Title: Lowered Expectations
Product review: For much of my life I considered Great Expectations David Lean's most enjoyable film. I hadn't seen it since it appeared on Bravo in the 1980s, so I was very excited when I recently bought it at half price during a Criterion Collection sale. The early scenes of Pip's extraordinary encounter with the prisoner Magwich, family life with his shrewish sister and gentle Joe, and Pip's visits to see Miss Havisham and Estella still grab me in my movie bones. Lean's incredible facility for atmosphere in the foggy English moors, the rotting ship hulks, the graveyard, and Miss Havisham's dreary mansion are still magical. But when Pip grows up, moves to London, and becomes John Mills, the atmosphere recedes, the delightful performance by the actor playing young Pip is of course gone, and Pip's foppish attempts at social climbing are almost too embarrassing to watch. However it's still a great half a movie.
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