In the years between the failure of Ryan’s Daughter and his return with A Passage To India, Lean directed a trio of campaigning shorts for the Ryder-Cheshire Foundation as a favour to friend and founder Leonard Cheshire, and this documentary for New Zealand television, his only significant directorial effort outside of his 16 features. While scouting Tahitian locations for an ultimately unrealised version of the famous mutiny on H.M.S. Bounty, Lean found distraction in the location and attempted salvage of an anchor jettisoned by Captain James Cook on one of his voyages. Although it stands as an anomaly in Lean’s body of work, it is fascinating to see the director put himself before the camera and show something of the passions that drove him.

Notes by Kevin Coyne.

Screening as part of The Films of David Lean season.