Great Expectations (1946 film)
Encyclopedia
Great Expectations is a 1946 British film
which won two Academy Awards (Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography) and was nominated for three others (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay). It was directed by David Lean
, based on the novel
by Charles Dickens
and stars John Mills
, Bernard Miles
, Finlay Currie
, Jean Simmons
, Martita Hunt
, Alec Guinness
and Valerie Hobson
.
The script, a slimmed-down version of Dickens' novel that had been inspired after seeing an abridged stage version of the novel, in which Guinness (responsible for the adaptation) played Herbert Pocket and Martita Hunt was Miss Havisham, was written by David Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan
, Cecil McGivern
, Ronald Neame
and Kay Walsh
. Guinness and Hunt reprised their roles in the film, but the film was not a strict adaptation of the stage version. The film was produced by Ronald Neame and photographed by Guy Green. It was the first of two films Lean directed based on Dickens' novels, the other being his 1948 adaptation of Oliver Twist
.
) lives with his shrewish older sister and her kind-hearted blacksmith husband, Joe Gargery (Bernard Miles
). One day, Pip runs into an escaped convict, Abel Magwitch (Finlay Currie
), who intimidates the boy into getting him some food and a file for his chains. Magwitch is caught when he attacks a hated fellow escapee, and is taken back to prison.
Miss Havisham
(Martita Hunt
), an eccentric rich spinster, arranges to have the Pip come to her mansion regularly to provide her with company and to play with a cruel but beautiful teenage girl, Estella
(Jean Simmons
). Estella mocks Pip's coarse manners at every opportunity, but Pip quickly falls in love with her. The visits come to an end when Pip turns 14 and begins his apprenticeship as a blacksmith. Estella also leaves, to learn to become a lady.
Six years later Miss Havisham's lawyer, Mr. Jaggers (Francis L. Sullivan
), visits Pip (played as adult by John Mills) to tell him that a mysterious benefactor has offered to transform him into a gentleman, one with "great expectations"; Pip assumes it is Miss Havisham. He is taken to London, where Mr. Jaggers arranges for Pip to stay with Herbert Pocket (played as an adult by Alec Guinness
), who will teach him how to behave like a gentleman. From Herbert, Pip learns that Miss Havisham was left at the altar many years ago; she is determined to avenge herself against all men, and Estella is her instrument to break men's hearts.
After Pip turns 21, Joe Gargery comes to visit him, bringing a request from Miss Havisham to visit her. There he is delighted to be reunited with Estella (played as an adult by Valerie Hobson
), who tells him, "You must know, Pip, I have no heart." Estella and Pip spend much time together. She confesses to Pip that despite flirting with the wealthy but unpopular Bentley Drummle, she has absolutely no feelings for him. Pip suddenly receives another visitor from the past, Magwitch, who reveals that he is Pip's patron. Pip, who always imagined that Miss Havisham was responsible for his good fortune, now realizes that she was only using him. Growing suspicious of Drummle's overtures toward Estella, Pip visits Estella at the old woman's house, where she tells him that she is going to marry Drummle. Pip confronts Miss Havisham, saying "I am as unhappy as you could have ever meant me to be." Miss Havisham, finally realizing what she has done after seeing the crushed expression on Pip's face, begs his forgiveness. Pip leaves, but when she stands up to follow him, a piece of flaming wood from the fireplace rolls out and ignites Miss Havisham's dress. Her screams alert Pip, who runs back to find her in flames. Pip tries, but is too late to save her.
After being warned that an old enemy (the other escapee at the beginning of the film) knows that Magwitch is in London, Pip makes preparations to smuggle the old man onto a packet boat
and accompany him to the continent. Pip, Herbert and Magwitch row out to the packet boat, but are intercepted by the waiting police, tipped off by Magwitch's great enemy. Magwitch is seriously injured in a struggle with his nemesis. He had spoken to Pip of his lost daughter, and Pip's suspicion that she is Estella is confirmed by Mr. Jaggers. Pip visits the dying Magwitch and tells him of her fate, and that he, Pip, is in love with her; Magwitch passes away, a contented man. Stricken by illness and with his expectations gone, Pip is taken home and nursed back to health by Joe Gargery. He revisits Miss Havisham's deserted house, where he finds Estella. Her plans for the future have also gone awry, as Drummle had broken off their engagement after Mr. Jaggers informed him of her true parentage. Learning that Estella plans to live in seclusion in the house, which she has inherited, Pip proceeds to tear down the curtains and force open the boarded-up windows; for the first time in years sunlight illuminates the room, revealing cobwebs, dust, and decay. Pip tells Estella that he has never stopped loving her. After hesitating, she embraces him and they leave the house together.
