Though it's been a high school English class staple for decades now, F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 Jazz Age tragic novel The Great Gatsby took a while to become part of the great American literature canon. Enigmatic and full of prose and symbolism that's still being debate today as it dissects the lives of the rich and fundamentally empty, the short book has been adapted numerous times starting with a now-lost silent film and a swiftly mounted play by William Brady. After that the book lay dormant for over a decade until its republication as an early paperback during World War II made it a popular favorite that resonated with readers both at home and at battle, which was enough to inspire future James Bond screenwriter Richard Maibaum to try to mount a sound film version. One of America's most popular movie stars in the later 1940s, Alan Ladd was keen to play the title role of lovelorn nouveau riche millionaire on Long Island with a shady past. That came to pass in 1948 with Maibaum producing, with the film crediting the chronological play almost as prominently as the book and making some significant changes to appease the Production Code (including a very un-Fitzgerald wraparound).

The film was respected enough when it came out if not much of a hit, with the casting of crime movie icon Ladd making for a surprisingly effective and introspective Gatsby. However, it would soon sink into obscurity for many years with a scarcity of screenable prints and a lack of availability on TV or eventual home video making it a mostly unseen curious footnote in movie reference books. It didn't help that the film was quietly swept under the rug to make way for a splashy but flawed 1974 version also from Paramount starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, with a third studio version eventually coming along from Baz Luhrmann in 2013 starring Leonardo DiCaprio and shot in quite effective 3-D. Just before the release of the 2013 film, Alan K. Rode was instrumental in bringing the film back into circulation for repertory screenings with a so-so DVD from Australia in 2015 making its first official home video appearance. The film finally made its much-needed Blu-ray premiere in 2023, also from Australia (via Via Vision's Imprint) as a special edition, with a U.S. one following suit in 2025 from Kino Lorber. However, there are some significant differences between the two as we'll see below.

At the grave of Jay Gatsby who passed away in 1928, Nick Carraway (Carey) looks back two decades at that fateful year during Prohibition when he lived in a bungalow close to Gatsby (Ladd), a bootlegger turned society fixture who throws massive, indulgent parties at his sprawling estate complete with a swimming pool. Gatsby's house is situated across the water from the home of Nick's cousin Daisy Buchanan (Field) and her husband, Tom (Sullivan), and as it soon transpires, Gatsby is longing to rekindle his romance with Daisy with the help of Nick and society fixture Jordan Baker (Hussey). Meanwhile Tom is engaged in an affair with Myrtle (Winters), the ambitious wife of gas station owner George (Da Silva), all of whom will be caught up in Gatsby's ill-fated attempts to fulfill his dreams.

Chances are almost everyone watching this film now will be coming to it with preconceptions from the book and other films in their heads, and it's a curious experience with the style feeling far more akin to film noir than anything from the Roaring Twenties outside of a few quick crazy parties. The basic beats of the story are all here including the legendary billboard advertising optometrist Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, but it all feels a bit different here with the postwar transition hovering over everything far more than the pre-Depression attitudes that informed the book. First introduced in an obvious audience-baiting montage showing him at work as a gangster complete with familiar noir attire, Ladd does quite well here with Carey also making for an effective Nick. Obviously Winters is dead-on casting as Myrtle, and though she doesn't get a large amount of screen time, it's obvious why her star would continue to ascend for the next 15 years. Strangely, this film's biggest stumble is the same one as the subsequent two movies, namely the casting of Daisy. Talented names were all chosen for the role, but they were a far cry from the transfixing, dark-haired siren in the book; initial director John Farrow (father of future Daisy Mia Farrow) wanted Gene Tierney for this film, and she would have been incredible. Instead, Betty Field is simply there in front of the camera. In none of these cases is it a major issue, but you would think Hollywood casting agents could cast this role in their sleep. (On the other hand, the 2000 made-for-TV version got closer with Mira Sorvino.) Perhaps the most startling area where this film outdoes its peers is the fate of Gatsby, which is handled in an unexpected fashion and played with a graphic brutality you'll never believe got past the Production Code.

As mentioned above, the Imprint Blu-ray was the first one out of the gate with a 2022 4K-sourced scan of a print with a fairly heavy amount of scratches, specks, and other damage prevalent throughout. It was a godsend compared to the DVD though, and it comes with a fine audio commentary by Jason A. Ney who lays out the history of the novel to this point, the somewhat tortured process of getting the film in front of the cameras, and the backgrounds of everyone involved. The 1999 documentary Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man (56m39s) is a good overview of the actor's life and career from his rocketing to stardom with This Gun for Hire after numerous bit parts and the ups and downs that followed, with participants including son David Ladd, Edward Dmytryk, Lizabeth Scott, and Don Murray among others. You also get separate great analyses from Sarah Churchwell (22m9s) and Christina Newland (13m47s) about the major themes of the book, the challenges of translating it to the screen, the intervening years between the silent film and this one, the sad end of Fitzgerald a few years before this film's release, and the elements of his screen persona that made Ladd a unique choice for the role. Finally an onstage Q&A from 2012 (25m3s) features Rode giving an intro to a screening (including a solid case for classifying this as a noir) and then conversing with David Ladd about his father's intentions with this role, the studio's attempts to dangle this as a kind of carrot to get him to do other projects in the interim, and his father's overall time at Paramount and early career. Soon after a French Blu-ray from Elephant was released using the same master, with a French-language take on the film provided by Jean-Pierre Dionnet.

The 2025 Kino Lorber Blu-ray (available as a standalone or as part of Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXVI with Dr. Broadway and Smooth as Silk) is advertised as a new HD master from a 4K scan, and whatever source that entailed, it's a significant improvement with a far cleaner, sharper, and more textured appearance. It now looks virtually new, and whatever efforts were made to create this, it was worth every minute. The DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono English audio sounds very good throughout and features optional English SDH subtitles. Here you get a new audio commentary by Paul Talbot, who makes for excellent and often highly entertaining company as he covers the entire history of the film and points out plenty of little aspects you'll never be able to unsee -- ranging from the pogo performers in the background of the first party scene to the tricks used to disguise Ladd's wedding band. The theatrical trailer (in SD) is also included along with the Ladd and Rode discussion.

KINO LORBER

IMPRINT

Reviewed on September 11, 2025