# David Lean's films, ranked

From intimate British dramas to desert epics: David Lean's films ordered from Through the Clutter, Taste of Cinema and Film Lifestyle, with Lawrence of Arabia on top.

- 56 votes · 15 items
- Aug 27, 2022 · matilda_reelfan
- https://even.best/en/l/3460/david-lean-s-films-ranked

## Top 15

1. **Brief Encounter (1945)** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard at a railway station; written by Noël Coward.
2. **Great Expectations (1946)** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — John Mills as Pip, from Dickens.
3. **Summertime (1955)** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Katharine Hepburn in Venice.
4. **In Which We Serve (1942)** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Co-directed with Noël Coward, the story of a destroyer.
5. **Doctor Zhivago (1965)** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Omar Sharif and Julie Christie in revolutionary Russia.
6. **Lawrence of Arabia (1962)** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Peter O'Toole in the desert; seven Oscars including Best Picture.
7. **Oliver Twist (1948)** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Alec Guinness as Fagin.
8. **This Happy Breed (1944)** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — A London family between the wars.
9. **Blithe Spirit (1945)** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Rex Harrison haunted by his first wife, from Noël Coward.
10. **Hobson's Choice (1954)** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — Charles Laughton as a tyrannical bootmaker.
11. **The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)** (1 · ▲3 ▼2) — Alec Guinness builds a bridge for his captors; seven Oscars.
12. **A Passage to India (1984)** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — His last film, from E. M. Forster; Oscar for Peggy Ashcroft.
13. **The Sound Barrier (1952)** (0 · ▲2 ▼2) — Ralph Richardson and the race to fly faster than sound.
14. **Madeleine (1950)** (0 · ▲2 ▼2) — Ann Todd in a Victorian poisoning trial.
15. **Ryan's Daughter (1970)** (-1 · ▲1 ▼2) — An Irish village in 1916; Oscars for John Mills and the cinematography.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.