Call me conflicted. Go ahead, do it! I am openly ambiguous about F. Scott Fitzgerald as a writer, yet I have never been able to completely escape The Great Gatsby’s allure. Or that of Tender is the Night. Or This Side of Paradise. Or many of his short stories (I’m looking straight at you, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz). There is so much to admire, and so much to question. However, I am going to leave that for another day (as I am working on a new Fitzgerald essay). The Great Gatsby, for all of Hollywood’s money and resources, has never been satisfactorily adapted to film. The Alan Ladd/Betty Field version (directed by Elliot Nugent, 1949) and the Robert Redford/Mia Farrow iteration (directed by Jack Clayton, 1974) are both so-so. Although I write extensively on silent cinema, I have never seen the lost (?)1926 Herbert Brenon directed film starring my hometown movie star (and early Academy Award winner) Warner Baxter, with Lois Wilson as Daisy. Although a good actor, he seems entirely miscast. So much so, that I am really intrigued. Until then, we have this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqxmhJU4nk4
Make of it what you will. I’m not sold, but I will probably see it anyway. Unlike HBO’s Hemingway & Gellhorn, which looks so bad that my soul hurts.
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 
The Hemingway & Gellhorn movie looks beautifully filmed, but CLIVE OWEN as ERNEST HEMINGWAY???!!! ARE YOU KIDDING???!!!
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Unfortunately, breathtaking cinematography and lovely costumes/make-up/hair does not equal good film-making! I’ve heard that the script is atrocious and, yes, Clive Owen as Hemingway is just laughable.
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It’s just not right. (Sob!)
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Ha! It probably won’t ever be right, no matter who is in front of or behind the camera!
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Will Self writes a funny parody/homage to “diamond” called A ROCK OF CRACK AS BIG AS THE RITZ.
The old Hollywood dictum, that good books rarely make good movies and vice versa.
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Ha! I will have to track that down.
Even though that dictum is sound, and has been proven true time and again, I find such attempts interesting in their fruitlessness. Occasionally they are even successful. Not that I expect this version of Gatsby to be any better than the others….
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I totally get why Gatsby is a miss on film–it is a very lyrical novel which suggests and implies big themes in very quiet ways. His use of detail is just amazing in that novel, poetic. Still, I will have to check this out! 🙂
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Agreed, absolutely. Well, that and a seeming inability to correctly cast the roles. Although there’s a futility to that aspect, too, as finding actors to portray classic, iconic or beloved characters is very tough. However, it can-and has-been done before. Just not in a Gatsby adaptation.
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