Compare the opening scenes of "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens with the film versions by David Lean (1946) and Kevin Connor (1989).

Compare the opening scenes of “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens with the film versions by David Lean (1946) and Kevin Connor (1989)

In both the novel and the David Lean film, the very first section is where Pip explains his name. In the novel, it is an autobiographical piece, which is spoken by the adult Pip. This is also used in the David Lean film, but as it is a film, a picture is needed and this is of a book, (this is the Charles Dickens book) with the pages blowing in the wind. It stops on the first page where there is a voice over of adult Pip reading what Charles Dickens wrote in the novel about his name. Once he has finished the paragraph, the pages blow over again and it fades into the scene. This opening scene of David Leans film shows Pip running along a sea wall and past a gibbet. The sky is dark and looks very looming. There is a felling of great space here creating a very good atmosphere. In the Kevin Connor version, the film starts showing the river, and rusty old boats just laying about, rotting away. There is a lot of fog, and it almost looks black and white. This version gives more detail of the landscape by showing the gibbet and the beacon, which were in the novel, but does not give as great a feeling of space like the David Lean film does. However, the scene after this, where it zooms in to the bank and pans along whilst Pip is running by, you can see exactly how the scenery is and it looks just as you would think after reading the novel. The effect of showing more detail helps to set the scene better giving you a much clearer picture than the David Lean version. Nevertheless, in using colour to get the clearer picture, it has almost the idea of creepiness, which the David Lean film captures excellently. The David Lean version has this atmosphere mainly because it is in black and white, which I feel helps greatly to the theme. It is much creepier and therefore better in getting the correct atmosphere, although it doesn’t set the scene quite as well as the Kevin Connor version. In the novel, this image is less vivid than the aforesaid films but it creates the atmosphere well.

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At this point in the book, Magwitch jumps out and startles Pip. The book does not build up enough tension and the jumping of Pip was weak. However, Pip seems more terrified in the book than he does in the films, but this is probably just the fault of the poor acting rather than the faults of the directors. I feel that there was most tension in David Lean’s film due to Pip turning round, Magwitch just appearing and Pips startled scream. Nonetheless, Kevin Connor has also portrayed this well, but I do not think the tension built up as much. To be more effective, the rattling should have been louder and there should have maybe been more creepy sounds and images like there was in the David Lean film; the claw like branches and the face like tree-trunk, which I felt, was quite frightening and eerie. So I say that the David Lean film had the better tense atmosphere which was meant to be achieved.

I think that both films capture the image of Magwitch well as was written in the novel. Both are almost perfect. They both looked like convicts and had all the necessary items- irons on legs, head scarf, very dirty, short hair, unshaven and wearing dirty, ripped rags. The way Magwitch treats Pip is the same in both films and is as written in the novel. But the words spoken by Magwitch are different; most of them are the same, but there are some things that Magwitch doesn’t say in either films, like:

“You young dog, what fat cheeks you ha’ got...”

This was only written in the novel. If this was in the films, as well as many other lines not spoken by Magwitch in the films, then they would have been too long, the effect of the creepiness may have been lost, and it ultimately would have been less eerie. However, there were some things said in the films that were not written in the book. This was most likely to be just to explain it all more as it is very hard to portray thoughts in films, so Magwitch speaks them. One example was in the Kevin Connor film where Magwitch asks Pip about the gibbets and who gets hung there. In the novel, Magwitch is thinking that, and in this film, he has to speak them, so we all know what’s going on in his mind. David Lean does not have many, if not any lines not written in the novel and therefore it is harder to see what the characters are feeling.

In the novel, the third to last paragraph shows that Pip watches Magwitch run off, which does not happen in either if the films. In David Leans version, Pip runs off and doesn’t see Magwitch running off at all. In the Kevin Connor film, Pip starts to run off but then turns around and watches Magwitch run off. I preferred the Kevin Connor ending as you can see the worry in Magwitch’s eyes as he sees the gibbets. And then it sets the scene again, which is very effective in this film, but less good in the David Lean film because it is in black and white and harder to get a good idea of the surroundings despite it still being quite good, and totally acceptable. Neither of the films show the stepping-stones which were written in the novel but this is nothing too major.

Out of the two films, I preferred the David Lean version. I like the mood it creates and I like the actors that played the parts better and all round, it was more like the novel. However, I still enjoyed the Kevin Connor version because of the fact that it is more detailed and the setting is perfect, but is fails on creating the atmosphere, not including the very first scene, which showed the river and the rusty boats and the fog. That was very effective and the atmosphere was good.

Scott Humm