Great Expectations, dashed.

I have always considered 'Great Expectations' to be one of the best books ever written by Dickens, as a child it certainly got me hooked on reading as the characters sprang to life from the very first page.

I was therefore really looking forward to this latest production from the BBC.
Oh dear me No,no! What a terrible disappointment, it was simply awful, dreadful.

Total miscasting, overacting, the most ridiculous accents including modern day parlance and perhaps even worse the inclusion of scenes never written by Charles.

There was not one character I could really identify with to any great extent; except perhaps for Joe Gargery but even he seemed to be lost in his wallowing of gloom and self-righteousness.

I accept It is probably difficult to please everyone with an attempt on such a classic and obviously some subtle changes would have to be made to appeal to the wider viewing demographic of today.

However, I would have thought that with a three hour slot available the people in charge of this debacle could have come up with something better to satisfy most watchers, after all the film made in 1946 that ran for an hour less was closer to the book and far better in every respect.

Perhaps in the old film, 'It was the best of times' and in this production, 'It was the worst of times'.

Re: Great Expectations, dashed.

Thanks for your well worded critique Hammer.

The David Lean film that we all know and love starring John Mills and Jean Simmons was always going to be a hard act to follow. I've got all three episodes recorded ready to watch, but was always sceptical as to how they could do anything better than the original.

However, I will watch the first episode at least to try to guage the injustice done to the story and characters that you mention and will report back after that...

Re: Great Expectations, dashed.

I actually enjoyed the adaptation and thought it was one of the only decent things on TV this Christmas

I think you need to watch it with a 'fresh eyes' rather than making comparisons with previous adaptation and of course the superb David Lean film which would be difficult to better.

Re: Great Expectations, dashed.

I tried hard whilst watching it not to compare it to anything other than the original book and based my criticism on that alone albeit that there were two endings to Dickens work.

Surely the book has to be followed in all respects as much as possible or it ceases to be creditable. I found it a stretch of the imagination to consider that this particularly foppish Pip even remotely represented a country lad bought up to work a forge.

I must apologise to Plantman and anyone who has yet to see the event for the early post on this subject , I had not considered that my opinion might spoil thier viewing.
I really hope it does not but it was rather remiss of me.

Re: Great Expectations, dashed.

I agree Meg I really enjoyed it as well. As I can't stand any of the soaps it was something worth watching for me.

Re: Great Expectations, dashed.

I enjoyed the programme myself.
I can remember seeing the original film back in 1934, which I saw during the war.
It was a fantastic film, with American actors.
I think I watched it at least 7 times in a week, I sat in a hole in the wall seat for the usherette, my mum who had to work all hours after father got kllled in the war.
If you get a chance to see the earlier production, bear with it because it was a B/W film.

Re: Great Expectations, dashed.

I know exactly what you mean Hammer but as an avid reader I have learnt not to make comparisons between TV adaptations and books to avoid disappointment.

I agree Pip is foppish and I would say Joe Gargery a somewhat weak ineffectual interpretation of the Joe I knew and loved but in this instance I think you have to put aside your 'previous knowledge' of the book to enjoy the programme at face value .

Re: Great Expectations, dashed.

I watched the first (or rather part of) the first episode this afternoon.

I'm afraid I must admit that I've always found Dickens to be hard going and very hard to either read or to watch, as his characters often have no redeeming features and are utterly unlikeable. However, a small selection of his stories, such as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations I have managed to cope with in small doses..

Coming back to the current subject perhaps I have a romantic memory of the David Lean film, but I do seem to remember enjoying that thoroughly (as much as Dickens can be enjoyed), but I found this adaptation very dour indeed and I couldn't get past the first 45 minutes without being totally depressed by it and switching it off.

OK not a very objective appraisal, but I thought it better to do that rather than watching it through and becoming suicidal....

Re: Great Expectations, dashed.

I dont like Copies, I know there is a word for them, no not that one Annie, sorry.So I didnt watch the latest one, you cant beat the old Actors. I did watch a film later called" The return of the magnificent seven" and bugger me if it wasnt a copy, it was awful.it was unbelievable, about a load of women who had been raped by a bunch of Mexicans and it was if they had been on a picnic, the mag7 arrived and half an hour later you knew they werent sleeping on their own.What a load of drivel.

Re: Great Expectations, dashed.

Following up my recent disappointment with the mutilation of one of our classics I resolved to once more dip into the world of television.

To this end I discovered that Sky1, were to air a new adaptation of yet another childhood favourite of mine.
I speak of 'Treasure Island' penned of course by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Given the cast list of Eddie Izzard, Elijah Wood, Phillip Glenister, Rupert Penry-Jones, Daniel Mays, and Keith Allen to name but a few I thought this had to be worth a butchers.

After half an hour of the atrocious and grievious abomination of yet another classic the 'off' button was activated.
If I thought that the destruction of GE was bad enough, this was far worse, how can phrases like "step on it" find its way into things like this.

Come back Robert Newton, you are much missed.