Although changed quite a bit from the plot of the famed F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the Roaring Twenties, this version of The Great Gatsby maintained the spirit of the novel as much as the Code would allow. At least it didn't opt for a happy ending for Gatsby.
Because the Robert Redford version was out and available, this version of The Great Gatsby was deep sixed for quite a while. That's a pity because Alan Ladd gave one of his best screen performances in the title role and assessing Ladd as actor isn't fair to him without seeing this film. It would be like it was with John Wayne for decades when Island In The Sky and The High And The Mighty were not available.
Fitzgerald injects himself prominently in the story in the person of Nick Carraway played by MacDonald Carey. Carraway is fascinated by the mysterious Gatsby who has bought one of those rambling mansions on Long Island and now is seeking to break into society. All this because Ladd is still looking for his lost love who is Betty Field, Carey's cousin and also very married now to Barry Sullivan.
Sullivan's maybe rich and old monied, but he's a two timing rat who is out stepping with Shelley Winters, wife of Howard DaSilva who owns a garage. Winters is looking to step up in class herself and sees a meal ticket in Sullivan. But Barry ain't about to ditch Betty for a floozy.
Gatsby is a poor kid who had in drummed into him on a few occasions that money talks. He became a bootlegger because in the economy of the Roaring Twenties that was the way to a fortune. Now he's looking to gain the class that supposedly goes with money. What he doesn't realize is that usually money is laundered through a generation or two before it becomes respectable.
One major change is that Carraway narrates the story from the present 1949 with his wife Ruth Hussey at the gravesite of Jay Gatsby. In the story Hussey's character never marries Carey's character. In fact she herself is no prize as Carey is quite disillusioned with whole lot of the Long Island crowd.
F. Scott Fitzgerald had he lived might not have recognized his work, but I think he would have approved of the way his characters were interpreted by the cast. He tried his own hand at Hollywood screen writing and knew the drill there so to speak.
And next year The Great Gatsby is coming again to the big screen with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role. I think he might just be the best Gatsby yet. But this one will do.
Because the Robert Redford version was out and available, this version of The Great Gatsby was deep sixed for quite a while. That's a pity because Alan Ladd gave one of his best screen performances in the title role and assessing Ladd as actor isn't fair to him without seeing this film. It would be like it was with John Wayne for decades when Island In The Sky and The High And The Mighty were not available.
Fitzgerald injects himself prominently in the story in the person of Nick Carraway played by MacDonald Carey. Carraway is fascinated by the mysterious Gatsby who has bought one of those rambling mansions on Long Island and now is seeking to break into society. All this because Ladd is still looking for his lost love who is Betty Field, Carey's cousin and also very married now to Barry Sullivan.
Sullivan's maybe rich and old monied, but he's a two timing rat who is out stepping with Shelley Winters, wife of Howard DaSilva who owns a garage. Winters is looking to step up in class herself and sees a meal ticket in Sullivan. But Barry ain't about to ditch Betty for a floozy.
Gatsby is a poor kid who had in drummed into him on a few occasions that money talks. He became a bootlegger because in the economy of the Roaring Twenties that was the way to a fortune. Now he's looking to gain the class that supposedly goes with money. What he doesn't realize is that usually money is laundered through a generation or two before it becomes respectable.
One major change is that Carraway narrates the story from the present 1949 with his wife Ruth Hussey at the gravesite of Jay Gatsby. In the story Hussey's character never marries Carey's character. In fact she herself is no prize as Carey is quite disillusioned with whole lot of the Long Island crowd.
F. Scott Fitzgerald had he lived might not have recognized his work, but I think he would have approved of the way his characters were interpreted by the cast. He tried his own hand at Hollywood screen writing and knew the drill there so to speak.
And next year The Great Gatsby is coming again to the big screen with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role. I think he might just be the best Gatsby yet. But this one will do.