The Great Gatsby

“Mr. Carroway, now that we’ve met, what is your opinion of me?” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great American Novel may seem peculiar source material for film noir, but the greed, alienation, and false identity, not to mention racketeering and murder, imbue The Great Gatsby with sufficient noir rewards for fans of the cycle. Directed by the virtually unknown Elliott Nugent, who replaced John Farrow (we can assume Farrow would have knocked it out of the park), The Great Gatsby is still a fast-paced, dynamic adaptation of the Jazz Age novel that benefits from the finely layered performance of Alan Ladd in the title role. Known only as the new baron in town who throws opulent parties in his Long Island mansion, his background as a gangster concealed, Gatsby is attempting to remake himself largely to get back together with Daisy Buchanon (Betty Field), the one who got away. Daisy is now married to Tom Buchanon (Barry Sullivan) and lives across the water, so Gatsby befriends her cousin Nick Carroway (Macdonald Carey) to arrange for an encounter. The spark between them will ignite resentments, rivalries, and accidents, not to mention two homicides (the final shooting by the pool is unusually explicit for 1949, a bloody bullet puncture instantly visible). One of the victims, Tom Buchanon’s mistress Myrtle Wilson, is played by Shelley Winters, who must hold the title of most murdered actress in all of noir. A tragic takedown of American ambition and greed, the film, which had been lost until a print was discovered in 2012, is best appreciated on its own merits (comparison with the novel guarantees disappointment).