David Lean Directs Noël Coward

This lavish Criterion boxed set collects director David Lean's first four feature films, all made in a unique partnership with playwright/producer/actor Noël Coward. In Which We Serve (1942), which stars Coward as Navy Capt. E.V. Kinross, could be considered a propaganda piece with its rousing celebration of England's men in combat and the endurance of the women left behind; but it's also an accomplished, sincere, and moving film about British restraint and understatement as the nation's mettle is tested. This Happy Breed (1944), which revolves around the British family of Frank and Ethel Gibbons (Robert Newton, Celia Johnson) during the years between the wars, is another character study, focusing on the home front in a portrait of domesticity and acceptance. Blithe Spirit (1945), the lightest entry in the quartet, adapts Coward's titular drawing room comedy, in which married couple Charles and Ruth Condomine (Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings) are haunted by the ghost of Charles's first wife, Elvira (Kay Hammond). Brief Encounter (1945), the final (and most beloved) of the Lean-Coward collaborations, is a bittersweet romantic drama starring Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson as Dr. Alec Harvey and married housewife Laura Jesson, whose chance encounter in a railway station leads to a chaste love affair. The modesty and self-control that represented the best of British society in the first two films here becomes a recipe for emotional pain and disappointment. This set provides a superb survey of Lean's rapid growth from talented director to artist in his own right, while also showcasing the best cinematic incarnations of Coward's work. Beautifully restored and remastered for DVD and Blu-ray, extras include audio commentary by film historian Bruce Eder on Brief Encounter, new interviews with Coward scholar Barry Day, the 1971 TV documentary David Lean: A Self Portrait, archival interviews and featurettes, and a booklet. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)