Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21301 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-04-12
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
David Lean's handsome adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel captures the warm humour and richness of character that so many film-makers 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 child-like 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 humourless 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, Amazon.com

Special Features
4:3 Full Frame
DVD 5
English
Region 2
Mono English
Mono
Interactive Menus
Biographies
Scene Access

Synopsis

In David Lean's definitive adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, Great Expectations, an orphaned boy named Pip is befriended by a mysterious benefactor, Miss Haversham, who enables him to become a gentleman of means. The film is set in nineteenth century England.

Customer Reviews

The Best film adaptation of Great Expectations ever
From the wonderfully eerie opening scenes on the Essex marshes and Finlay Currie's menacing appearance in a foggy graveyard, you can tell straight away this is a winner. As the story of this "gentleman of great expectations" unfolds, you are treated to one of cinema's classics. David Lean's moody direction keeps you gripped throughout, but it's the acting that really makes the movie: John Mills and Alec Guiness both turn in great performances, and the incidental characters such as Francis L Sullivan's bluff Jaggers and the bumbling but sweet Joe Gargery supplied by Bernard Miles simply steal the show. There have been at least ten versions of this film made. If you only watch one, make it this one: It's a cracker!

The Gold Standard!
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 that 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.

Great Expectations - great film
This versions of Dicken's classic novel "great expectations" is a fantastic adaptation of the book. It follows the book very well and it's the best version i have seen so far out of all 3 versions.
All the actors/actresses are fantastic and i thoroughly enjoyed watching it at school so i bought it. I have been watching it ever since.
The film only misses out a few characters, such as Orlick, who worked for Joe and there are only 1 or two other characters missed out.
So i suggest you buy it, it may be in black and white but it adds to the effect and makes it most enjoyable.
The actor who plays the convict at the beginning
is fantstic when he approaches Pip in the graveyard .
So my advise to you is to buy this.
I am only 15 and have thouroughly enjoyed it.