''Great Expectations'' is a 1934 adaptation of the 1861

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

novel of the same name. Filmed with mostly American actors, it was the first sound version of the novel and was produced in Hollywood by

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

and directed by Stuart Walker. It stars

Phillips Holmes Phillips Raymond Holmes (July 22, 1907 – August 12, 1942) was an American actor. For his contributions to the film industry, he was posthumously given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Early life, education and career Born in ...

as Pip,

Jane Wyatt Jane Waddington Wyatt ( ; August 12, 1910 – October 20, 2006) was an American actress. She starred in a number of Hollywood films, such as Frank Capra's ''Lost Horizon'', but is likely best known for her role as the housewife and mother Marga ...

Estella Estella may refer to: People * Diego de Estella (1524–1578) * Estella Sneider (born 1950) *Estella Warren (born 1978), Canadian actress *Estella, the ''nom de guerre'' of Italian labor leader Teresa Noce Fictional *Estella Havisham, a charact ...

and

Florence Reed Florence Reed (January 10, 1883 – November 21, 1967) was an American stage and film actress. She is remembered for several outstanding stage productions, including ''The Shanghai Gesture'', ''The Lullaby'', ''The Yellow Ticket'' and ''The ...

Miss Havisham Miss Havisham is a character in the Charles Dickens novel '' Great Expectations'' (1861). She is a wealthy spinster, once jilted at the altar, who insists on wearing her wedding dress for the rest of her life. She lives in a ruined mansion wit ...

.''The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1931–40'' by The American Film Institute, c. 1993 Critics consider this 1934 version far inferior to the classic 1946 version, made in England and directed by

David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, Lean directed the large-scale epics ''The Bridge on the River ...

. A notable link between the two movies is that

Francis L. Sullivan Francis Loftus Sullivan (6 January 1903 – 19 November 1956) was an English film and stage actor. Early life Francis Loftus Sullivan attended Stonyhurst, the Jesuit public school in Lancashire, England, whose alumni include Charles Laughton ...

played the role of Jaggers in both. This film differs somewhat from the novel in making Miss Havisham more eccentric than insane. Unlike the novel, she does not wear her bridal veil constantly, does not seem to have really engineered all of Pip's misfortunes with Estella, and dies offscreen of natural causes rather than in a fire.

Plot summary

Cast

Henry Hull Henry Watterson Hull (October 3, 1890 – March 8, 1977) was an American character actor perhaps best known for playing the lead in Universal Pictures's '' Werewolf of London'' (1935). For most of his career, he was a lead actor on stage and a c ...

Abel Magwitch Abel Magwitch is a major fictional character from Charles Dickens' 1861 novel ''Great Expectations''. Synopsis Charles Dickens set his story in the early 19th century, setting his character Abel Magwitch to meet a man called Compeyson at the Eps ...

as Pip *

* Alan Hale as Joe Gargery *

Rafaela Ottiano Rafaela Ottiano (4 March 1888 – 15 August 1942) was an Italian-American stage and film actress. Early life Rafaela Ottiano was born in Venice, Italy. She immigrated to the United States with her parents and was processed at Ellis Island in 1 ...

as Mrs. Joe Gargery *

George Barraud George Barraud (17 December 1889, in Paddington, London, England – January 1970, in London, England) was a British film actor. Selected filmography * '' Little Old New York'' (1923) * '' Flaming Youth'' (1923) * '' The Wolf Man'' (1924) * ''N ...

Compeyson Compeyson is the main antagonist of Charles Dickens' novel '' Great Expectations'', a 'George Wickham'-esque man, whose criminal activities harmed two people, who in turn shaped much of protagonist Pip's life. Compeyson abandoned Miss Havisham a ...

as Mr. Jaggers * Douglas Wood as Wopsle *

Forrester Harvey Forrester Harvey (27 June 1884 – 14 December 1945) was an Irish film actor. From 1922 until his death year Harvey appeared in more than 115 films. He was credited for about two-thirds of his film appearances, but some of his roles were un ...

as Uncle Pumblechook * George P. Breakston as Pip, as a Child *

Harry Cording Hector William "Harry" Cording (26 April 1891 – 1 September 1954) was an English-American actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his roles in the films '' The Black Cat'' (1934) and ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938). Life and career ...

as Orlick *

Eily Malyon Eily Malyon (born Eily Sophie Lees-Craston; 30 October 1879 – 26 September 1961) was an English character actress from about 1900 to the 1940s. She had a stage career in Britain, Australia and America before moving to Hollywood to perfo ...

as Sarah Pocket (billed as Eily Malyan) * Anne Howard as Estella, as a Child *

Walter Armitage Walter Armitage (June 1, 1906 – February 22, 1953, born in Johannesburg, South Africa) was a South African playwright, stage and film actor. Selected filmography * '' Potiphar's Wife'' (1931) * ''A Honeymoon Adventure ''A Honeymoon Adv ...

Herbert Pocket ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...

Walter Brennan Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in '' Come and Get It'' (1936), ''Kentucky'' (1938), and '' The Westerner ...

as Prisoner on Ship (uncredited)

References

External links

* * * * American historical films American black-and-white films Films based on Great Expectations Films directed by Stuart Walker 1930s historical films Films set in London Films set in England Films set in the 19th century Films scored by Edward Ward (composer) 1930s English-language films 1930s American films Films produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. {{historic-film-stub