The BFI National Archive have kindly restored a new print of one of David Lean's finest films with the assistance of Granada International and the funds of the David Lean Foundation.

Great Expections (1946) taken from the bestselling novel by Charles Dickens, is arguably one of the best adaptations of a book that has ever been made. Lean engaged a stellar cast - for example Sir John Mills playing Pip, Jean Simmons as the aloof, but dreamlike Estella, Martita Hunt as the scary Miss Havisham living in her faded wedding dress in a cobwebbed world of yesterdays, Finlay Currie playing the even scarier Magwitch with his big scene in the graveyard and of course Sir Alex Guinness playing his memorable first major screen role as Herbert Pocket.

Lean may not have appreciated Dickens initially, he was not the greatest lover of books, but he would have become aware of the dramatic possibilities of an adaptation of a Charles Dickens novel when his wife took him to a theatrical production of "Great Expectations" in 1939. With a fine pace to the film and sparkling performances, Great Expectations was a triumph for all who were involved in the making of the film. Any filmgoer wanting to see an early great, should certainly take time out to catch this one.