Great Expectations (1974)

It's wonderful!

This adaptation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectation is wonderful.
The story is about the main character Pip who grew up with his bad-tempered sister and her blacksmith husband, Joe. Pip then met Miss Havisham and the beautiful Estella. Pip longed to be a gentleman so that he could be with Estella. Then one night, a lawyer came to Pip and told him that he was a man of great expectations, thus Pip headed to London to start his life as a gentleman.
The actors were magnificent. They looked like what I expected from the book's description, with the exception of Estella. Michael York was a great Pip. His facial expression was always appropriate, and with his talented acting skills, he brought Pip's characters alive. Margaret Leighton was an awesome Miss Havisham. Abandoned by her fiancé, she was determined to take revenge on the male sex. Leighton put herself in the shoes of a helpless old woman and that's why Miss Havisham was so real in the film.
The visuals were very nice in this film. Everything in the Satis House was great, especially Miss Havisham's wedding cake.
The soundtrack was fantastic. It's classic! The music that was used at the end of the movie was very emotional and drew a great conclusion.
If you are a Charles Dickens fan, you'll love this one!

Story A
Acting B+
Direction B+
Visual A- September 11, 2005

Very Uninspired Rendition of Dickens Classic

Made in 1974, this film was originally intended as musical version of Charles Dickens's classic novel. Remember, it was the time when people saw the films like "Oliver!" and "Scrooge" (musical version of "Christmas Carol"), and this "Great Expectaions" is an obvious attempt to cash in on the trend of the time. And incredible thing is, it was at first titled "Pip!" -- and the star Michael York had to practice singing, and he even recorded several songs!

The story of this beloved novel is so famous that we need no comment on that. Only I can say this; this one's script is closer to that of David Lean film than to that of the original novel. Orlick is gone, but I hope nobody will miss him, and Biddy's role is changed significantly, and so is the ending. The story goes fast, but it is nothing remarkable.

More interesting is the casting. Not that it is fine; on the contrary, it is terrible. Michael York is a fine actor, I admit (you may remember him as 'Basil' of "Austion Powers" series), but he looks hardly the adult Pip. Joe Gargery, the kind blacksmith and Pip's brother-in-law is played by Joss Ackland, whose body is too thin to be convincing. But the greatest mistake is casting Sarah Miles into BOTH roles of Estella -- young girl and adult alike. She tries to manage this impossible task, but why they did not prepare another child actor to play young Estella is a big mystery to me. Speaking of child, little Pip by Simon Gipps-Kent is too tall (Pip is only 7 years old when he meets Magwitch for the first time), and the result is quite embarrassing to see.

Supporting cast include: James Mason as Magwitch; Margaret Leighton as Miss Havisham; Anthony Quayle as Jaggers. They are good, but as you know, their roles are comparatively small.

Most memorable is the technical crew behind the production. The photography is Freddie Young and the music is Maurice Jarre -- Yes, the Oscar-winning duo of "Laurence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago," which remind us of, who else, David Lean. But what you see is nothing particularly great. Actually, the musical score wavers between comic and sentimental so falteringly that the film cannot keep one consistent tone for ten minutes. And unaccountably, they set Havisham's house and Gargery's forge in the middle of the town, depriving the story of the dreary and dismal tone which Dickens took so much care to preserve.

My advice: stick to David Lean's 1946 version. Or read the book again. January 3, 2004

A too obvious re-telling of the classic novel

After the brilliant David Lean version of "Great Expectations"(1946,but released in the U.S.in 1947),with its perfect casting,beautiful black-and-white camerawork,and magnificently inventive directorial touches, any other version of Dickens' classic is bound to be a letdown. But at least,most of the other versions tried to be as subtle as the author. This ham-fisted version was originally planned as a musical---TV's answer to "Oliver!" and,while we can be thankful that the makers finally came to their senses and came to realize that,unlike "Oliver Twist", "Great Expectations" does NOT lend itself to musicalization, there is little else to be thankful for.

The motivations and personalities of the characters have been simplified,with none of the ambiguous qualities that make the novel or the David Lean film so great---as if the filmmakers were still using a musical libretto,but without the songs. Sarah Miles,for instance, rather than playing Estella as the rather cool,aloof person she has been trained to be, instead plays her as a repressed hysteric about to be driven mad herself as she feverishly ,rather than calmly and sensibly,tries to convince Pip not to love her because she can never love him (of course,we know better--why else would this Estella always be on the verge of flipping out?) Margaret Leighton, an excellent actress, turns in a beautiful performance as the mad Miss Havisham,but again the script shortchanges her by making the tragic, vulnerable, pathetic old woman into more of a raving maniac than in any other previous version (her outburst and taunting of Pip when he inquires for Estella is an insensitive touch the scriptwriters have added to the film).And no better,more horrifying example of the approach that this film takes can be found than in Pip's scene with Lawyer Jaggers (the usually excellent, but this time miscast Anthony Quayle tries, but fails, to sound pompous), in which the two discuss Estella's "dark secret". In the novel--and the David Lean film, Pip, when learning the truth, generously and compassionately says,"She must never be told of this"-- a sign that, despite his now snobbish and selfish nature,he truly loves Estella. In this TV version, the film-makers crudely point up his self-centeredness by actually reversing the line to its exact opposite---"This must be known! If Drummle knew,he'd never marry her!" , something Dickens would not have been capable of. Pip is very blandly played by Michael York, in one of his less memorable performances. He gives the impression of having "phoned it in".

The two major roles left untouched and unchanged, are Magwitch, the convict, played with enormous dignity by the great James Mason,and Joe Gargery (Joss Ackland), who is also given his true worth in this botched movie.Robert Morley reprises his pompous routine for the umpteenth time as Uncle Pumblechook,and Andrew Ray (the once unbelievably cute child star of 1950's "The Mudlark") is a completely forgettable, bland Herbert Pocket, especially in comparison to Alec Guinness's memorable 1946 performance of the role. The musical score consists mostly of a syrupy waltz played over and over by the violins.

Rent the David Lean version instead,and see how a great director handles a classic. January 26, 2000

Best Version of Great Expectations

This is the best version I have ever seen. The music in the movie is fantastic. December 1, 1999

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