The Great Gatsby (1949)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Elliott Nugent

Writers:

F. Scott Fitzgerald (novel)
Owen Davis (play) ...

Release Date:

13 July 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

A Great Cast... A Great Novel... A Great Motion Picture

Plot:

In this "adaptation" of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, a Jazz Age bootlegger learns the hard way about the wages of sin.

Plot Keywords:

Tragedy | Jazz Age | Bootlegger | Obsession | Veteran

Cast

Alan Ladd	...	Jay Gatsby
Betty Field	...	Daisy Buchanan
Macdonald Carey	...	Nicholas 'Nick' Carraway
Ruth Hussey	...	Jordan Baker
Barry Sullivan	...	Tom Buchanaan
Howard Da Silva	...	Wilson
Shelley Winters	...	Myrtle Wilson
Henry Hull	...	Dan Cody
Ed Begley	...	Myron Lupus
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Klipspringer
Nicholas Joy	...	Drunken Guest at Party
Walter Greaza	...	Kinsella
Tito Vuolo	...	Mavromichaelis
Ray Walker	...	Real Estate Man
Diane Nance	...	Pamela

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since. However, because of legal complications, this particular title was not included in the original television package and may not have ever been televised, at least not until many years afterward.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man (1999) (TV)

Ladd Understood....

ALAN LADD was the perfect actor for THE GREAT GATSBY, and his performance in this film captures F. Scott Fitzgerald's tragic hero with every nuance, every movement, every hidden torment. Ladd wanted to do this role, although he had his anxieties (as was noted by my friend Geraldine Fitzgerald). Nonetheless, he succeeds splendidly as Gatsby - a definitive characterization that should be seen. Redford had the right stuff, to a large extent, but the Redford-Farrow version is far too overblown with far too many missing, and important, elements in the plot. As for the Ladd version, it is true that Betty Field, a superb actress, was not right for Daisy -- there is far too much intelligence in her interpretation. Nor are Barry Sullivan, Ruth Hussey, and Macdonald Carey altogether satisfactory either. BUT the adaptation is closest to Fitzgerald, and the Ladd, of the later scenes in particular, is a tragic figure - truly reaching the heights of one of America's finest novels. And one that is ageless...