DramaRomance

Great Expectations

- From the Vivid Pages of Charles Dickens' Masterpiece!

In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.

Release Date : 1946-12-26

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : CineguildJ. Arthur Rank Organisation

Production Country : United Kingdom

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Pip

Original Name : John Mills

Gender : Male

Character Name : Estella

Original Name : Valerie Hobson

Gender : Female

Character Name : Young Pip

Original Name : Tony Wager

Gender : Male

Character Name : Young Estella

Original Name : Jean Simmons

Gender : Female

Character Name : Joe Gargery

Original Name : Bernard Miles

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mr. Jaggers

Original Name : Francis L. Sullivan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Abel Magwitch

Original Name : Finlay Currie

Gender : Male

Character Name : Miss Havisham

Original Name : Martita Hunt

Gender : Female

Character Name : Herbert Pocket

Original Name : Alec Guinness

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mr. Wemmick

Original Name : Ivor Barnard

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mrs. Joe

Original Name : Freda Jackson

Gender : Female

Character Name : Biddy

Original Name : Eileen Erskine

Gender : Male

Character Name : Convict

Original Name : George Hayes

Gender : Male

Character Name : Uncle Pumblechook

Original Name : Hay Petrie

Gender : Male

Character Name : The Pale Young Gentleman

Original Name : John Forrest

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bentley Drummle

Original Name : Torin Thatcher

Gender : Male

Character Name : The Aged Parent

Original Name : O.B. Clarence

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mr. Wopsle

Original Name : John Burch

Gender : Male

Character Name : The Sergeant

Original Name : Richard George

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mrs. Wopsle

Original Name : Grace Denbigh Russell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sarah Pocket

Original Name : Everley Gregg

Gender : Female

Character Name : Relation

Original Name : Anne Holland

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mike

Original Name : Frank Atkinson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Night Porter

Original Name : Gordon Begg

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mrs. Whimple

Original Name : Edie Martin

Gender : Female

Character Name : The Dancing Master

Original Name : Walford Hyden

Gender : Male

Character Name : Galley Steersman

Original Name : Roy Arthur

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-07-07

If I were ever to be given the chance to be a fly-on-the-wall at a conversation, then It'd have to be one with Charles Dickens and David Lean. How the latter managed to visualise and dramatise so expertly the finely honed characters of the former is astonishing. In this, possibly less well known story - "Pip" (Tony Wager) encounters an escaped convict in an eery graveyard when he goes to tend his late mother's grave.. Despite his fear, he helps feed the old man and free him from his chains. As he ages, he is summoned by a local, wealthy, spinster "Miss Havisham" (a wonderfully imperious Martita Hunt) who wants him to befriend the truly unpleasant, spoilt, "Estella" (Jean Simmons). Skip forwards a few years and "Pip" (now, John Mills) is rescued from his rural existence by a lawyer, the ever avuncular, sagacious, Francis L. Sullivan who advises him that he has is to receive an income and an inheritance, from an unknown benefactor, that will change his life - which it duly does! Soon, he and new room-mate "Mr. Pocket" (Alec Guinness) are settled into their new lives of plenty. Dickens' had such a wonderfully alliterative way with his characters - "Pip", "Pocket", "Jaggers", "Pumblechook" & "Magwitch" - they allow so much more scope for your imagination to define the characters, their traits and flaws and Lean manages to use light, shade, an understated Walter Goehr score and a really splendid ensemble effort from all concerned on screen to really draw us into the plot as "Pip" edges nearer to finding out where his largesse is coming from and, of course, how his relationship with a now adult "Estella" (Valerie Hobson) might develop/conclude/collapse. Dickens wasn't a man prone to excessive sentiment in his stories, and for that I am externally grateful - and you know, well, that the good times never last for too long...!