Verdict
Summary
Ladd is his usual mysterious and aloof self, and the noir-ish / gangster vibe that runs through it is an interesting contrast to the themes of romance and betrayal and rags to riches that make the book great. Director Elliot Nugent kept the story going and it runs fast at about 90 minutes, so there’s really no reason why fans of the novel won’t appreciate this one.
Plot:
A gangster is killed, and his friends and social circle reflect on his life.
Review:
A street scrapper named Jay Gatsby (Alan Ladd) climbs up to the top after his bootlegging and gangster days prove to be very profitable. When he’s killed, his friends and close knit social circle reflect on the short but vibrant life that he had. “Gatz” came from humble roots, and even spent time as a fisherman where he fell in love with the ship captain’s beautiful wife Daisy (Betty Field). When the captain fell ill and died, he wooed and romanced Daisy, taking her with him as he rose to be a wealthy scrapper from the streets who hosted lavish parties and jazz shindigs in his sprawling mansion. He accrued friends and enemies, and eventually was betrayed by one of his closest confidants and murdered in cold blood (in a scene that must’ve shocked viewers in ’49 because it shocked me). But even after death, Gatz’s memory lives on as “The Great Gatsby.”
Since I haven’t read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald since college (25+ years ago for me), I barely remember the book, which is considered to be “the great American novel,” but maybe that’s to my benefit, seeing as how I watched this film and can’t say for sure if it’s faithful or not. Honestly, it doesn’t matter. I can tell you, though, that when I saw Baz Luhrmann’s version I knew that it was way overdone and took extreme liberties, and I’d take this ’49 version over that one any day. Ladd is his usual mysterious and aloof self, and the noir-ish / gangster vibe that runs through it is an interesting contrast to the themes of romance and betrayal and rags to riches that make the book great. Director Elliot Nugent kept the story going and it runs fast at about 90 minutes, so there’s really no reason why fans of the novel won’t appreciate this one.
Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray edition of The Great Gatsby looks and sounds as nice as it should in high definition, and comes with an audio commentary by a film historian, an interview with Ladd’s son, and a slipcover.
