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Great Expectations (1934 film)

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Great Expectations
poster
Directed byStuart Walker
Written byGladys Unger
Based onGreat Expectations
1861 novel
by Charles Dickens
Produced byStanley Bergerman
StarringPhillips Holmes
Jane Wyatt
Florence Reed
Francis L. Sullivan
CinematographyGeorge Robinson
Music byEdward Ward
Production
company
Universal Pictures
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • October 22, 1934 (1934-10-22)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Great Expectations is a 1934 adaptation of the 1861 Charles Dickens 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 and directed by Stuart Walker. It stars Phillips Holmes as Pip, Jane Wyatt as Estella and Florence Reed as Miss Havisham.[1]

Critics consider this 1934 version far inferior to the classic 1946 version, made in England and directed by David Lean. A notable link between the two movies is that Francis L. Sullivan 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

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Cast

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References

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  1. ^ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1931–40 by The American Film Institute, c. 1993
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