Great Expectations (1946) (Criterion Collection Spine #31)

Great Expectations (1946) (Criterion Collection Spine #31)
by David Lean

Great Expectations (1946) (Criterion Collection Spine #31)
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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Bernard Miles, Jean Simmons, John Mills, Tony Wager, Valerie Hobson
Director: David Lean
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-01-12
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion

Movie Reviews of Great Expectations (1946) (Criterion Collection Spine #31)

Movie Review: The Gold Standard!
Summary: 5 Stars

There are some films, such as "Casablanca," that should never be remade. David Lean's "Great Expectations" is one of them.

The cast--headed by John Mills as the grown-up Pip, and which includes the rotund Francis L. Sullivan as the lawyer Jagger (whose clients are hanged as a matter of course), Finlay Curry as the convict Magwitch, and Alec Guinness as Herbert Pocket--is pitch-perfect (although I always thought the excellent Valerie Hobson was a bit of a disappointment after the brittle hauteur of Jean Simmons).

This film has everything: humor, suspense, and a lack of the sentimentality that seems to have crept into Dickensian films of late.

Lean, who was to become famous for his sweeping desolate landscapes of "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Dr. Zhivago," captures the essence of the lonely English fog-bound marshes with swirling swathes of grey in this glorious black and white film. The image of young Estella (a bewitching Jean Simmons) leading young Pip by candlelight up the darkened staircase into the cobweb-enshrouded inner sanctum of the demented Miss Havisham (the incomparable Martita Hunt), is unforgettable, as is the sight of the jilted bride's rat-infested wedding cake. Without computer-generated effects or even color, David Lean has created a cinematic masterpiece.
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Summary of Great Expectations (1946) (Criterion Collection Spine #31)

David Lean's handsome adaptation of Charles Dickens's classic novel captures the warm humor and richness of character that so many filmmakers miss in their reverent recreations of Victorian England. From the nightmarish opening sequence on the windswept graveyard where young orphan Pip (Anthony Wager) meets the desperate escaped criminal Magwitch (Finlay Currie) to the shadowy, musty mansion of the widow Miss Haversham (Martita Hunt) where he first meets the impertinent young beauty Estella (Jean Simmons), Lean captures a childlike exaggeration of reality with his elegant expressionism. When Pip's sudden change in fortune sends him to London as a burgeoning gentleman in high society, Lean sketches a beautiful, bustling city. John Mills's performance as the adult Pip charts his change from the wide-eyed wonder and generous spirit of the child he was to the class snob transformed by money and social standing, an ugly flaw that Pip confronts when his mysterious benefactor is finally revealed. The outstanding cast also features Valerie Hobson as the grown-up Estella, now a beguiling enchantress, a bright young Alec Guinness in his film debut as Pip's jovial London roommate Herbert Pocket, and the imposing Francis L. Sullivan as the decidedly humorless lawyer Jaggers. Exquisitely photographed by Guy Green (who won an Oscar for his work). Lean and his collaborators effectively maintain the heart of Dickens's epic drama while cutting it to its essentials in this vivid, compelling film. --Sean Axmaker
One of the great translations of literature into film, David Lean's Great Expectations brings Charles Dickens' masterpiece to robust onscreen life. Pip, Magwitch, Miss Havisham, and Estella populate Lean's magnificent miniature, beautifully photographed by Guy Green and designed by John Bryan.

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