Great Expectations

Given the all-star cast - a 'name' in almost every role - I was surprised that I'd never heard of this adaptation until accidentally finding it on a repeats tv channel today. As the film proceeded I quickly realised why this is so. I doubt whether any of the famous actors fondly remember their participation. Enjoyable though it always is to see York, Mason, Leighton, Miles, Quayle, Ray, Morley, Bull et all, without doubt it is a wooden script they deliver and every other televised or filmed version I've seen over the last fifty years is better than this one.

There have been so many Great Expectations films, it's hard to keep them straight! The good news is usually big names flock to the adaptations, so it's easy to remember them as the "John Mills one," or in this case, the "Michael York one."

In the Michael York version, several other big stars of the 1970s joint together for Charles Dickens's classic novel about striving to become a gentleman: Sarah Miles plays Estella, Margaret Leighton plays Miss Havisham, Joss Ackland plays Joe Gargery, Anthony Quayle plays Jaggers, Robert Morley plays Uncle Pumblechook, and James Mason plays Magwitch. While it's wonderful to see James Mason lend his talents to the heartwrenching role of Magwitch, I always wondered why he wasn't cast as Pip in the "John Mills version". He would have been the right age and had the right talents for the part.

This version is very "seventies" in the way it was filmed and edited, but there are some good parts to it. This is the only version I've seen where the character Biddy teaches Pip how to read; it's not necessary, but it is an interesting part of the story. Michael York has the wide-eyed innocence required for Pip, and if you can get past Sarah Miles, you can pretend he has other motivations and root for him. Great Expectations is my mom's favorite book, so she always recruits me to rent every version known to man. Unless this is also your motivation, just check out the cast lists and pick whichever version you think you'll like.

The story is hardly any close to what the book has. The acting is pretty dull, not interesting at all. Even Pumblechook and Jaggars (who seemed to be put in as a comical figure then a shrewed one) bored me with their performance. The only character that stuck to the book was Miss Havisham. Michael York's performance is not a good one but the way Estella, Biddy and Joe are portrayed is hardly any better. Those three characters are completely against the characters in the book- they are much older then they should be.

For those of you who might want to watch this movie instead of the book for a class, don't even bother. The plot is so far off and you miss tons of important events. You're also probably going to have much better time reading the book then watching this movie. The movie is just as tedious and wordy as the book and the plot is way off.

This Is The 'Informal' Version. The particular features that you would expect to find in any Great Expectations adaptions are all there in this 1974 TV Film, which is full of 1970s familiar & popular faces. In comparison to all other adaptations, it showcases the best 'Biddy' played by actress Heather Sears & the worst Abel Magwitch played by actor James Mason.

The film's unique attributes to the story are twofold: 1. It very briefly honours Christmas by the presence of or the appearance of Christmas Carol Singers: 2. One actress - a '30 something' year 'old' actress is used to play the 2 parts of being both a younger & older Estella.

This 'coming-of-age' story - which by today's standard and broadly speaking could be anything from 16-25 years of age depending. There's a good likeness between Simon Gipps-Kent who plays the younger Pip & Michael York - another '30 something' year 'old' actor who plays an older Pip. Sarah Miles is the actress who plays both a younger & older Estella.

I guess the two 'old has beens' - Michael York & Sarah Miles - were popular in 1974. Nevertheless, both Michael York & Sarah Miles played their parts well enough for me not to vote them as 'the worst', but not good enough to be voted 'the best', by any measure.

Having not read the book "Great Expectations," I don't feel comfortable discussing its faithfulness to Dickens' novel. However, I think that I can critique its worth as a movie. There are some good performances in it; Anthony Quayle is an effective Jaggers, he has that lawyer's edge, and he does bite his index finger at people (sometimes). Joss Ackland is a likable Joe. But the emotion of the movie is too far below the soaring Jarre score to be compelling. Maurice Jarre's wonderful music is a major reason behind the success of scenes in "Doctor Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia," but of course he is helped by excellent acting and direction(or maybe vice-versa). Unfortunately, neither the acting or the directing is up to that level. With its romantic crescendo, the final scene did make my eyes misty, but I was listening more to the music more than watching the character's interaction. 'Made for television' about sums up the quality of this production.