Although the journeymen scriptwriters have played fast and loose with arguably the finest novella of the twentieth century let me begin by saying that Alan Ladd is far and away the best Gatsby of the three that I've seen (Redford, DeCaprio) AND I've no reason for supposing that Toby Stephens equals let alone eclipses Ladd. Of the other two Redford can certainly do charm and DeCaprio can probably do Something though I've yet to ascertain what but Ladd is able to express an essential facet of Gatsby's character, what Fitzgerald described as a 'capacity to hope'. Now for the caveats; the novella was published in 1925 and from the first Nick Carraway, who is narrating the story from his home in the mid-West, makes it clear that he is recalling events that happened two years previously in New York (college professors delight in'teaching' the book as a conflict between East (Wilson and his wife Myrtle) and West (all the other major characters, Gatsby, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Nick Carraway, i.e. in 1923. For reasons best known to themselves and have no logical basis the screenwriters begin in the present day (presumably 1949 when the film was produced) with a middle-aged Nick Carraway (MacDonald Carey) and an equally middle-aged Ruth Hussy are standing by the headstone of Jay Gatsby who, according to the stonemason, died in 1928. Why they felt the need to advance the action by a mere three years is anyone's guess and they err more seriously by including a montage in which Ladd is seen firing a machine gun at police during a rum-running trip in the Prohibition era. The point about Gatsby was the mystique surrounding him not having it spelled out how he acquired his vast wealth. Second caveat; Betty Field is a terrible choice for Daisy, she is far too brash and hard, of the actresses active in 1949 Dorothy McGuire would have been ideal. All the actors - with the exception of the wooden Carey - are the owners of fine CVs but again Howard da Sylva is miscast as the milquetoast Wilson and the final insult is saved for the end when the shallow Jordan Baker (that was the whole point of her in the book) is revealed to be made of sterner stuff and goes off with Nick - it is, of course, Jordan Baker, now Mrs. Carraway, who featured in the prologue. Black and White and 91 minutes do no harm to what is, after all, a novella, but if you love Fitzgerald prepare for disappointment.
Review of The Great Gatsby
