Let's discuss THE GREAT GATSBY (1949)!

Ever since F Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby was published 100 years ago, it's been in and out of the movie studios! Starting in 1926, just a year after the book came out and a play based on it ran on Broadway, it's spoken to every generation in their own language. The story of lost love, obsession, murder, booze, the jazz age, and decadence is always, alas, in fashion.

If you've read the book or seen any of the other adaptations on stage or screen this version will be a surprise. It's told as noir, straight, no chaser, starting with gang wars and shoot ups. no drifting white gauze across this screen. The basic story is of a poor kid who falls in love with a southern belle, goes to war, comes back to make his fortune bootlegging, and then goes after the girl again with predictable results.

This was Paramount Pictures' second shot at the story. They had bought the rights for the 1926 show (which is now missing, except for a trailer) and never let them lapse.

Elliot Nugent (a director of lightweight films until 1952) directed because of a casting dispute between the original director (John Farrow) who wanted Gene Tierney as Daisy and Maibaum, the producer, who wanted Betty Field. Farrow quit and the slot was open. The film was always meant from the beginning to be a star vehicle for Alan Ladd. The final script was a blend of the original by Maibaum and the Breen Office of censors.

Starring Alan Ladd, Betty Field, Macdonald Carey, Shelly Winters, Ruth Hussey, Barry Sullivan, and Howard Da Silva.

The film can be viewed on internet archive here: https://archive.org/details/the-great-gatsby-1949

or check out the DVD from your local library. As of this writing it is not currently available to stream from any other source.

If you RSVP for the discussion, the Zoom link will be visible to you on this event page.

Bonus: here's a link to the 1926 trailer