The Great Gatsby

In 1925, American author F. Scott Fitzgerald published his iconic novel that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. Considered to be Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream. In cinema, the work is probably best known for the 1974 version directed by Jack Clayton, written by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Robert Redford. A more recent version was directed by Baz Luhrmann with Leonardo DiCaprio in 2013. The first version of the 1925 novel was an eighty-minute silent film version produced in 1926. It is now considered a ‘lost’ film. In 1949, an American sound version was directed by Elliott Nugent, and produced by Richard Maibaum from a screenplay by Maibaum and Cyril Hume. It starred Alan Ladd, Betty Field, Macdonald Carey, Ruth Hussey, and Barry Sullivan and featured Shelley Winters and Howard Da Silva. Da Silva would later appear in the 1974 version. Paramount owned film rights to the novel. Producer Richard Maibaum showed it to Alan Ladd and his wife Sue and says "they liked it; they were a little dubious, but I talked them into it." Maibaum later said they liked it in part "because it would be a change of pace for him from the usual action stuff, and an opportunity to prove he was more of an actor than Hollywood thought.” Paramount was reluctant to make the film with Ladd - Fitzgerald's reputation was not as strong in 1946 as it would be later - but Maibaum and Ladd persisted. Plans to make the film were announced in 1946, with the script to be written by Maibaum and Cyril Hume. However, it was pushed back a number of years, reportedly due to censorship concerns. "The Johnson office seems to be afraid of starting a new jazz cycle," Maibaum told the press in 1946. Maibaum eventually got around the censorship issues by adding a scene at the beginning of the script where Nick and Jordan quote from Proverbs that " There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death". Maibaum said in 1986 that this appeased the censor because it provided the "voice of morality... I had to do it, which I now think was all wrong and very un-Fitzgerald-like. To moralise like that was something he never did; he was always indirect. It was the price I paid to get the film done.” The original director was John Farrow, who had made a number of films with Alan Ladd and The Big Clock with Maibaum. However Maibum says he and the director disagreed over the casting of Daisy. (Ironically, Farrow’s daughter Mia would play Daisy in the 1974 version.) Farrow was replaced as director by Eliot Nugent. The film did well financially although reviews were mixed. Critics differed as about Betty Field's Daisy. Some thought she was perfect, others that she was subtly wrong. Ladd, for the most part, received surprisingly good personal notices.

I no longer favor Hollywood's casting machine since the miscasting of "Gatsby"('74) to the present. (Di Caprio?) It was a documentary of Alan Ladd that drew me to this version. When I saw the release date (1949) so close to the death of F.Scott Fitzgerald, I thought the literate-minded moguls at that time would give it the best effort. They do. The cast is top notch and the script like Scotty would have it. Opposite Alan Ladd is (Daisy)Betty Field who captures the strangeness of Zelda which is found in the original narrative; then you have Macdonald Carey, Ruth Hussey, Henry Hull,Elisha Cook and Howard DaSilva as the excellent cuckolded husband to Shelley Winters. Barry Sullivan plays the two-timing husband of Daisy. Ladd draws upon his youth as a low grip to the movie studios to understand Gatsby's ambition and he also gets to display his swimming credentials a couple times in his mansion pool. I bet he met Fitzgerald in the 30s when he was a studio grip because they both had a similar fondness for liquor, and were both comfortable with the work hands. The Gatsby tragedy plays out capturing the decadence of the time, the opulence, the phoniness and uncertainty of the lost generation with Shelley Winters playing her cameo brightly as the wife (of DaSilva) who wanted more. The only thing that holds this back from being a classic is that it needs a complete restoration that will brighten the dark noir shadings more fully. Black and white is perfect for this dream that becomes a nightmare in a short while. It was an exuberant time with cautionary warning at key scenes. I found Ladd's "Gatsby" excellent in every way. Macdonald Carey playing Nick Carraway(aka Fitzgerald) along with Ruth Hussey are excellent friends in high places. It was touching to realize when only the two of them showed up for Gatsby's grave that they were echoing Fitzgerald's sad, lonely burial as well. He sold millions of novels but less than 6 people attended his funeral. In this film, you will see and feel F.Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda in Gatsby and Daisy, as well you should.