Film Treatment: Great Expectations

Books. Remakes. Sequels. I’d like to see get the film treatment.

Great Expectations

I have this nagging feeling that I’ve talked or blogged about this before. So here goes. As you might know, one of my favourite movies is the 1997 movie Great Expectations which is the modern retelling of the Charles Dicken’s novel. Love it soo much so, that it even prompted me to read the novel. Now I did find it way too tedious for me but I do still love the basic story of Great Expectations, and have been trying to catch whatever film adaptations of it I can find. I have since watch 3. The 1997 version, David Lean’s Great Expectation and the 1999 Masterpiece Theatre mini series. Can’t say I enjoyed the other two much.

Now I can’t remember how old Estella was, when Pip first met her. But Jean Simmons looks way too old to be Estella that in the 1946 film, that was just too distracting. And the thing with old black and white films for me, is that I can’t get over the fact that everything just looks stagy…I know it was a different time, budget wise its nothing compared to now and there’s just limited things you can achieve in filmmaking then…sometimes its fine in other films but this movie just didn’t work for me. While the 1999 Masterpiece Theatre miniseries, was just lacklustre. It was borderline boring. Especially when compared to other miniseries that we’ve seen the past decade or so. The characters didn’t seem interesting, the acting wasn’t all that great…especially the kid playing young Estella. And where’s the beautiful score so often heard in BBC productions?

So what I’d want to see is a new feature adaptation of Great Expectations. No modern retelling this time. Yes, I’d want to see a Charles Dickens Great Expectations set in late 1820’s England the way it was written. With lush sets, gorgeous costumes and of course a good score.