, while in 2004, Total Film
named it the fourteenth greatest British film of all time. It was the first British film to win an Oscar for its cinematography.
for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White
(John Bryan
, Wilfred Shingleton
) and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
, and was nominated for Best Director
, Best Picture
and Best Writing, Screenplay
.
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
which won two Academy Awards (Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography) and was nominated for three others (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay). It was directed by David Lean
David Lean
Sir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...
, based on the novel
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
and stars John Mills
John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
, Bernard Miles
Bernard Miles
Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre opened in the City of London since the 17th century....
, Finlay Currie
Finlay Currie
Finlay Jefferson Currie was a Scottish actor of stage, screen and television.Currie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1878. His acting career began on the stage. He and his wife Maude Courtney did a song and dance act in the US in the 1890s. He made his first film in 1931...
, Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
, Martita Hunt
Martita Hunt
Martita Hunt was an English theatre and film actress.-Early life:Hunt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30 January 1900 to British parents Alfred and Marta Hunt...
, Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
and Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson was a British actress who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s...
.
The script, a slimmed-down version of Dickens' novel that had been inspired after seeing an abridged stage version of the novel, in which Guinness (responsible for the adaptation) played Herbert Pocket and Martita Hunt was Miss Havisham, was written by David Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan
Anthony Havelock-Allan
Sir Anthony James Allan Havelock-Allan, 4th Baronet was a prolific and successful British film producer and screenwriter whose credits included This Happy Breed, Blithe Spirit, the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet and Ryan's Daughter.Havelock-Allan was born at the family home of Blackwell Grange...
, Cecil McGivern
Cecil McGivern
Cecil McGivern CBE was a British broadcasting executive, who initially worked for BBC Radio before transferring to BBC Television in the late 1940s....
, Ronald Neame
Ronald Neame
Ronald Elwin Neame CBE, BSC was an English film cinematographer, producer, screenwriter and director.-Early career:...
and Kay Walsh
Kay Walsh
Kay Walsh was an English actress and dancer. She grew up in Pimlico, raised by her grandmother....
. Guinness and Hunt reprised their roles in the film, but the film was not a strict adaptation of the stage version. The film was produced by Ronald Neame and photographed by Guy Green. It was the first of two films Lean directed based on Dickens' novels, the other being his 1948 adaptation of Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist (1948 film)
Oliver Twist is the second of David Lean's two film adaptations of Charles Dickens novels. Following the success of his 1946 version of Great Expectations, Lean re-assembled much of the same team for his adaptation of Dicken's 1838 novel, including producers Ronald Neame and Anthony...
.
Plot
Orphan Phillip "Pip" Pirrip (Anthony WagerAnthony Wager
Anthony A. Wager was a former English child actor best known for his role as the young "Pip" in David Lean's 1946 film of Great Expectations.- Early life :...
) lives with his shrewish older sister and her kind-hearted blacksmith husband, Joe Gargery (Bernard Miles
Bernard Miles
Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre opened in the City of London since the 17th century....
). One day, Pip runs into an escaped convict, Abel Magwitch (Finlay Currie
Finlay Currie
Finlay Jefferson Currie was a Scottish actor of stage, screen and television.Currie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1878. His acting career began on the stage. He and his wife Maude Courtney did a song and dance act in the US in the 1890s. He made his first film in 1931...
), who intimidates the boy into getting him some food and a file for his chains. Magwitch is caught when he attacks a hated fellow escapee, and is taken back to prison.
Miss Havisham
Miss Havisham
Miss Havisham is a significant character in the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations . She is a wealthy spinster, who lives in her ruined mansion with her adopted daughter, Estella, whom she has sent to France, while she herself is described as looking like "the witch of the place."Although she...
(Martita Hunt
Martita Hunt
Martita Hunt was an English theatre and film actress.-Early life:Hunt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30 January 1900 to British parents Alfred and Marta Hunt...
), an eccentric rich spinster, arranges to have the Pip come to her mansion regularly to provide her with company and to play with a cruel but beautiful teenage girl, Estella
Estella Havisham
Estella Havisham is a significant character in the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations....
(Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
). Estella mocks Pip's coarse manners at every opportunity, but Pip quickly falls in love with her. The visits come to an end when Pip turns 14 and begins his apprenticeship as a blacksmith. Estella also leaves, to learn to become a lady.
