Cinema Essentials

David Lean was one of the most significant film directors of the 20th Century, the maker of classic films such as Brief Encounter (1945), Great Expectations (1946), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

Born in Croydon in Surrey, England in 1908, Lean joined the film industry as a tea boy at Gaumont-British Studios in 1927. He eventually moved into the editing room, where he became one of the leading British film editors of the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Welcome to Day 3 of The World War II Blogathon.

We're marking the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II with this three day blogathon on films and TV series related to the war.

The Bridge on the River Kwai is an epic World War II film directed by David Lean and based on the novel by Pierre Boulle.

The film is set in 1943, as the forces of Imperial Japan are tightening their hold on South East Asia. The Japanese military strategy for the region involves building a railway from Burma to Siam (modern day Thailand), using the forced labour of captured civilians and Allied prisoners of war.

The Bridge on the River Kwai focuses on the building of one particular rail bridge over the River Kwai. The bridge is being constructed by the mainly British inmates of a prison camp commanded by Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa). The film arrives in the camp at roughly the same time as a new influx of British prisoners. The new men are led by Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), who will soon come into conflict with Colonel Saito.

Welcome to Day 2 of The World War II Blogathon.

We're marking the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II with this three day blogathon on films and TV series related to the war.

Maddy of Maddy Loves Her Classic Films was your hostess for Day 1 of the blogathon. I will be your host for Days 2 and 3.

If you have any problems leaving comments here, then you can contact me on Twitter @CineEssentials or email me at cinemaessentials @gmail.com.



Day 2 Entries

I start things off on Day 2 with a film quiz featuring screenshots from 20 classic World War II films. Try out the quiz here and see how many you can name.

Rebecca of Taking Up Room sets sail with Noel Coward and David Lean for In Which We Serve.

Michaela of Love Letters to Old Hollywood explores the experiences of returning veterans in the Oscar winning classic The Best Years of Our Lives.

Quiggy of The Midnite Drive-In takes a look at the epic biopic Patton.

Pale Writer discusses the wartime classic Mrs Miniver.

Caftan Woma…

The highly anticipated World War II Blogathon will be arriving this weekend. So to get us all in the mood, here's a quiz featuring classic war movies.

Some of these are relatively easy - and some of them aren't. There are 20 films in total, all made before 2000 and all set during World War II. How many can you name?

The Eagle Has Landed is an all-star World War II thriller based on an intriguing, if unlikely, premise. In 1943 Adolf Hitler's greatest ally, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was rescued from a mountain top prison by elite German troops. Emboldened by this success, Hitler orders an even more daring wartime mission: to kidnap his greatest adversary, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.