Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Great Expectations (1946) - Lean's first Dickens adaptation is pure cinema magic

1/21/2021

Great Expectations (1946) - Lean's first Dickens adaptation is pure cinema magic

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Five situations from the film are painted together with hyping assertions added to them on this poster for David Lean's Great Expectations

Pip is a boy who lives with his aunt in the country and visits an old, eccentric woman of wealth and her beautiful, uncouth daughter, when he one day helps an escaped prisoner in the heath, who is found starving.

Great Expectations is written by Ronald Neame (Blithe Spirit (1945)) and Anthony Havelock-Allan (Brief Encounter (1945)), - who also produced the film together, - Kay Walsh (Oliver Twist (1948)), Cecil McGivern (Blanche Fury (1948)) and British master filmmaker, co-writer/director David Lean (In Which We Serve (1942)), whose 5th feature it was. It is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' (Bleak House (1952-53)) same-titled 1860-61 novel.

Dickens' masterpiece relates a fantastical story, which grows increasingly complex, as it unfolds in exemplary fashion in Lean's picturesque, super-cinematic screen version. (Cinematography by Guy Green (Diamond Head (1962)).)

Tony Wager (Bluey (1977, TV-series)) and later John Mills (Young at Heart (1980-82)) as Pip and Martita Hunt (The Fan (1949)) as the rich spinster Miss Havisham are especially excellent in the wonderful cast.

Great Expectations is moving, beautiful and grand, and it has several highly memorable scenes. It is a masterpiece in its own right.

David Lean: Top 10: Best UK movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - One of the greats

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 375k £, approximately 1.5 mil. $

Box office: 2 mil. $ (US rentals alone)

= Uncertain

[Great Expectations premiered 16 December (London) and runs 118 minutes. The adaptation was inspired by a 1939 stage version by Alex Guinness, which Lean had witnessed. Shooting took place in England, including London, from September 1945 - April 1946. The film was the 3rd most popular at the British box office in 1947; the most popular in Canada in 1948; and it earned impressive 2 mil. $ in rentals in the US. Regrettably its numbers outside of that are unknown, but it may have been a hit despite its relatively high budget. (The 375k £ cost comes to 1.5 mil. $ with the conversion rate of 4.03 to the pound detailed here.) The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning 2: For Cinematography, B/W, and Art/Set Direction, B/W. It lost Best Director and Best Picture to Elia Kazan for Gentleman's Agreement, and Best Screenplay to George Seaton for Miracle on 34th Street. It also won a National Board of Review award. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Lean returned with Oliver Twist (1948). Mills returned in So Well Remembered (1947); Valerie Hobson (Continental Express (1939)) in Blanche Fury (1948). Great Expectations is fresh at 100 % with an 8.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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1/21/2021

Great Expectations (1946) - Lean's first Dickens adaptation is pure cinema magic

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