Newsnight Gold: Lean's Passage to India - 2

Mark Tully speaks to David Lean and his cast during the production of 'A Passage to India' in 1984.

This year, 2008, is Sir David Lean's centenary year. To commemorate the great director - born 25 March 1908 - the British Film Institute is running a David Lean season. Meanwhile, the BBC's Newsnight programme has re-issued Mark Tully's 1984 report from the set of Lean's film 'A Passage to India'. You can watch this 11 minute film online at the BBC website here. On the first page of this report, Mark Tully's Location Report - 1, you can read a transcript and some screen-shots of the documentary. On this page you can see more screen-shots from the documentary, with an emphasis on the locations used in the film.

These two shots show David Lean by the camera, which is filming the brass band play 'Tea For Two' on the occasion of a 'Bridge Party', put on to bridge the gulf between the cultures of East and West. The location is the Chandrapore Club, in reality it is the grounds of the Bangalore Club, still in use today. The band's conductor, Mr Pereira was once the conductor for the Maharajah of Mysore.

This sequence of shots show the crew filming the 'Marabar Express', as it journeys from Chandrapore to the Marabar Caves. In reality it is a repainted locomotive on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, that runs from Coonoor to Ooty. This location, one of the most scenic of the journey, is the Adderley Viaduct. The Marabar Express is filmed crossing the viaduct at the moment when Dr Aziz makes his way along the running board on the outside of the train to inform Mrs Moore and Miss Quested that they are nearly at the station for the Marabar Caves. Miss Quested is understandably alarmed to see him on the outside of the train (there are no corridors on this narrow gauge railway) but Dr Aziz shrugs off her concerns, boasting 'Look, I am Douglas Fairbanks'. For younger readers, I should explain that Douglas Fairbanks was a popular American actor of the 1920's, famous for his swash-buckling roles in movies such as 'The Thief of Baghdad', 'The Three Musketeers', and 'The Mark of Zorro'. He later went on to found the film company 'United Artists'.

More photos and a full description of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway can be found on my NMR page.

This shot shows Victor Bannerjee, who plays 'Doctor Aziz' in the film, being interviewed by Mark Tully. Unfortunately, Victor is rather obscuring the building in the background, which I suspect to be the palace of the Maharajah of Mysore, located in Bangalore. It was the main base of the film company in India during the production, and its vast grounds were used to create a number of sets, including the Chandrapore Bazaar. See more details on my Chandrapore page.

This series of shots are especially interesting, as they show Lean and Tully walking from what appears to a largely unused area of land to the set that Lean constructed for the Chandrapore Bazaar, which features quite prominently in the film. I assume that this land is all part of the grounds belonging to the palace of the Maharajah of Mysore, located in Bangalore.

Mark Tully interviews David Leans on the set that Lean constructed for the Chandrapore Bazaar.

More shots filming the brass band play 'Tea For Two' on the occasion of the 'Bridge Party', in the grounds of the Chandrapore Club; in reality the grounds of the Bangalore Club, still in use today. The band's conductor, Mr Pereira was once the conductor for the Maharajah of Mysore.

A series of shots that show a seldom-seen aspect of movie making: the location caterers preparing and serving food to the cast and crew. Mark Tully tells us that this 'army from England' imported much of their own food, including kippers for breakfast.

Keeping up with the paperwork. There were no computers in those days, so a travelling type-writer was an important part of any secretary's equipment. Here we see a temporary work area set up against one of the pillars in Coonoor railway station. The scenes that follow were also shot at Coonoor. You can see more photos and details of this location on my Coonoor page.

Filming at the Polo grounds in Ooty, short for Ootacamund. This hill station in the south of India is now called Udhagamandalam. You can see more photos and details of this location on my Civil Lines page. This scene shows a conversation between Adela Quested and her fiancé Ronny Heaslop, played by Nigel Havers. Miss Quested is unsettled with what she has seen here, and has decided to call their marriage off.

This series of shots show the location used for the upper series of Marabar Caves, situated near to the town of Ramanagaram. There were no caves here, so Lean needed to construct some. This controversial event is explained in greater detail on my Marabar Caves - 3 page. Of interest here is the fact that the camera sweeps across the surrounding countryside, showing that the location used for the 'upper caves' is not, in fact, on top of a mountain, but fairly near the base of the hills, and next to a convenient access road. If you compare the photos with ones on my Marabar Caves - 3 page you will also see that the cliffs shown in the film were magically heightened by use of camera-matte techniques.

Back at 'Chandrapore station', in reality Coonoor station on the NMR line, we see a group of extras waiting for the return of the Marabar Express, bringing Doctor Aziz's picnic party back from their adventure. Word has got out that an 'incident' has occurred, and all are present to see the arrest of Doctor Aziz.

Some shots of David Lean at the eyepiece of the camera as they shoot the scene of the picnic party's return from the Marabar Caves. The final shot is, I suspect, taken from the top of the coaling gantry at Coonoor, there being no foot-over bridge at this station.

 

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