Hi Lee,
Great review on Gran Torino. I appreciate your good work. I
will make it a point to see the film over the holidays. In an earlier
piece, you mentioned Baz Luhrmann remaking The Great Gatsby. His might actually
be the 'fourth' movie version of that story. It was originally done in the
1920's as a silent film. Only the trailer for that version survives, but it's
very striking. I understand the Alan Ladd version from the 1940's can be found
in some bootleg videos, but a solid fine-grain 35mm print is unavailable. That
leaves the 1970's Robert Redford version as the only available version by
default. Not a bad movie, but kind of a backwards compliment, I suppose. Thanks
again and Merry Christmas,
Bill ShafferÂ
Retro Responds: Thanks, Bill - you're right - I had forgotten about the "lost" version of Gatsby that starred Warner Baxter. A pity it's been lost to the ages with only a one minute trailer preserved. As for the Alan Ladd version, it's never been released on home video supposedly because of legal issues, though the lack of of a decent master print may also have contributed to this dilemma. However, we both overlooked yet another filmed version of the story that no one seems to remember: this one was shot for the A&E TV network in the year 2000 and starred Toby Stephens and Mira Sorvino. Stephens, of course, would go on to play the Bond villain Gustav Graves in Die Another Day. - Lee Pfeiffer
Share your comments/criticisms on any topics by writing to: cinemaretro@hotmail.com