(note to reader: the following was written by Mr. Carraway sometime in 1950)Ah! So, my dear reader, I believe I told you about my time meeting Mr. F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author, yes? It was in my post, "If the Shoe Fitz..." Well, guess what? When I told you that Mr. Fitzgerald was going away to Paris to write a novel, well, that novel - The Great Gatsby - has been made into two movies since its publication!
The first of these
Great Gatsby films was made in the year 1926, directed by Herbert Brenon, I believe. It was produced by the Famous Players-Lastky Corporation, and starred Warner Baxter (Jay Gatsby), Lois Wilson (Daisy Buchanan), and Neil Hamilton (as myself!). It was a silent black-and-white film, running a relatively short 80 minutes and quite well-made, in my opinion, but it is now a lost film. Only a 1-minute trailer of the 1926 version exists, preserved by the Library of Congress.
The second version of Fitzgerald's novel was made just last year, in 1949, and it was directed by Elliot Nugent. In that movie, Gatsby was played by Alan Ladd, Daisy was played by Betty Field, and I was played by MacDonald Carey. Its run time was longer than the 1926, version at 92 minutes and it was made by Paramount Pictures.
(Note to the reader: Mr. Carraway did not live to see the 2 most recent versions of the The Great Gatsby. So, we here at Blogger decided it was only appropriate to complete his post by providing information on the rest of the film versions)
The Great Gatsby was made as a feature film for the third time in 1974. This time it was directed by Jack Clayton, though it was still produced by Paramount Pictures. Its screenplay was written by the great Francis Ford Coppola, and it won two Oscars: Best Costume Design and Best Music. Robert Redford starred as Jay Gatsby, Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan, and Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway. An interesting note: Jack Nicholson was approached to play Jay Gatsby, but he declined the offer. This version is the most famous to date.
Finally, the most recent version of
The Great Gatsby was filmed in the year 2000. It was a made-for-TV movie, directed by Robert Markowitz. Paramount Pictures did not produce this version. Rather, it was made in a collaboration between the A&E Cable Network (in the U.S.) and Granada Entertainment (in Great Britain). Its run time is 120 minutes. In this latest undertaking of Fitzgerald's novel, Toby Stephens was cast as Jay Gatsby, Mira Sorvino played the role of Daisy Buchanan, and Paul Rudd starred as Nick Carraway.
(Sources: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016938/, http://www.answers.com/topic/the-great-gatsby-1949-film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071577/, and http://www.answers.com/topic/the-great-gatsby-2000-film)
