As a classic of British literary adaptations, Great Expectations far surpasses its source material. While I dismissed the book as sentimental nonsense, the film imbues more life into the characters and escapes the book's trap where they are chess pieces arranged solely to deliver a moral. The protagonist Pip is played by Tony Wager and John Mills in a performance that balances the book's overtly idealistic innocence with a familiar yearning for adventure. Estella has a greater presence in the Havisham household and actually has a personality beyond just being a blank object of Pip's affection. Miss Havisham herself appears as a haunting figure, balancing Estella's energy with a heavy melancholy that pervades her larger-than-life mansion. All of these improved characters fuel the plot, which is greatly enhanced by being streamlined into its most coherent and dramatic moments, trimming off all the unnecessary fluff from the original. However, it unfortunately still suffers from endless coincidences that lessen its believability and constrain its potential.
Review of Great Expectations
