Directed by David Lean • 1948 • United Kingdom
Starring Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh
Following the success of GREAT EXPECTATIONS, David Lean applied his sterling craftsmanship to another beloved Charles Dickens classic and once again set the standard for all future screen adaptations. Expressionistic, shadow-etched cinematography captures the atmosphere of the nineteenth-century London underworld where a runaway orphan (John Howard Davies) falls in with a den of thieves as he searches for a true home. Alec Guinness’s controversial performance as the pickpocket Fagin stands as one of the chameleonic actor’s most striking transformations.
Up Next in By the Book
-
Anna Karenina
Directed by Julien Duvivier • 1948 • United Kingdom
He loves me, he loves me not... Anna Karenina risks her marriage, social standing, and a relationship with her son all for the illicit love of a young cavalry officer. As expected, things get complicated.
-
The Passionate Friends
Directed by David Lean • 1949 • United Kingdom
Starring Ann Todd, Trevor Howard, Claude RainsFour years after David Lean crafted what may be the screen’s most piercing examination of extramarital romance with BRIEF ENCOUNTER, he returned to a similar subject in this exquisite tale of a woman to...
-
The Idiot
Directed by Akira Kurosawa • 1951 • Japan
In post-World War II Japan, childlike veteran Kinji suffers from post-traumatic stress-induced seizures, and, after treatment at a mental health institution in Okinawa, he returns to his hometown. There he meets and becomes romantically caught up with tw...