Six years later Miss Havisham's lawyer, Mr. Jaggers (Francis L. Sullivan
Francis L. Sullivan
Francis Loftus Sullivan was an English film and stage actor. He attended Stonyhurst, the Jesuit public school in Lancashire, England whose alumni include Charles Laughton and Arthur Conan Doyle.A heavily built man with a striking double-chin and a deep voice, Sullivan made his acting debut at the...
), visits Pip (played as adult by John Mills) to tell him that a mysterious benefactor has offered to transform him into a gentleman, one with "great expectations"; Pip assumes it is Miss Havisham. He is taken to London, where Mr. Jaggers arranges for Pip to stay with Herbert Pocket (played as an adult by Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
), who will teach him how to behave like a gentleman. From Herbert, Pip learns that Miss Havisham was left at the altar many years ago; she is determined to avenge herself against all men, and Estella is her instrument to break men's hearts.
After Pip turns 21, Joe Gargery comes to visit him, bringing a request from Miss Havisham to visit her. There he is delighted to be reunited with Estella (played as an adult by Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson was a British actress who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s...
), who tells him, "You must know, Pip, I have no heart." Estella and Pip spend much time together. She confesses to Pip that despite flirting with the wealthy but unpopular Bentley Drummle, she has absolutely no feelings for him. Pip suddenly receives another visitor from the past, Magwitch, who reveals that he is Pip's patron. Pip, who always imagined that Miss Havisham was responsible for his good fortune, now realizes that she was only using him. Growing suspicious of Drummle's overtures toward Estella, Pip visits Estella at the old woman's house, where she tells him that she is going to marry Drummle. Pip confronts Miss Havisham, saying "I am as unhappy as you could have ever meant me to be." Miss Havisham, finally realizing what she has done after seeing the crushed expression on Pip's face, begs his forgiveness. Pip leaves, but when she stands up to follow him, a piece of flaming wood from the fireplace rolls out and ignites Miss Havisham's dress. Her screams alert Pip, who runs back to find her in flames. Pip tries, but is too late to save her.
After being warned that an old enemy (the other escapee at the beginning of the film) knows that Magwitch is in London, Pip makes preparations to smuggle the old man onto a packet boat
Packet boat
Packet boats were small boats designed for domestic mail, passenger and freight transportation in Europe and its colonies, including North American rivers and canals...
and accompany him to the continent. Pip, Herbert and Magwitch row out to the packet boat, but are intercepted by the waiting police, tipped off by Magwitch's great enemy. Magwitch is seriously injured in a struggle with his nemesis. He had spoken to Pip of his lost daughter, and Pip's suspicion that she is Estella is confirmed by Mr. Jaggers. Pip visits the dying Magwitch and tells him of her fate, and that he, Pip, is in love with her; Magwitch passes away, a contented man. Stricken by illness and with his expectations gone, Pip is taken home and nursed back to health by Joe Gargery. He revisits Miss Havisham's deserted house, where he finds Estella. Her plans for the future have also gone awry, as Drummle had broken off their engagement after Mr. Jaggers informed him of her true parentage. Learning that Estella plans to live in seclusion in the house, which she has inherited, Pip proceeds to tear down the curtains and force open the boarded-up windows; for the first time in years sunlight illuminates the room, revealing cobwebs, dust, and decay. Pip tells Estella that he has never stopped loving her. After hesitating, she embraces him and they leave the house together.
Differences from the novel
Apart from a general compression of time and detail necessary to adopt any novel to film, the major changes from the novel to the screenplay include the following:- The happy ending of the film differs greatly from the novel, which takes place 11 years after most of the events and is slightly more ambiguous.
- The characters of Orlick, Matthew and Belinda Pocket, Startop, Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard, Mr. Creppock, Mrs. Wopsle, Mr. Barley, The Society of the Finches and Miss Skiffins are omitted.
- The convict who is Magwitch's nemesis is not named in the film. It is revealed in the novel that he is Compeyson, the man who jilted Miss Havisham.
- Pip's sister's assault at the hands of Orlick is deleted; instead she dies of illness earlier than she does in the novel.
- Biddy is portrayed as being closer to Joe's age than Pip's, and Pip never intends to marry her as he does in the book.
- Drummle does not appear until after Estella arrives in London, and he does in fact marry her in the novel.
- In the novel, Miss Havisham's immolation happens later, after Estella is married, and is not immediately fatal. She instead passes away during Pip's illness.
- Estella's true parentage is never revealed to her in the novel.
