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

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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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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

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1/21/2021

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

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