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From the Page to the Screen – Great Expectations

Great Expectations is an iconic 1861 novel by Charles Dickens. It is considered to be among the best works of this renowned author for many great reasons. It led to many different adaptations throughout the decades.

THE 1946 VERSION

The most famous adaptation was released in 1946 and it received stupendous reviews. It garnered a Best Picture nomination and it won two technical Oscars. It’s a very good movie, though not a great one.

PLOT

The movie is quite faithful to the source material, which I really appreciated. All the major plot points and character arcs were retained here and they were given their proper due. The film flowed well and it was quite engaging throughout. However, at just two hours of runtime, it felt rushed and too condensed. The book clearly demanded and deserved a longer runtime.

WINNER – BOOK

CHARACTERIZATION

I would say that Pip was very well realized in this film adaptation. John Mills was excellent in the main role and quite believable. His arc was superb. I also liked Estella, Jaggers and Magwitch. However, Miss Havisham was not well portrayed as the actress playing her was miscast and too young. Joe was also forgettable here. In this area, the movie was a mixed bag.

WINNER – BOOK

EMOTION

The novel develops its characters so well and you really feel what Pip is going through due to superb narration in the book’s structure. The movie fared surprisingly well in this area too as it developed the main romance so well and the ending was quite effective.

WINNER – TIE

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THEMES

Class mobility, personal improvement and the differences between urban and rural lifestyles are just some of the themes explored in this rich novel that is quite deep in this area. The movie was so condensed that it ended up being rather hollow in this regard.

WINNER – BOOK

TECHNICAL ASPECTS

The novel was written in first person, which led to a unique structure where we follow both the younger and the older Pip at the same time. It’s a beautifully written piece of literature. But the film was actually stupendously crafted too as Lean’s directing was phenomenal, the production design fantastic, the cinematography gorgeous and the score quite wonderful.

WINNER – TIE

BOOK 5: FILM 2

Overall, this was a pretty good adaptation of this difficult to adapt novel. They did a great job in technical aspects, some of the characterization and the screenplay that was quite faithful. However, the movie ended up being too short and rushed, skimming on themes and some character work. It’s a very strong, but far from great adaptation.