The Great Gatsby (1949)

In the 1920s, a man (Alan Ladd) with recently acquired wealth and a mysterious past buys an enormous mansion on Long Island. His aim is to win back the love (Betty Field) of his youth, who is now married to a member (Barry Sullivan) of Long Island's social set and lives across the bay from his new mansion. The second film adaptation (the first was in 1924) of the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald book has some good things about it but it is hopelessly compromised by 1940s morality which changes important aspects of the Fitzgerald novel. No more so that the film's ending which erases Tom Buchanan's complicity in Gatsby's death and Daisy's insistence on turning herself in to the police. For some inexplicable reason, the screenwriters have made Jordan Baker (Ruth Hussey) rather self centered and not above blackmail to get what she thinks she deserves. Films of the 1940s and 1950s were notorious for being lackadaisical when it came to accuracy for films set in the 20s where everyone and everything looked 40s or 50s. That's not the case here, especially so in Edith Head's costumes. Surprisingly, Ladd does some of his best work here and his scene with Daisy when he shows her his new clothes may be the best piece of acting he's done and with a stronger director and better script, you can see that he might have been a perfect Gatsby. Gatsby's death is quite graphic for its day (blood and bullet holes). Directed by Elliott Nugent. With Macdonal Carey as Nick (weak), Shelley Winters as Myrtle (good), Howard Da Silva (who would also star in the 1974 film version), Ed Begley, Henry Hull, Elisha Cook Jr. and Carole Mathews.