Directed by David Lean
Starring John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Bernard Miles, Francis L. Sullivan, Anthony Wager, Jean Simmons, Finlay Currie, Martita Hunt and Alec Guinness
I can weirdly place reading pretty much every book that I was forced to read throughout my academic experience. The books always seemed to come along at a certain point in my life where the story just resonated with whatever angsty school struggles I was going through at the time, and Charles Dickens' Great Expectations was no different. I think the thing about this story that struck a chord with me in ninth grade was the whole dangling carrot aspect of the story, how Estella is the thing that pulls Pip through all the trials and tribulations of his life with the promise that if he's just a little better he can melt that heart of ice and get what he wants. There were plenty of things that were out of reach to me back then, so it was right up my alley.
David Lean is one of those directors who gets plenty of head nods. You know what I mean - find a few other cinephiles, mention his name, and watch the knowing, appreciative facial gestures. His best known film is undoubtedly Lawrence of Arabia, but there's also Doctor Zhivago, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Summertime...it goes on for a while. This flick, released just a year after World War II ended, was the first of his big literary adaptations and is generally considered by film critics to be the best of the lot. For what it's worth, I concur. Analysis like that can only be found on a Lick Ness Monster blog, so with that, let's continue with Movie Review #2.
Welcome to the mid-19th century in jolly old England. Just like the book, the story wastes no time getting rolling as poor boy Philip "Pip" Pirrup (Anthony Wager) encounters an escaped prisoner in a graveyard who orders him to bring food and supplies. Pip complies with the prisoner's wishes, arriving home where we meet his older sister and her husband, kindly and simple (friendly word for dumb) Joe Gargery. Reading this in middle school only for the incident to immediately be glossed over for most of the rest of the novel, I remember thinking that writers don't generally place characters in stories for no reason. This prisoner is going to show up again. Spoiler alert.
Young Pip is soon propositioned by the hermit-like Miss Havisham (Martita Hunt) to make weekly visits to her massive home. The money is good, so everyone in the household is basically like, "eh, why the hell not?" The stuff at Miss Havisham's house is undoubtedly the most fascinating stuff in the whole story, literary or filmed, as Pip immediately falls in love with Havisham's adopted daughter Estella (Jean Simmons). Miss Havisham wants Pip to "play" with Estella, and they comply with her wishes. Estella complies very reluctantly - she is mean and at times cruel to Pip, but the scant occasions where she is nice to him serve as the proverbial dangling carrot that has undoubtedly made this book last in the public consciousness for as long as it has. It's done pretty damn well here, too, so this movie is worth watching for these scenes alone.
The story launches forward several years at this point, with a 21-year-old Pip (a fresh-faced John Mills) suddenly finding himself into riches due to a mysterious benefactor and living in London. Watching this film, I couldn't help but think about Stephen King's It, and how I feel the same about every version of that particular story: I love and relate to the characters as kids, but feel the story loses emotional resonance during the adulthood segment. I don't think it's BAD, just different, and not as emotionally fulfilling. As Pip lives the life of a gentleman, reconnecting with Estella (now played by Valerie Hobson) and dealing with the (quite boring) financial aspects of his benefactor relationship, a metaphor is forged about the common working people mingling with the aristocracy and, in essence, losing its soul. I'm sure that every high-minded literary expert out there can do a far better job explaining it then I just did.
Make no mistake, the stuff in the second half of Great Expectations dealing with the Pip-Estella relationship is still the best. Both the book and this film give a LOT of story space to the identity of Pip's mysterious helper, but it's the short snippets of Pip attempting to prove himself worthy of Estella that keep both the reader and the viewer coming back for more. Also very unlike the book's two published endings, this version has something that is totally emotionally satisfying.
I can't say that this movie is beautifully shot, but it is beautifully acted. Both the child and adult versions of Pip and Estella are played excellently by everyone involved, especially Jean Simmons as the young version of Estella. It's also got Obi-Wan Kenobi himself Alec Guinness as Herbert Pocket, Pip's London flat roommate who teaches him the finer points of etiquette in one of the best scenes of the film ("Not at all, I'm sure!"). The design of Havisham's residence is also really well done; it's EXACTLY the way that I pictured it when reading the novel all those years ago.
I'm actually really torn on whether or not I liked this film better than the book. I will say that the best thing you can say about any movie is whether or not it's memorable, and since I remember virtually nothing about the whole mysterious benefactor story payoff in the book, I'll lean towards this film. It's far from perfect, losing momentum at times for critically long stretches, but it always brings you back with the story of Pip and Estella. For the record, it's also better than the modernized 1998 film version and it's final third that I can't remember a thing about. But then again, all I really wanted out of that film as a 16-year-old was naked Gwyneth Paltrow, so maybe I should give it another watch.
Rating time: *** out of ****. It's a solidly done, well-acted, well-executed flick. But...
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