This film starts with Pip reading from the book of Great Expectations. After Pip has finished reading, the pages of the book are blown by the wind and the scene fades into Pip running along the coastline, past a gallows to the graveyard. All the way through this the sounds are kept natural. This is to help create tension in the scene. You hear the wind howling and sea gulls screeching. As Pip kneels by his parents’ grave, the camera keeps looking up at the trees, at their shaking branches and you seem to see a face in the trunk of one of the trees. As Pip runs from the graveyard, the convict is blocking his path and tells Pip “Hold yer noise or I’ll slit yer throat” He then tips Pip upside down and an apple falls out of Pip’s pocket. Magwitch then asks “Where do you live boy?” then “Where is your mother boy?” the last question is “Who do you live with then?” to which Pip replies “with my sister sir. Mrs. Joe Gargery, wife of Joe Gargery the blacksmith.” Magwitch then thinks for a while and asks Pip to get him whittles (food) and a file. As he asks Pip these questions he tilts him over. Pip says he will get him the food and the file and then Magwitch tells him about a young man that he has hidden with him that would rip out his heart and liver, roast them then eat them, if Pip told anyone that he has seen Magwitch or if doesn’t bring the food and the file. When Magwitch releases Pip, Pip runs from the graveyard in absolute terror.
What Happens in the first scene of Kevin Connors Colour Version
The first thing you see is a view of a dull and dreary coastline, in the background there is a musical score that is building up to a crescendo, when it reaches the crescendo we zoom in on Pip running on top of a cliff. He runs past a few trees and birds fly out of them. As they fly from the trees, flutes are heard as the background music. The music changes to creepy and mysterious violins, to make the audience think that something is about to happen, as Pip runs past a gallows into the graveyard. This music continues as he runs through the graveyard. The camera is hidden behind trees and bushes to make it look like Pip is being watched. Pip kneels in front of his families graves and places flowers in front of his father’s grave. He looks around and calls out “Is anybody there?” This is when the music stops and Magwitch comes up behind Pip and grabs him. Magwitch tells him “Hold your noise, or I’ll cut yer throat”. Pip is then tipped upside down and a few coins fall out of his pockets. Magwitch then asks him a series of questions; “Where do you live boy? Point out the place” “Where is your mother boy?” and then “Who do you live with then?”
Pip replies “With my sister sir, Mrs. Joe Gargery, wife of Joe Gargery the Blacksmith.” Magwitch thinks for awhile and then tells Pip to get him food and a file. As he tells him to do this Magwitch tilts Pip over a gravestone. He then proceeds to tell Pip about “a young man hidden with me, and compared to him I’m an angel!” He tells him that he will eat his heart and liver if he doesn’t bring the food and the file. When Magwitch finally lets Pip stand upright, Pip runs from the graveyard. When he gets to the gate that blocks the path from the cliff top to the graveyard, he turns around to see Magwitch standing at the exit of the Graveyard with his head framed by the noose of the Gallows. This forebodes Magwitch’s death.
I am now going to show which aspects of the films were alike.
In the films the transition from book into film is clear from the introduction. In the black and white the first thing you see is a book and you can hear someone (supposedly Pip) reading straight from the book. In the colour film the transition is shown by chapter icons around the opening credits and also by the words “Chapter One” embossed on the screen at the start of the scene.
In both of the films Magwitch had chains attached to him but in each of the films they were in different places. In the Black and White film Magwitch’s chains go from his waist to his ankles and in the colour version the chains are between his feet.
Both of the films stay true to the books’ setting and century. They are both set in an estuary area and both show a gallows as Pip runs up to the graveyard. They both use the dialogue from the text although the dialogue used in the black white version stays truer to the text than that used in the colour version. I think this is a good thing as the films may lose their credibility and the viewer may not enjoy the film as much.
I am now going to talk about how the black and white version differs from the text.
Although the black and white version is truer to the text than the colour version, it still misses out some details and changes some things. In the text it says “To five little stone lozenges, each about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside their grave, and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of mine” These were the graves of his brothers. When the grave of his mother and father is shown, these graves are not shown.
Another difference is when Pip is turned upside down. In the text it says “and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread” but in the film when Pip is tipped on head, an apple falls out of his pocket. Also in the text Magwitch jumps out on Pip and in the film Pip runs into Magwitch as he runs from the graveyard in fear.
I am now going to talk about how the colour version differs from the original text.
The dialogue used in this version of “Great Expectations” has obviously been adapted for a 21st Century audience. It does not use any of the 19th Century slang and some of the 19th Century greetings have been replaced with more up to date greetings which are easier to understand. This film is obviously aimed at a wider audience than the black and white version.
Also Pip is dressed as a rich Victorian schoolboy. In the book you get the feeling that he is from a poor family and therefore cannot afford to be dressed in clothes of an upper-class Victorian boy.
When Pip is tipped upside down nothing falls out of his pockets apart from a few coins. This differs from the text because in the text a piece of bread falls out of his pockets.
I am now going to talk about how the black and white version and the colour version differ.
They differ in the way that they show the transition between book and film. In the B&W version it shows the transition from book to film by showing a book being blown by the wind and then fading to the view of the estuary. In the Colour it is shown by chapter icons surrounding the opening credits and the words “Chapter One” embossed on the scene for a few seconds at the start of the scene.
They differ in the way that they cast an eerie mood over the scene. The colour uses an instrumental background along the coastline and in the graveyard has the wind howling. The B&W has howling winds and screeching birds throughout the scene.
They differ in the way that Pip is portrayed. In the colour version Pip is immaculately dressed and the actor that plays him is wooden and false. In the B&W Pip is dressed in almost the style of a beggar boy and the actor seems to be more in touch with the theme of the book and the type of person that Pip is than the actor in the colour version.
They differ also in the way that Magwitch is portrayed. In the B&W version his chains are more visible and his clothes are of the same style as Pip’s. In the colour version Magwitch is dressed, like Pip, immaculately for a convict that has been living rough. His shorts fit him perfectly as does his shirt and although they are a little stained; they are not nearly stained enough for a convict that has escaped from prison. In the B&W version Magwitch is violent but not half as violent as Magwitch in the colour version. Magwitch seems to know only violence in the colour version, but in the B&W Magwitch seems like he has hidden intelligence.
The way that Magwitch is introduced into the scenes differs. In the colour film Magwitch comes up behind Pip and grabs him and in the B&W version Pip runs into Magwitch.
Overall I preferred David Lean’s version of Great Expectations as it seems more realistic to the century of the book and theme of the book than the colour version. The actors were well cast and their costumes looked less artificial than those used in the colour version. Although some aspects of the colour film stay truer to the text than the same aspects in the B&W version, the B&W version, overall, stays truer to the text than the colour film.
