GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Furnished with striking detail and told with great narrative economy by director David Lean (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, BRIEF ENCOUNTER), GREAT EXPECTATIONS is one of the greatest Dickens adaptations ever filmed. Victorian orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure he becomes a gentleman. Years later, Pip reunites with his childhood patron Miss Havisham and the beautiful yet emotionally distant Estella. But he discovers that the elderly matron has gone mad from having been left at the altar and has changed into an unfeeling heartbreaker. Lean’s film remains a shining example of Dickens’ morality, compassion and human observation.