The Great Gatsby is a 1949 American historical romance drama film directed by Elliott Nugent, and produced by Richard Maibaum, from a screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume.
The film stars Alan Ladd, Betty Field, Macdonald Carey, Ruth Hussey, and Barry Sullivan, and features Shelley Winters and Howard Da Silva, the latter of whom returned in the 1974 version. It is based on the 1925 novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Set during the raucous Jazz Age on Long Island near New York City, the plot follows the exploits of enigmatic millionaire and bootlegger Jay Gatsby who attempts to win back the affections of his former lover Daisy Buchanan with the aid of her second cousin Nick Carraway.
In the 1940s, Paramount Pictures still held the rights to Fitzgerald’s novel, having previously made the now-lost 1926 version. Producer Richard Maibaum became intent on making a new film adaptation, and he envisioned Alan Ladd, with whom he previously collaborated on O.S.S. (1946), in the role of Gatsby.
Although Maibaum and Ladd were eager to make the film, Paramount executives hesitated as the novel had not yet attained widespread popularity. Despite studio objections, Maibaum and Ladd persisted, and by 1946, Paramount announced plans for the film. However, production obstacles arose when Production Code Administration head Joseph Breen rejected the screenplay due to its perceived immorality.
The screenplay underwent multiple rewrites to appease the censors, including adding moralizing elements that deviated from Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel. Maibaum reluctantly made these changes in his determination to see the film produced. Disagreements next arose between the original director John Farrow and Maibaum over the role of Daisy, with Farrow favoring Gene Tierney and Maibaum preferring Betty Field.
This conflict led to Farrow’s departure and his replacement by Elliott Nugent. (Farrow’s daughter, Mia Farrow, later starred as Daisy in the 1974 adaptation.) The film’s release garnered mixed reviews, with some praising the performances while others criticized the film for its deviations from the novel.
Plot
In 1948, a middle-aged Nick Carraway is married to ex-flapper Jordan Baker, and the happily married couple visit the grave of their deceased acquaintance Jay Gatsby. Carraway sermonizes that he did not approve of Gatsby’s sinful life and quotes the Book of Proverbs condemning Gatsby’s actions as wicked: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
A flashback occurs to 1928 during the period of Prohibition in the United States. Bootlegger Jay Gatsby is introduced after killing two gangsters in a street shootout. Gatsby hosts wild parties at his lavish Long Island Sound estate.
He persuades Daisy’s friend Jordan Baker to arrange a private meeting with Daisy at Nick’s bungalow in exchange for his Duesenberg roadster. Gatsby and Daisy had been in love during World War I. Daisy begged Gatsby to marry her, but Gatsby insisted they wait until he made a fortune.
Now a wealthy millionaire, Gatsby yearns to reunite with Daisy. However, she is married to the far wealthier Tom Buchanan. Despite her marriage, Daisy is discontented.
She is aware of her husband’s dalliance with Myrtle Wilson, who is married to George Wilson, the owner of a gas station. Daisy appears to appreciate Gatsby’s advances. Together with Jordan Baker and Nick, they spend time in the city. Later, while Daisy is driving Gatsby’s car, she accidentally strikes Myrtle in the street.
Returning home, Daisy confesses to Tom, Nick and Jordan that she killed Myrtle. Tom, Daisy and Jordan plot to blame Gatsby for Myrtle’s death, but Nick objects and leaves. Gatsby overhears this discussion while standing unseen on the veranda.
Wilson suspects that Tom killed Myrtle, and he confronts Tom at his home. Tom refuses to reveal Gatsby’s name, and Wilson leaves. Tom tries to call Gatsby in order to warn him that his life is danger, but Gatsby does not answer the telephone. While talking to Nick at his mansion’s pool, Gatsby is shot by Wilson. Only Nick and Jordan attend Gatsby’s funeral. The couple agree to marry and depart for the Midwest.
Cast
Alan Ladd as Jay Gatsby
Betty Field as Daisy Buchanan
Macdonald Carey as Nick Carraway
Ruth Hussey as Jordan Baker
Barry Sullivan as Tom Buchanan
Shelley Winters as Myrtle Wilson
Howard Da Silva as George Wilson
Elisha Cook, Jr. as Klipspringer
Ed Begley as Myron Lupus
Henry Hull as Dan Cody
Walter Greaza as Kinsella
Tito Vuolo as Mavromichaelis
Jack Lambert as Reba
Ray Teal as Cop (uncredited)
Production
Development
In 1926, Paramount Pictures paid $45,000 (equivalent to $799,258 in 2024) to purchase the film rights to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s critically acclaimed yet commercially unsuccessful 1925 novel. The studio produced the first film adaptation in November 1926 starring Warner Baxter as Jay Gatsby, Lois Wilson as Daisy Buchanan, and William Powell as George Wilson. Two decades later, the studio still held the film rights to the novel.