Cast
- John MillsJohn MillsSir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
as Pip as an adult - Jean SimmonsJean SimmonsJean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
as EstellaEstella HavishamEstella Havisham is a significant character in the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations....
as a girl. Simmons later played Miss Havisham in a 1989 miniseries directed by Kevin ConnorKevin Connor (director)Kevin Connor is an English film and television director currently based in Hollywood.Connor was born in London on the 24 of September 1937 and grew up during the 2nd World War...
. - Valerie HobsonValerie HobsonValerie Hobson was a British actress who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s...
as Estella as an adult, and as Molly - Martita HuntMartita HuntMartita Hunt was an English theatre and film actress.-Early life:Hunt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30 January 1900 to British parents Alfred and Marta Hunt...
as Miss HavishamMiss HavishamMiss Havisham is a significant character in the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations . She is a wealthy spinster, who lives in her ruined mansion with her adopted daughter, Estella, whom she has sent to France, while she herself is described as looking like "the witch of the place."Although she... - Finlay CurrieFinlay CurrieFinlay Jefferson Currie was a Scottish actor of stage, screen and television.Currie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1878. His acting career began on the stage. He and his wife Maude Courtney did a song and dance act in the US in the 1890s. He made his first film in 1931...
as Abel MagwitchAbel MagwitchAbel Magwitch is a fictional character from Charles Dickens’ 1861 novel Great Expectations.-Synopsis:Charles Dickens setted his character Abel Magwitch to meet a man called Compeyson at the Epsom Races. Compeyson, Dickens wrote, had been brought up in a boarding school and was a good-looking and... - Francis L. SullivanFrancis L. SullivanFrancis Loftus Sullivan was an English film and stage actor. He attended Stonyhurst, the Jesuit public school in Lancashire, England whose alumni include Charles Laughton and Arthur Conan Doyle.A heavily built man with a striking double-chin and a deep voice, Sullivan made his acting debut at the...
as Mr. Jaggers - Bernard MilesBernard MilesBernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre opened in the City of London since the 17th century....
as Joe Gargery - Alec GuinnessAlec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
as Herbert Pocket as an adult - Anthony WagerAnthony WagerAnthony A. Wager was a former English child actor best known for his role as the young "Pip" in David Lean's 1946 film of Great Expectations.- Early life :...
as Pip as a boy - John Forrest as Herbert Pocket as a boy
- Freda JacksonFreda JacksonFreda Maud Jackson was an English stage actress who also worked in film and TV. Born in Nottingham, she was famous for her stage role as the cruel landlady Mrs. Voray in the play No Room at the Inn in the mid-1940s; she appeared in the film adaptation of 1948...
as Mrs. Joe Gargery - Ivor BarnardIvor BarnardIvor Barnard was an English film actor. In 1929 he appeared on stage in "Bird In Hand" at the Morosco Theatre in New York City. He appeared in 84 films between 1921 and 1953. He appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock film The 39 Steps in 1935. In 1943, he played the stationmaster in the Ealing war movie...
as Mr. Wemmick - Torin ThatcherTorin ThatcherTorin Thatcher was an English actor born in Bombay, British India, India), to English parents. He was an imposing, powerfully built figure noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains....
as Bentley Drummle - O. B. Clarence as The Aged Parent
Reception
The film won critical praise upon release, with many of them hailing it as the finest film yet made from a Dickens novel. In 1999, it came fifth in a BFI poll of the top 100 British filmsBFI Top 100 British films
In 1999 the British Film Institute surveyed 1000 people from the world of British film and television to produce the BFI 100 list of the greatest British films of the 20th century. Voters were asked to choose up to 100 films that were 'culturally British'...
, while in 2004, Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
named it the fourteenth greatest British film of all time. It was the first British film to win an Oscar for its cinematography.
Awards
Great Expectations won Academy AwardsAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(John Bryan
John Bryan (art director)
John Bryan was an art director and film producer.John Bryan was born in London, England. He won the Oscar for Best Art Direction for the film Great Expectations in 1946. He was nominated twice more, for Caesar and Cleopatra in 1947 and for Becket in 1964...
, Wilfred Shingleton
Wilfred Shingleton
Wilfred Shingleton was an English art director. He enjoyed a distinguished career in the British film industry from his debut in 1937...
) and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
, and was nominated for Best Director
Academy Award for Directing
The Academy Award for Achievement in Directing , usually known as the Best Director Oscar, is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
, Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
and Best Writing, Screenplay
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
.