David Lean could be a difficult director to work for. He knew exactly what he wanted and that often makes others uncomfortable. At his best Lean's demanding expectations enhanced his films often making them classics at his worst he managed to alienate crew and actors. Like a lot of things his expectations and reputation often tied him to unrealistic expectations from audiences and critics alike. There was no chance that Lean could go back and make, say, a Hitchcockian thriller or a Broadway musical (not that he would do either of them) and when he did try to make a film that wasn't an epic adventure such as "Ryan's Daughter" he faced considerable criticism even though it harked back to the films that Lean did in the 40's. In tone, texture and of course feel Lean's "A Passage to India" recalled those older classic epic films such as "Bridge on the River Kwai" and even the sweeping romantic film "Doctor Zhavigo" but in other areas it was all together new territory for the director. A Lean project, like any of the legendary directors he is often mentioned with, could fall or rise in quality based on the collaborators that the prickly director was working with. Although "A Passage to India" isn't quite up to "Lawrence of Arabia" or even "Brief Encounter", it is a solid final film from the director taking the hallmarks that have been an essential part of his projects from the beginning and expand on them in sometimes bold and meaningful ways. *** Lean's last film saw the director go out on a high note. Based on E.M. Forester's novel of the same name and featuring a stellar cast including Judy Davis and Alec Guiness. The disapproval of British colonialism is evident in telling moments and played out with subtly. As with all of Lean's films there is an equal amount of focus paid to the performances and actors as there are to the often stunning visuals that Lean assembles for this his last film. ***

The story focuses on the journey of a young girl Adela Quested (Davis) to India and her voyage of discovery along the way. She travels with Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft) to meet her fiancé (Nigel Havers) but finds herself troubled by the attitude of her fiancé. Adela continues her travels in India with Mrs. Moore meeting an unusually diverse group of Indians from Professor Godbole (Alec Guinness) to Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee). Adela finds herself enjoying the company of the latter as they investigate the Indian countryside leading to complications later for both. ---

Image & Sound:

"A Passage to India" looks marvelous with rich color, natural skin tones and remarkably good clarity. The audio sounds extremely good with a nice 5.1 mix that enhances the experience. ---

We get an interesting if rambling audio commentary done by the film's co-producer Richard Goodwin who shares some stories about growing up in India, issues that the production ran into during the shooting and deicisions on casting. ***

The second disc is where the bulk of the extras are included. We get seven featurettes in all. ***

The first focuses on author E.M. Forster telling us how the loss of his father in his youth contributed to him feeling slightly out of their own class. The move to Cambridge as a young man helped foster the confidence it took to tackle works such as Howard's End and A Passage to India. His trip to India helped "deliver" him from the narrow view of the world he had in England. ***

"An Epic Takes Shape" gives us more details on the production with producer Richard Goodwin, Assistant Director Christopher Figg both discussing Lean's involvement and how "Ghandi" inspired him to come out of 'retirement" to make the ultimate film about India from the English perspective. ***

"An Indian Affair" features Patrick Cadell another Assistant Director on the feature and the Casting Director Priscilla John on the film discussing everything from preproduction blessings for the project to Actor Nigel Havers and Cadell speaking to the shooting experience on location. ***

"Only Connect: A Vision of India" looks at the shooting in the studio. The local Indians in the UK were to fair looking and had to be made up to look as dark as the Indians that were at the location shoot. Actor Art Malik shares his memories of shooting the film. Lean loved editing Malik shares that, perhaps, Lean's greatest disappointment was NOT winning awards for his editing despite his brilliance at it. ***

"Creating a Classic" lets Priscilla John talk about the difficult process of casting the film and finding the right actors for the right roles. He didn't have a difficult time making a decision as to which actors would be best he was flooded with actors who wanted to be cast. This is an example of a film that is perfectly cast from the largest to the smallest roles. Malik and Havers share their informal "auditions" for the film. John's instincts on casting the roles were perfect as each one that she thought would work well was the one that Lean chose for the film. ***

"David Lean: Shooting with the Master" allows the crew to reflect on the working environment of working with Lean. ***

"Reflections of David Lean" allows the Director to discuss in vintage videotape (carried over from the previous DVD incarnation) to discuss his working methods, working with William Holden on "Bridge on the River Kwai" (Lean was quite fond of Holden and felt he was one of the sharpest actors around) and his experience of working with long time collaborator Alec Guinness illustrated by clips from each of the films he worked on with him. Lean avoids discussing the conflicts that he and Guinness had on their last film together the gentleman that he is and focuses, instead, on how shy Guinness was in real life. He relates that the first time he worked with Guinness that the actor was so nervous that Lean would say they were rehearsing and shoot the scene to get the most natural performance from Guinness as possible. *** We also get previews for other Sony releases

Final Words: