Alan Ladd is Jay Gatsby in the first sound Hollywood adaptation of the F Scott Fitzgerald tale of mysterious bootlegger who buys his way in to East Egg in an effort to reconnect with his lost love Daisy only to find that life has other plans. Its been ages since I've looked at the book, which never really clicked with me, I'm more a fan of the film version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow which seemed somehow to capture the mood and flavor of the real Eggs of Great Neck Long Island and the surroundings. The Ladd version is okay, but it feels compressed and artificial. Running a breezy 90 minutes the film tries to get every detail into the film including long flashbacks that set up the pasts of Gatsby and Daisy, its nice having the back story, but for me its almost too much information and as a result the "present" story (which is in itself a flashback since the film starts off with two people talking about what happened to land Gatsby in the cemetery) feels like its getting the short shrift. As for it being artificial, its clearly all sets and efforts to use Ladd and others, as the youthful counterparts of their characters falls flat since they are clearly too old. (I also don't like Betty Field as Daisy since she seems out of sorts in the role.) As I said its an okay version of the story, but it kind of just misses. Worth a look if you run across it but not something to search out.
Review of The Great Gatsby
