RESTORED ARCHIVAL PRINT!

Brian McFarlane has written that Lean’s Great Expectations and Oliver Twist are “the definitive screen versions of Dickens” and “still regarded as among the finest of all British films.” Opening with its famous graveyard scene, in which young Pip has a terrifying encounter with the convict Magwitch, Expectations contains brilliantly-wrought gothic elements that arguably influenced several films. (Adrian Turner points out that Miss Havisham, the eccentric mansion recluse, resembles Norma Desmond in Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, made several years later.) Lean brings great visual panache, touches of German Expressionism, and narrative economy to the material, ingeniously distilling the essence of Dickens’ classic condemnation of industrialization. “In this film, perhaps more than in any other, [Lean] makes us care about the characters . . . bringing into play a powerful visual narrative that hints at big themes and elemental forces” (David Parker, BFI Screenonline).

Rated PG.  Not Recommended For Children, Parental Guidance Advised.