Great Expectations is a great book, an all-time classic. The book is set in a period from 1812 to the winter of 1840, in the England of that time. The book was actually a series in the ‘All the Year Round’. Charles Dickens has always been considered a writer who can write about a whole gamut of human relations, but there has always been a strong element of pathos, of pain, of despair, and totally shies away from portraying life as rosy. Charles Dickens has also been known to write elements from the story of his life in his novels, weaving his life and experiences through the medium of the story. When he wrote this magnificent novel in the form of a series, he had to ensure that each episode was gripping enough that people would wait for the next part of the series to arrive.

The book is divided into 3 stages of the life of the orphan Pip, his young life when she stays with his sister and her husband. He is comfortable with his life, and has no great expectations from it, until the time he meets a very bitter elderly woman Mrs. Havisham (who was jilted on marriage and becomes very bitter towards men) and her adopted daughter Estella. Mrs. Havisham hates men, and has accordingly inculcated a strong feeling of coldness in Estella, something which is to stay with her in life. Pip continues his life, then becomes an apprentice to Joe (his sister’s husband). However, his life is turned upside down when he is informed that he has been bequeathed a large sum of money by an unknown benefactor. Pip’s expectations are now increasing, and his earlier contact with Mrs. Havisham had made him want to be a gentleman when he grows up, and this wealth will help him a lot.
In the second stage, Pip is now living the fine life in London. He is rich, and adopts the customs of the rich and the cultured, very different from his earlier life. In this life, he pursues Estella, who is now a very beautiful, but very cold person (not caring much about his feelings); he has a rival in the form of Bentley Drummle, whom Pip despises and cannot understand why Estella sees him. Pip has assumed that his provider is in fact Mrs. Havisham, and this also creates a lot of jealousy in her other relatives who are looking forward to her property. However, this Pip has now developed a class attitude, and is ashamed of the lower status of Joe, and is embarrassed when Joe visits. And then he learns that his benefactor is in fact a former convict (who Pip had helped many years back), Abel Magwitch.
In the third stage, this is when things start going downhill. Estella does not acknowledge his advances, and Pip is repulsed by the knowledge that his benefactor was a former convict, and he starts to acknowledge that the allowances will now stop coming. He plans a way to get Magwitch to leave the country, since if he is caught, he will be sentenced to a harsh term. He creates a great plan, but the plan eventually fails and Magwitch is caught and sent to jail, where he dies (but not before Pip visits him and has already warmed to him). In the end, all of Pip’s Great Expectations come to naught, and he learns to live a life without such high expectations.

Bette Davis was a major Hollywood star, however, by 1950, her career was faltering. Her previous film, “Beyond the Forest” was not exactly a thumping movie. And then came this movie, released in 1950. It was hailed as the greatest role of Bette Davis career, and many call ‘All About Eve’ as one of the great movies of the 20th century. Its profile of a younger Broadway actress whose desire is to supplant the current queen (aging, but still the queen) of the industry has been splendidly made; and makes this an engrossing movie to watch. The movie had an incredible run at the Academy Awards, being nominated for a record 14 Oscars, and going onto win 6 of them. The movie was written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on a short story by Mary Orr called ‘The Wisdom of Eve’.

The movie and script have some basis in reality (and this is not that difficult, given that a lot of people would have had occasion to encourage somebody, only to find that the person whom you have helped could eventually upstage you). In real life, the author Mary Orr was told a story in which an actress did encourage a fan, but eventually found that the fan was trying to take away her roles. Mary Orr used this story, made the character more ruthless, and then wrote the story which in turn impressed the director Joseph L. Mankiewicz. By this time, Bette Davis had ended a long contract with Warner Brothers (not being impressed by many of the recent movies that had done no good to her reputation). She was impressed by the script of the movie. Coincidentally, the later superstar, Marilyn Monroe also had a small scene in the movie.
The movie is about this superstar of Broadway, Margo Channing (Bette Davis), who is starting to show her age. She encounters a young fan, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter); Eve impresses Margo by claiming to be a big fan and an aspiring actress from San Francisco. So far so good. However, as the movie progresses, you realize that Eve is actually pretty ruthless and calculating; her aim is to take the position currently enjoyed by Margo, and even break Margo’s bonds with her director boyfriend (Gary Merrill), and with her friends, her playwright (Hugh Marlowe) and his wife (Celeste Holm). Towards this end, she attempts to take over the roles that Margo is doing (even though it seems that Margo is not doing those roles). However, the end is ironical when Eve meets a young fan (does the same cycle start again ?)

Academy Awards for which the movie was nominated and won:

* Best Picture - 20th Century-Fox (Darryl F. Zanuck, producer)
* Best Supporting Actor - George Sanders
* Best Costume Design for a Black-and-White film - Edith Head and Charles Le Maire
* Best Director - Joseph L. Mankiewicz
* Best Writing, Screenplay - Joseph L. Mankiewicz
* Best Sound Recording - Thomas T. Moulton
* Nominated: Best Leading Actress - Anne Baxter
* Nominated: Best Leading Actress - Bette Davis
* Nominated: Best Supporting Actress - Celeste Holm
* Nominated: Best Supporting Actress - Thelma Ritter
* Nominated: Best Set Direction for a Black-and-White film - George W. Davis, Thomas Little, Walter M. Scott, and Lyle R. Wheeler
* Nominated: Best Cinematography for a Black-and-White film - Milton R. Krassner
* Nominated: Best Film Editing - Barbara McLean
* Nominated: Best Music Score - Alfred Newman