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 happily married to ex-flapper Jordan Baker, and the couple visits the grave of their deceased acquaintance Jay Gatsby. Carraway sermonizes that he did not approve of Gatsby's sinful life, and he quotes the Book of Proverbs to condemn 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. After killing two rival gangsters in a street shootout, bootlegger Jay Gatsby purchases a Long Island Sound estate in order to host wild parties. He persuades Daisy's friend Jordan Baker to arrange a private meeting with Daisy 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 powerful gangster reigning over "a dark empire," Gatsby yearns to reunite with Daisy, but 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, the wife of gas station owner George Wilson. Daisy appears to be receptive to Gatsby's romantic overtures. Together with Jordan Baker and Nick, they spend time in the city. Later, while driving Gatsby's car, Daisy 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 to warn him that his life is in danger, but Gatsby does not answer the telephone. While talking to Nick at his mansion's pool, Gatsby renounces his sinful life moments before Wilson shoots him. Only Nick and Jordan attend Gatsby's funeral. The couple decides to marry and depart for the Midwest.

Cast

Production Development

In 1926, Paramount Pictures paid $45,000 () 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, Neil Hamilton as Nick Carraway, and William Powell as George Wilson. For the next two decades, the studio held the film rights to Fitzgerald's novel.

With the advent of sound films, actor Clark Gable often conversed with F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood about remaking The Great Gatsby as a star vehicle for himself in the early 1930s. Gable and writer John O'Hara pressed Paramount Pictures to allow them to do a sound remake with O'Hara writing the screenplay, but their efforts failed, and Fitzgerald died in 1940. Soon after, the publication of the Armed Services Edition of the novel during World War II and the concurrent promotional efforts by the author's friend Edmund Wilson led to a Fitzgerald revival.

As the Fitzgerald revival slowly gained salience in popular culture, Paramount producer and screenwriter Richard Maibaum—who had met F. Scott Fitzgerald during the author's sojourn in Hollywood—became intent on a new adaptation starring Oklahoma-raised actor Alan Ladd. Maibaum became friends with Ladd during their collaboration on the 1946 film O.S.S. Maibaum presented the idea to Ladd and his wife, Sue Carol. Despite initial reservations, Maibaum recalled, "they liked it; they were a bit hesitant, but I persuaded them." The role of Jay 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. During these discussions, Maibaum observed that Ladd seemed perfect for the nouveau riche role of Gatsby:

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 set amid the hedonistic excess of the Jazz Age soon ran afoul of the censors, in particular Production Code Administration head Joseph Breen.

Censorship issues

Upon reading the first draft of the screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume, censor Joseph Breen rejected the script 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 demanded that the screenplay be rewritten to avoid accurately evoking the libertine atmosphere of the Jazz Age. Breen further insisted that the screenplay include a voice of morality and a lengthy preamble that outright condemned Gatsby's behavior as immoral and leading to damnation. 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: "[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 these rewrites, 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 the film's script contained very little of "the flavor of the Prohibition era." When censor Eric Johnston finally approved the bowdlerized script, Paramount slated the film for production 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 dispute

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 several 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:

Farrow insisted upon Gene Tierney for the role of Daisy, but Maibaum pushed for Betty Field. Tiring of their impasse, studio production head Henry Ginsberg gave the final say to Maibaum. When Maibaum informed Farrow that Field would be cast as Daisy, Farrow quit the production. "I don't direct pictures under conditions like that," Farrow told Maibaum. "Find yourself another boy." (Farrow's daughter, Mia Farrow, later portrayed Daisy Buchanan in the 1974 film adaptation.) With production now imminent, Maibaum replaced Farrow as director with Elliott Nugent. Although enthusiastic about the casting of Betty Field as Daisy, Nugent held deep reservations about Alan Ladd as Jay Gatsby, although he kept these doubts from Maibaum.

Nugent later wrote in his memoir that he had two main reservations about taking the job—Ladd's casting and the fact that Maibaum was writer and producer, "which seemed less than ideal; I guessed he would not be too amenable to many changes." However, "I kept most of my doubts to myself because of my great desire to work on what I had always considered Scott Fitzgerald’s best novel and perhaps the best of all American novels."

Nugent was pleased with his supporting cast but confirmed, "As the time for shooting approached, I became seriously neurotic and was filled with terror about what I had done or left undone. I was afraid either to withdraw or to go ahead. I did not confess my feelings to my professional associates nor even to my wife, though I was in a blue funk. It seemed to me that I was betraying Fitzgerald as well as my friends at Paramount."

The day before filming, Nugent claims he wrote a suicide note, drove to the Roosevelt Hotel, went to the tenth floor, and considered jumping off. However, he changed his mind.

Filming