David Lean vs Stanley Kubrick

[spider-neil]

Who was better?

David Lean
Lawrence of Arabia
Bridge on the River Kwai
Doctor Zhivago
Ryan's Daughter

Stanley Kubrick
The Shining
2001
Barry Lyndon
Clockwork Orange

[CreasyBear]

Kubrick.

[DR Herbert West]

Kubrick

[spider-neil]

Lean

More depth to his characters.

[Doctor Jack]

They’re both in the top 10 of all time. Who cares who’s better?

[The Sovereign]

For me - and it’s favorite, not better - Kubrick wins this against anyone. But Lean is fantastic.

[cgpublic]

Lean and Kubrick are two very distinct directors, and truth be told, for the most part working in different times and exploring different themes. A better pair for comparison would be Hitchcock or Powell.

That stated, I do believe Lean was the more influential of the two for a greater number of the best directors, including Scorsese, Scott and Spielberg, and yes, Kubrick.

Furthermore, for a comparative take, you must consider Lean's early work, including Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Blithe Spirit, In Which We Serve and let's not forget Hobson's Choice. I would add A Passage to India to his later works and remove Ryan's Daughter.

Kubrick is one of the greats, and would add The Killing, Strangelove and perhaps his best work, Paths of Glory, to that list, but once again of a later generation where a comparison does not do both men justice.

[Poya]

Kubrick, this shouldn't even be up for debate. More character depth, unique visuals, flawless acting, some of the best writing in cinema, etc.

[kwisatzhaderach]

Kubrick, though Lean is also incredible.

[Winslow Leach]

Kubrick

[RossyG]

Kubrick.

[drush9999]

Not sure they are comparable. I'd probably lean towards Kubrick (scuse the pun)

[Mothravka]

Kubrick for me.

[Abdrewes]

Ryan's Daughter needs a release.

[EvaDK]

Kubrick for several reasons, of which the most prominent are:

- he wrote his own screenplays for each feature film in his filmography.
- he didn't make a single bad or mediocre film in five decades. At least half of his directorial output, are widely considered masterpieces today.
- to Lean's credit, he had an amazing 13 year run from Kwai to Ryan.

[An4h0ny]

I feel like this is saying... who's the better band... MC5 or Yes.

Panic! At The Disco or the Avett Brothers?

I'm not thread crapping. Just pointing out that they are so different stylistically and for how they have influenced those who came after.

You can see a lot of David Lean & Freddie Young influence in cinema today. I thought of them while watching Dune and Eternals. Those big wide slow tracking gorgeous establishing shots. Lean & Young didn't invent them, but they sure did innovate some neat tricks and really manage to elevate their work to some incredible levels. Their influence feels very substantive and bedrock to me. Foundational in scope like DeMille or Hitchcock.

Kubrick's influence (imo) is more about the style of filmmaking. I feel like it's almost impossible to tease out his impact on any newer film because it's so ubiquitous and embedded in the language of film now. Whatever genre Kubrick worked in, he impacted greatly. Horror, sci-fi, noir, dystopian, black comedy, period drama and of course Anti-War.

Both are masters. Two things weight this in favor of Lean being more influential with directors.

#1 Lean was directing before Kubrick and has a slightly larger body of work.
#2. Kubrick has never been shy about pointing to Lean as an influence.

But who's better? That's beyond my ability to determine. Kubrick is definitely on my all time favorite directors list. I enjoy his films more on a visceral and emotional level. Lean's films are beautiful but more classically composed and elevated.

Just my .02.

“There are very few directors, about whom you’d say you automatically have to see everything they do. I’d put Fellini, Bergman and David Lean at the head of my first list, and Truffaut at the head of the next level.” -Stanley Kubrick (1966)

Stanley Kubrick Letter Discovered After 60 Years Reveals His Own Plan for ‘Doctor Zhivago’ Epic
https://www.theguardian.com/film/202...medium=twitter

[s2mikey]

Kubrick for me - and its not that close. I appreciate Lean's efforts and what he brought to the film making profession. But Kubrick has way more films that IMO are truly good.

Arabia is Leans best film and an all-time classic. Zhivago is decent but a tad over-rated, IMO. I cant sit through Zhivago again, I dont think. The rest of his "bigger" films like Passage to India, Kwai, etc. do nothing for me at all.

[Lee A Stewart]

Lean

Lawrence of Arabia

Nuff said

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by An4h0ny

Kubrick's influence (imo) is more about the style of filmmaking. I feel like it's almost impossible to tease out his impact on any newer film because it's so ubiquitous and embedded in the language of film now. Whatever genre Kubrick worked in, he impacted greatly. Horror, sci-fi, noir, dystopian, black comedy, period drama and of course Anti-War.

Well stated, and while it may seem like a criticism of Kubrick, many of his films are in fact grand exercises in style over substance. Wonderfully stylish to be sure, and in his own way, highly influential (think Lynch and Tarantino).

There are plenty of people who believe one or the other, if not both, are massively overrated.

On one hand for Lean, his singular, and some would say inflexible, classical approach to storytelling was passé from the outset.

On the other, some suggest that in many instances Kubrick did not serve his source material well, consistently choosing the style over substance, i.e., that the books or original source materials for Lolita, Clockwork Orange, 2001, Barry Lyndon, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket are all superior to their film counterpart, and that his films really don't add up to much other than simple set pieces for cheap meme entertainment.

Which given Kubrick's beginnings as a photographer and his academic challenges, may point to the trend that many present-day so-called cinephiles have stopped reading, and lack the interest or focus to appreciate a classical approach to storytelling over topical and/or nonsensical eye-candy that doesn't challenge the viewer by forcing them to think beyond the superficial.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by An4h0ny

I feel like this is saying... who's the better band... MC5 or Yes.

I think this example is wanting. Out of all the bands you choose The MC5?

Yes is a unasailable giant in prog rock. MC5 made one standout record, sure, but even disregarding all of punk to come, they're still not par with the Stooges, Dolls, or most proto punk (again, much less punk).

I'd say Kubrick is like a King Crimson to David Lean's The Who if I were to play this classic rock synthesia game.