, participated in the Q&A which followed the film. It was the first time they had been reunited since the movie’s release in 1984. Continue reading
