Great Expectations

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Great Expectations

1946,

1h 58m,

Drama

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Watchlist

100%

29 Reviews

Tomatometer

88%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

29 Reviews

88%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

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.

Critics Consensus

Furnished with striking visual detail and told with great narrative economy by director David Lean, Great Expectations is an exemplary adaptation of Charles Dickens' dense and episodic novel.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Mar 26, 2009

Only rabid Dickensians will find fault with the present adaptation, and paradoxically only lovers of Dickens will derive maximum pleasure from the film.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

Nov 6, 2007

4/5

An unmissable rerelease.

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Don Druker

Chicago Reader

Nov 6, 2007

The graveyard scene is still a shocker, the details are still astonishingly well assembled, and the performances are wonderful.

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Andrew Collins

Radio Times

Jul 22, 2024

5/5

This is superlative film-making from one of Britain's greatest directors.

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Oct 6, 2023

David Lean’s handsome adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel captures the warm humor and richness of character that so many filmmakers miss in their reverent recreations of Victorian England.

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James Agee

The Nation

Jun 28, 2021

The film is almost never less than graceful, tasteful, and intelligent, and some of it is better than that.

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Hermione R

Apr 7, 2019

4.6.19 saw only first hour on late nite tv. looks good. I don't think I read most of this book in high school english class.

Finn S

Mar 28, 2019

Almost perfect. My only criticism is John Mills is miscast as Pip. He is too old in this film to faithfully portray the Phillip Pirrip we read of in Dickens. Nevertheless. everything else is perfection.

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Poe L

Jul 25, 2018

Underneath the action of Dickens tale, with wonderful direction and heartfelt acting (particularly by the ladies!), is a poignant illustration of the longing for class and status as a necessary means of survival, a way to forbear the ills and evils of the world. By the reckoning of the film, poverty is the worst that the world has to offer. A luminous work.

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Rey R

Aug 8, 2016

David Lean's Dickens adaptation is a great story combined with entrancing visuals, thought-provoking pathos, and a great cast, even if their acting is spotted with old-fashioned quirks.

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Leia S

Dec 20, 2013

Great work for its day. What a cast! 1001 movies to see before you die.

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David Lean

Director

John Mills

Pip

Valerie Hobson

Estella

Bernard Miles

Joe Gargery

Francis L. Sullivan

Mr. Jaggers

Finlay Currie

Abel Magwitch

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Synopsis

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.

Director: David Lean
Producer: Anthony Havelock-Allan, Ronald Neame
Screenwriter: David Lean, Ronald Neame, Anthony Havelock-Allan
Production Co: Cineguild
Genre: Drama
Original Language: British English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 26, 1946, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 22, 2017
Runtime: 1h 58m

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