Paramount writer and producer Richard Maibaum—who had met F. Scott Fitzgerald during the author’s sojourn in Hollywood—became fixated on the idea of a new adaptation starring Oklahoma actor Alan Ladd as Jay Gatsby.
He had previously collaborated with Ladd on the 1946 film O.S.S., and the two had become close friends. Maibaum presented the idea to Ladd and his wife, Sue.
While they initially had reservations, Maibaum recalled, “they liked it; they were a bit hesitant, but I persuaded them.” The role of Gatsby intrigued Ladd since the character offered a departure from Ladd’s typical action roles and allowed him a chance to demonstrate a broader acting range.
Although Maibaum and Ladd wanted to make the film, Paramount executives proved hesitant to make this second film adaptation as Fitzgerald’s beloved novel had not yet attained widespread popularity. “This was in late 1946,” Maibaum recalled. “Scott Fitzgerald had been dead since 1940.
So it seemed, except in the hearts of a few devotees, were his out-of-print novels. His reputation was at its lowest ebb. The Jazz Age he celebrated was regarded as an aberration.
But I saw a similarity between what was happening in 1946 to what had happened to the country in 1920 and, with Alan and Sue’s help, kept badgering the studio until it agreed to let us prepare a script.”
Maibaum and Ladd persisted until Paramount executives relented and commissioned a screenplay. Paramount publicly announced its plans to make the film starring Ladd in March 1946, with the script to be written by Maibaum and Cyril Hume. However, the mere idea of remaking The Great Gatsby soon ran afoul of the censors, in particular Production Code Administration head Joseph Breen.
Screenplay
Censor Joseph Breen rejected the first draft of the screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume for having “a low moral tone.” He criticized their screenplay for its violations of the Motion Picture Production Code.
He specifically denounced their work for depicting adultery, excessive drinking, unpunished manslaughter, bootlegging, and other perceived moral transgressions.
Breen insisted the screenplay be rewritten to avoid accurately evoking the libertine atmosphere of the Jazz Age. Breen further demanded that the screenplay include a voice of morality and a lengthy preamble which outright condemned Gatsby’s behavior as immoral. Desperate to make the film, Maibaum capitulated to Breen’s demands, although he later regretted doing so.
Maibaum and Hume appeased the censors by altering plot details and by adding a scene at the beginning of the script where Nick Carraway, now married to Jordan Baker, quotes from Proverbs 14:12 that “there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
Having been forced to make these changes against his will, Maibaum felt such additions were “all wrong and very un-Fitzgerald-like. To moralize like that was something he never did; he was always indirect. It was the price I paid to get the film done.”
Despite rewrites by Maibaum and Hume, the censors still refused to greenlight the film. After Breen’s retirement, his successor Eric Johnston likewise proved reluctant to approve the film. “The Johnston office seems to be afraid of starting a new jazz cycle,” Maibaum told the press in 1946. Due to the constant meddling by censors, critics later noted that film’s script contained very little of “the flavor of the Prohibition era”.
When censor Eric Johnston finally approved the bowdlerized script, Paramount greenlit the project in October 1947. However, Maibaum claimed that Paramount delayed the film’s production. “They used the script as a carrot to make Alan do several other [lower quality] films, each time promising that his next would be Gatsby”, wrote the producer. “Finally after two long years of this he rebelled and threatened to go on suspension. That did it.”
Casting
Paramount Pictures originally hired Australian émigré John Farrow, the husband of actress Maureen O’Sullivan and father of Mia Farrow, to direct the film. Farrow had made a number of successful films with Ladd, as well as The Big Clock with Maibaum. Farrow and Maibaum soon disagreed over the casting of Daisy Buchanan. Maibaum recalled their intense disagreement in detail:
We were agreed that the character… was a beautiful, glamorous, unstable girl. Farrow however placed more importance on the glamour and beauty than I did. Hollywood was full of beautiful girls. I wanted more, an actress who could handle what has been called ‘the disharmonic chatter of the ’20s’, the authentic sound of the feckless, disillusioned lost generation… What we needed was a fine actress who could make believable the obsessive love she evoked from him.
Farrow wanted Gene Tierney, but Maibaum pushed for Betty Field. Tiring of their impasse, studio production head Henry Ginsberg gave final say to Maibaum. As a result, Farrow quit the film and told Maibaum: “I don’t direct pictures under conditions like that.
Find yourself another boy.” Farrow’s daughter, Mia Farrow, later played Daisy Buchanan in the 1974 film adaptation. With production imminent, Elliott Nugent replaced Farrow as director.
