1,141 Ratings

Great Expectations

United Kingdom, 1946

Drama, Romance

Synopsis

One of the great translations of literature into film, David Lean’s Great Expectations brings Charles Dickens’s masterpiece to robust on-screen life.

Great Expectations Directed by David Lean

Show all (7)

Awards & Festivals

Academy Awards

1948 | 2 wins including: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White

1948 | 3 nominations including: Best Picture

National Board of Review

1947 | Winner: Top Ten Films

New York Film Critics Circle Awards

1947 | 2nd place: Best Film

Show all (20)

Cast & Crew

Show all (36)

What are people saying?

Richmond Hill's rating of the film Great Expectations
Richmond Hill

A consummate transposition of Dickens that captures the rich and fruity fresco of his storytelling. All elements coalesce with deftness and sureness of ambition, despite the occasional longuere. The sureness of touch almost makes you believe it could never be any other way.
April 14, 2017 11:59
- 2
- 0
Michael Zyx MH Claes's rating of the film Great Expectations
Michael Zyx MH Claes

Il y a 150 ans DICKENS écrivait Les Grandes Espérances & David LEAN l'adaptait au cinéma il y a 70 ans. Tout cela est étonnamment & quelque part dramatiquement, moderne. Puissance du récit, des acteurs, une réalisation magistrale, un chef d'oeuvre! == 150 years ago Dickens wrote Great Expectations & David Lean adapted it to the movies 70 years ago. All this is surprisingly & somehow sadly, very modern. A masterpiece.
November 02, 2016 12:44
- 2
- 0
Roscoe's rating of the film Great Expectations
Roscoe

Magnificent black and white cinematography and some fine character actors chowing down on great roles make up for a strange lack of tension as the film goes on -- and Valerie Hobson is never once able to conjure Estella's icy beauty.
December 15, 2014 16:17
- 1
- 0
Wee Hunk's rating of the film Great Expectations
Wee Hunk

PBS ruined costume dramas for me. They just won't stop making them. There's this huge industry in England where they keep churning this crap out like a factory. I just got sick of them. Now when I say costume drama, I just mean the old England high literary shite.
September 20, 2017 22:24
- 0
- 0
Stefan Drees's rating of the film Great Expectations
Stefan Drees

Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" is very difficult to adapt - but this film is one of the best adaptations I've seen. In my opinion it's not as strong as David Lean's "Oliver Twist" but nonetheless it persuades through its strong cinematography and the change between very quiet and very dynamic sequences.
September 06, 2016 14:31
- 0
- 0
chanandre's rating of the film Great Expectations
chanandre

[Cinémathèque PT #101: 35 mm] > great book oh Charles Dickens, great film oh David Lean, great song oh Chan Marshall!
July 26, 2017 03:13
- 0
- 0
THE APOLL0's rating of the film Great Expectations
THE APOLL0

Lean avoids the narrative pitfall's of and dangerous forms of Victorian romanticism another filmmaker may have fell for and stay's focused on the objective in all aspects.
July 19, 2017 22:36
- 1
- 0
azoulay's rating of the film Great Expectations
azoulay

On trouve dans ce film toute la virtuosité de David Lean, le cinéaste des espaces, de l'espace, des plans qui portent le sens, land infinie ou décors de poussières. La mise en scène est magistrale, seul bémol, la performance des deux jeunes premiers adultes n'est pas top mais c'est tellement bien et ensuite tout sera encore plus beau chez Lean, un des plus grands parmi les grands.
October 10, 2016 15:00
- 2
- 0