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| Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, 25-April-1925 |
100 years ago today, F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was published. I used to read it every year or two. Gatsby was neglected for years, and then people called it The Great American Novel.
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| Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, 25-April-1925 |
"THE GREAT GATSBY is vital, glamorous, ironical, compassionate. It is a living thing as spontaneous as THIS SIDE OF PARADISE, yet mature."
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| Baltimore Sun, 18-April-1925 |
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| Motion Picture Magazine, September, 1926 |
The first film adaption of Gatsby was a 1927 silent starring Warner Baxter as Jay Gatsby. The caption for this image from the September, 1926 Moving Picture Magazine says "The Great Gatsby has been a successful character. He was a best seller when he made his first public appearance between the covers of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Then he made his stage debut and there was a continual line at the Broadway box-office. And now he is to try his fortune on the screen. Warner Baxter, judging from this photograph, will do well by Gatsby." The movie is lost, but all accounts say that Baxter did not do well by Gatsby.
Neil Hamilton, who later played Commissioner Gordon on the Batman television show, played Nick Carraway. Lois Wilson played Daisy Buchanan. Hale Hamilton played Tom Buchanan, Georgia Hale played Myrtle Wilson and William Powell played George Wilson. I find the latter hard to picture.
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| Photoplay, February, 1927 |
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| listal.com |
The second film adaption, made in 1949, starred Alan Ladd as Jay Gatsby. I have never seen this version, but most of the stills that I have seen make it look like a film noir.
Betty Field played Daisy Buchanan, Barry Sullivan played Tom Buchanan, Macdonald Carey played Nick Carraway, Shelley Winters played Myrtle Wilson, and Howard Da Silva played George Wilson.
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| coverbrowser.com |
The third theatrical film version of the story came out in 1974. The 18-March-1974 cover of Time Magazine featured Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby and Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan, and referred to the "supersell" of the movie. I thought the movie was ok, but rather slow.
Sam Waterston played Nick Carraway and one of my favorites, Bruce Dern, played Tom Buchanan. Karen Black was very good as Myrtle Wilson. Scott Wilson played George Wilson.
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| listal.com |
The fourth theatrical film version of the story came out in 2013. Baz Luhrmann directed and Leonardo DiCaprio played Gatsby and Carey Mulligan played Daisy. The movie didn't do anything for me.
Tobey Maguire played Nick Carraway and Joel Edgerton played Tom Buchanan. Isla Fisher played Myrtle Wilson. Jason Clarke played George Wilson.
