Great Expectations

"From the Vivid Pages of Charles Dickens' Masterpiece!"

1946 1h 58m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 390

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“From the Vivid Pages of Charles Dickens' Masterpiece!”

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Cast

John Mills
Pip
Valerie Hobson
Estella
Tony Wager
Young Pip
Jean Simmons
Young Estella
Bernard Miles
Joe Gargery
Francis L. Sullivan
Mr. Jaggers
Finlay Currie
Abel Magwitch
Martita Hunt
Miss Havisham

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: David Lean
Writers: Kay Walsh, Ronald Neame, Cecil McGivern
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.4M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

80 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by David Lean, shot by Guy Green. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Walter Goehr. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jack Harris shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

John Mills and Valerie Hobson and Tony Wager carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "From the Vivid Pages of Charles Dickens' Masterpiece!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0038574 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

David Lean directs. Guy Green behind the camera. Walter Goehr scores. Jack Harris cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.4M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
280 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by David Lean, shot by Guy Green. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Walter Goehr. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Jack Harris shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6John Mills and Valerie Hobson and Tony Wager carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "From the Vivid Pages of Charles Dickens' Masterpiece!".
8IMDB entry: tt0038574 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Guy Green
Original score: Walter Goehr
Editing: Jack Harris
Production design: John Bryan
Costume design: Sophie Devine
Makeup / hair: George Blackler
Runtime: 118 min · 1h 58m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $400,000
Box office: $420,000
Return: 105% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Great Expectations (1946)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black and White
Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

David Lean

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-07-07
★ 8/10
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...!

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