Great Expectations

I've seen some three or four adaptations of this classic novel, and I honestly think that this is one of the best out there. The settings are appropriately dark and in keeping with Dickens' bleak writing, a shining example being Miss Havisham's mansion. The acting is perfectly superb; Ioan Gruffudd is most definitely one of the best finds of the past few years. Ian McDiaramid is wonderful as usual, and Gruffudd's Titanic castmate Bernard Hill (that movie's Captain EJ Smith) is a great Magwitch. Keep your eye on Ioan, I predict great things! His performance is outstanding, down to the replacing of his own Welsh accent with Pip's distinctive lower-class English one. Lovely filming, great direction and wonderful acting make this a great addition to the already distinguished collection of the BBC.

This is Charles Dicken's bleakest story by far, and for that reason alone I've always detested it. I made a point of seeing this production because Ioan Gruffudd was in it. I was not disappointed.

Once again, Mr. Gruffudd shows his ability to become the character, with a talent far beyond many better known young actors. His voice is so musical that one can avoid the story line and simply enjoy the sound.

Charlotte Rampling was a far more interesting Haversham than others I've seen. She had a slightly sinister quality just under the surface that was quite delicious.

Watch the production for the talent within. It's well worth your time.

Whilst it has not stuck to the text word for word, it has not veered greatly from it. The film covers everything that needs to be covered on the whole, and where it has altered things, I think it has done so for the better. The film still paints and amazing picture of this excellent piece of literary work!

The casting was simply spectacular, the idea of sexing up Miss Havesham with the delectable Charlotte Rampling was perhaps the most unique and welcomed aspect of this production, which does anything but suffer from it. Waddell, Hill, Gruffudd, and Evans all give stellar performances and carry the film. The score is extremely haunting and so spectacular that I went out and bought the CD (which we were very lucky the BBC released). How Peter Salem has not been snapped up by Hollywood yet I don't know!

The score on top of the direction and production design make this a mouth watering feature that I'd recommend to anyone! The film got me through A-Level English.

Director Julian Jarrold does a truly excellent job of bringing Charles Dickens' finest novel to the screen. Filled with haunting camera angles, a magnificent score by Peter Salem, and superb acting by Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd and Justine Waddall, this version of GREAT EXPECTATIONS is defintly worth multiple viewings!!

As a classic, Great Expectations is hardly done any justice with this film. I have seen the mini-series film on Pride & Prejudice and it was an almost literal reproduction of the novel. In contrast, this film just about assumes one has read the novel and pretty much depends upon it as well. There is absolutely no introduction, and as such, the tight relationship between Pip and Joe is entirely skipped over. The characterizations of the young Pip and Estella are altogether unbelievable, and there are many instances of this film veering from the text. Jaggers's most identifying property, his finger-biting and pointing/shaking is essentially deleted from the novel, and there is, in addition to that, a lot more left out for, I suppose, the sake of cutting the feature length.