Editing David Lean (section)

===Period as film editor===
Bored by his work, Lean spent every evening in the cinema, and in 1927, after an aunt had advised him to find a job he enjoyed, he visited [[Gaumont British|Gaumont Studios]] where his obvious enthusiasm earned him a month's trial without pay. He was taken on as a teaboy, promoted to [[clapperboard|clapperboy]], and soon rose to the position of [[Assistant director|third assistant director]]. By 1930 he was working as an editor on [[newsreels]], including those of [[Gaumont Film Company|Gaumont Pictures]] and [[Movietone News|Movietone]], while his move to feature films began with ''[[Freedom of the Seas (film)|Freedom of the Seas]]'' (1934) and ''[[Escape Me Never (1935 film)|Escape Me Never]]'' (1935).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Collins |first1=Andrew |title=The epic legacy of David Lean |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/may/04/features |website=The Guardian |date=4 May 2008 |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited |access-date=6 January 2019 |archive-date=7 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907213402/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/may/04/features |url-status=live }}</ref>

He edited [[Gabriel Pascal]]'s film productions of two [[George Bernard Shaw]] plays, ''[[Pygmalion (1938 film)|Pygmalion]]'' (1938) and ''[[Major Barbara (film)|Major Barbara]]'' (1941). He edited [[Powell and Pressburger|Powell & Pressburger]]'s ''[[49th Parallel (film)|49th Parallel]]'' (1941) and ''[[One of Our Aircraft Is Missing]]'' (1942). After this last film, Lean began his directing career, after editing more than two dozen features by 1942. As [[Anthony Sloman|Tony Sloman]] wrote in 1999, "As the varied likes of David Lean, [[Robert Wise]], [[Terence Fisher]] and [[Dorothy Arzner]] have proved, the cutting rooms are easily the finest grounding for film direction."<ref>Sloman, Tony (1999). [http://cinescale.20m.com/obit1.html "Obituary: Harold Kress"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707061352/http://cinescale.20m.com/obit1.html |date=7 July 2011 }}, ''The Independent'', 26 October 1999. Online version retrieved 8 April 2009.</ref> David Lean was given honorary membership of the [[GBFTE|Guild of British Film Editors]] in 1968.