5. Great Expectations (1946)
When Mike Newell brought his version of Great Expectations to the big screen last year, his film was constantly compared by journalists to the David Lean version so much so, in fact, that it never really had a chance to stand on its own. While this was in itself unfortunate, it's hard to deny the power that Lean's vision still holds, both in reputation and in quality, so it's only fair that his version should be the one that makes this list. Great Expectations has perhaps the most famous opening scene of any Dickens novel. It begins in a village graveyard on Christmas Eve, when orphan Pip has a fateful encounter with an escaped convict, who scares Pip into bringing him food and the means to escape his shackles. Some time later, Pip is whisked off to London to become a gentleman, having been informed that an anonymous benefactor has provided him with a large sum of money... Lean's Great Expectations won Oscars for its Art Direction and Cinematography, and there's no denying that it is visually spectacular, particularly in its creepy opening in the graveyard. The novel is greatly condensed to meet the demands of a feature film, but Lean is one of the few directors who have managed to make Dickens cinematic, maintaining the rich characters while finding ways to make their actions less self-contained and episodic. The film also marks his first collaboration with Alec Guinness, with whom he worked a further five times between 1948 and 1984.