Though there are countless media adaptions of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, I've found that the BBC's 1989 miniseries is the adaptation that is most true to the novel. Though this miniseries is divided into "Chapters" that aren't numbered according to those in the novel (instead, they were composed to fit the three 2-hour time slots in which the miniseries originally aired), there is very little that is left out of this film (it's over 300 minutes). Anthony Hopkins plays Abel Magwitch, and Jean Simmons, who played Estella in a previous film, plays Miss Havisham.
Though I don't show the entire film because of issues with time, I find that this film is the best when it comes to showing excerpts after reading particular sections. It is painstakingly complete, with regard to the novel's content, so teachers have the luxury of showing just about any scene they feel is important.
I tell my students that because the most important passages in the novel are those of Pip's narration, no film (unless it has a narrator to read these passages, which the BBC series doesn't) can truly capture the brilliance of this novel--not even one that's 300 minutes long and includes virtually every episode in the novel.
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